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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Prussian Terror, by Alexandre Dumas
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Prussian Terror
+
+Author: Alexandre Dumas
+
+Translator: R.S. Garnett
+
+Release Date: May 2, 2011 [EBook #36016]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRUSSIAN TERROR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Andrea Ball & Marc D'Hooghe at
+http://www/freeliterature.org (From images generously made
+available by the Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+THE PRUSSIAN TERROR
+
+BY
+
+ALEXANDRE DUMAS
+
+
+A FIRST TRANSLATION FROM THE FRENCH
+
+BY
+
+R.S. GARNETT
+
+
+WITH AN INTRODUCTION
+
+
+LONDON: STANLEY PAUL & CO
+
+PHILADELPHIA: DAVID MCKAY COMPANY
+
+1916
+
+
+[Illustration: ALEXANDRE DUMAS.]
+
+
+
+
+"L'ennemi, c'est le Prussien"
+
+GAMBETTA.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION
+
+CHAPTER I. BERLIN
+        II. THE HOUSE OF HOHENZOLLERN
+        III. COUNT VON BISMARCK
+        IV. IN WHICH BISMARCK EMERGES FROM AN IMPOSSIBLE POSITION
+        V. A SPORTSMAN AND A SPANIEL
+        VI. BENEDICT TURPIN
+        VII. KAULBACH'S STUDIO
+        VIII. THE CHALLENGE
+        IX. THE TWO DUELS
+        X. WHAT WAS WRITTEN IN A KING'S HAND
+        XI. BARON FREDERIC VON BÃœLOW
+        XII. HELEN
+        XIII. COUNT KARL VON FREYBERG
+        XIV. THE GRANDMOTHER
+        XV. FRANKFORT-ON-MAIN
+        XVI. THE DEPARTURE
+        XVII. AUSTRIANS AND PRUSSIANS
+        XVIII. THE DECLARATION OF WAR
+        XIX. THE BATTLE OF LANGENSALZA
+        XX. IN WHICH BENEDICT'S PREDICTION CONTINUES TO BE FULFILLED
+        XXI. WHAT PASSED AT FRANKFURT BETWEEN THE BATTLES OF LANGENSALZA
+               AND SADOWA
+        XXII. THE FREE MEAL
+        XXIII. THE BATTLE OF ASCHAFFENBURG
+        XXIV. THE EXECUTOR
+        XXV. FRISK
+        XXVI. THE WOUNDED MAN
+        XXVII. THE PRUSSIANS AT FRANKFORT
+        XXVIII. GENERAL MANTEUFFEL'S THREATS
+        XXIX. GENERAL STURM
+        XXX. THE BREAKING OF THE STORM
+        XXXI. THE BURGOMASTER
+        XXXII. QUEEN AUGUSTA
+        XXXIII. THE TWO PROCESSIONS
+        XXXIV. THE TRANSFUSION OF BLOOD
+        XXXV. THE MARRIAGE _IN EXTREMIS_
+        XXXVI. "WAIT AND SEE"
+               CONCLUSION
+               EPILOGUE
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+"The enemy passed beneath our window and then out of view. A moment
+afterwards we heard the sound as it were of a hurricane; the house
+trembled to the gallop of horses. At the end of the street the enemy had
+been charged by our cavalry; and, not knowing our small numbers, they
+were returning at full speed hotly pursued by our men. Pell-mell they
+all passed by--a whirlwind of smoke and noise. Our soldiers fired and
+slashed away, the enemy on their side fired as they fled. Two or three
+bullets struck the house, one of them shattering a bar of the
+window-shutter through which I was looking on. The spectacle was at once
+magnificent and terrible. Pursued too closely the enemy had decided to
+face about, and there, twenty paces from us, was going on a combat life
+for life. I saw five or six of the enemy fall, and two or three of our
+men. Then, defeated after a ten minutes' struggle, the enemy trusted
+themselves again to the swiftness of their horses, and cleared off at
+full gallop. The pursuit recommenced, the whirlwind resumed its course,
+leaving, before it disappeared, three or four men strewn on the
+pavement. Suddenly we heard the drum beating to the charge. It was our
+hundred infantry soldiers who were coming up in their turn. They marched
+with fixed bayonets and disappeared at the bend of the road. Five
+minutes later we heard a sharp platoon firing. Then we saw our hussars
+reappearing, driven by five or six hundred cavalry; they reappeared the
+pursued, as they had started the pursuers. Amid this second tempest of
+men it was impossible to see or distinguish anything; only, when it was
+past, three or four dead bodies more lay stretched on the ground."
+
+The boy who saw these scenes, to record them in his Memoirs many years
+later, was living with his mother at Villers-Cotterets, on the Soissons
+road in the Aisne, where fierce fighting between our little army and our
+allies the French on the one hand, and the Germans on the other, is
+taking place as these lines are being written. The time was 1814.
+Napoleon had retreated from Moscow and had lost the battle of Leipzig,
+and the Russians, Prussians, and Austrians in alliance were gradually
+closing in on France. All confidence in Napoleon's star had disappeared.
+Every hour was bringing the roar of cannon nearer to Paris: in a few
+days the Allies were to enter it and Napoleon to sign the decree of
+abdication and leave for Elba.
+
+The name of the boy was Alexandre Dumas. His mother had filled her
+cellar with furniture, bedding, and household goods, and had then had a
+new plank floor made for the room above, so that treasure seekers might
+look in vain, and had buried her little store of money in a box in the
+middle of the garden. She was as much in terror of Napoleon as she was
+of the Prussian and Russian troops. If her own countrymen, the French,
+were beaten, she and her son might be killed, but if Napoleon was
+victorious he would want her son as a soldier. Now Alexandre was twelve
+and conscription began at sixteen.
+
+The boy's father, General Alexandre Dumas, was dead, and as on account
+of his republican principles the First Consul had disgraced, exiled, and
+ruined him, so by the Emperor the widow and her son were disowned,
+forgotten and left to starve. In spite of this Madame Dumas's neighbours
+called her a Bonapartist, her husband having fought under Bonaparte, and
+the term Bonapartist was one which was presently to amount to an
+accusation as Louis XVIII neared the throne.
+
+The enemy seen by the boy fighting in the street were
+Prussians--Prussians long expected by his mother, who had made three
+successive enormous dishes of haricot mutton for their pacification.
+Although young Alexandre had partaken of the mutton and thought very
+little of the threatened danger before it occurred, he never forgot the
+sudden Prussian inroad and the dead men left outside this door. And he
+often said that the Valley of the Aisne might see the Prussians again.
+
+In 1848, when a candidate for the Chamber of Deputies, Dumas lost many
+votes by making a speech in the course of which, when passing the state
+of Europe in review, he said. "Geographically, Prussia has the shape of
+a serpent, and like a serpent it seems always to sleep and prepare to
+swallow everything around it--Denmark, Holland, and Belgium; and when it
+has engulfed them all you will see that Austria will pass in its turn
+and perhaps, alas! France also."
+
+In June 1866 Prussia's rapid campaign against Austria startled Europe.
+Every thoughtful man was calculating the consequences of the
+preponderance of Prussia in Germany, and Dumas was one of those
+Frenchmen who were seized with sad presentiments of the future for their
+own country. Particularly does he appear to have been struck with the
+barbarous conduct of the Prussians in the free city of Frankfort[1]
+which the newspapers were daily reporting. Unable to remain at home
+while such events were occurring, he travelled to Frankfort and observed
+them for himself. Then he went to Gotha, Hanover, and Berlin; he visited
+the battlefields of Langensalza and Sadowa and returned to Paris with
+his notebooks crammed with precious details, his pockets bulging with
+unpublished documents.
+
+Then M. Hollander, the owner of the political journal "The Situation,"
+came running to the author of "The Three Musketeers," "Queen Margot,"
+and of so many other famous historical romances to ask for one to be
+called "The Prussian Terror." Dumas, who like M. Hollander was anxious
+to do all he could to arouse France, fast crumbling under the Second
+Empire, to a sense of her danger from Prussia, gladly complied. Such is
+the genesis of this book in which on every page the author seems to
+say--"Awake! the danger is at hand."
+
+To render it more easily intelligible to readers of the present day who
+appear to us to know very little of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, let
+us glance at the important events which the newspaper proprietor and the
+historical romancer had in mind.
+
+The death of the King of Denmark occurred in 1863[2] and North Germany
+buzzed like a swarm of angry bees over the Duchies of Schleswig,
+Holstein, and Luxemburg. By the treaty of London (1852), which fixed the
+succession to the Danish Crown, Austria and Prussia, although
+signatories to it, denied the right of the new king to those duchies and
+claimed them as part of Germany. In February 1864 Austrian and Prussian
+troops crossed the Danish border. The Danes fought well, but were forced
+to submit and eventually the duchies were made over to their enemies.
+
+Then Prussia, which had long looked with jealousy on the power of
+Austria and considered a war with her inevitable sooner or later,
+opposed her desire to form the duchies into a separate state under the
+Duke of Augustenburg. Austria referred the matter to the Frankfort Diet,
+which decided in favour of the duke, but Bismarck, as Prussia's Prime
+Minister, to secure the complete control of North Germany, required
+that, not only the duchies but the whole of Hanover, Hesse Cassel, Hesse
+Nassau, and the city of Frankfort should be absorbed in Prussia. Both
+Prussia and Austria prepared for war, Prussia entering into an alliance
+with Victor Emanuel. On June 7th Prussian troops entered Holstein.
+
+On June 14th, in regard to the decisive question whether the federal
+army should be mobilized, Hanover voted in the Diet with Austria, and by
+so doing irrevocably declared on which side she would range herself in
+the approaching struggle. Prussia at once issued an ultimatum to
+Hanover, requesting her to maintain neutrality and to accept her scheme
+for the reformation of the Confederation. Hanover immediately rejected
+these demands and Prussian troops at once crossed the frontier. The
+resulting battles are known as those of Langensalza and Aschaffenburg.
+The Austrians were disastrously defeated in the terrific battle of
+Sadowa or Königsrätz, and Bismarck was thus nearer to the formation of
+German Unity under Prussia.
+
+After Sadowa, the first act of the Prussians was to enter the "free"
+city of Frankfort, which did not attempt any defence, relying as it did
+on its treaties, and terrorise its inhabitants. It was these "acts of
+terror," then, of which M. Hollander and Dumas were particularly
+thinking, hoping that the recital of them in a popular romance would do
+something to awaken France.
+
+It has been repeatedly stated that before the Franco-German War of 1870
+the German soldiers were guiltless of acts of atrocity. This story
+proves the contrary, and it is not a little curious that no work in the
+English language, save books of reference, covering the ground traversed
+by "The Prussian Terror," appears to be now accessible. For this reason
+alone Dumas's book, which, though in story form, is an authoritative
+contribution to history, deserves attention at the present time. Apart
+from this, it is so spirited and interesting that it is quite surprising
+that at so late a date--forty-seven years after its original issue--I
+should be the first to offer a version[3] to the British public.
+
+Dumas was still living in Paris when, in the summer of 1869, war was
+declared with Germany. His health was now bad, and his son, the author
+of "La Dame aux Camélias," did not wish him to remain during the siege.
+In the autumn he took his father with him to Puys near Dieppe, where he
+had a villa. There Dumas died on December 5th, 1870.
+
+He did not know it--news being kept from him--but during his last days
+his worst prognostications had been verified. A detachment of the
+Prussian army was actually taking possession of Dieppe as he breathed
+his last. While the soldiers marched along the streets, their bands
+playing German airs and the inhabitants hid in their houses behind
+shuttered windows, the news flew round the town that the country had
+lost Alexandre Dumas, the most typically French writer who has ever
+existed. The coffin was borne to the grave at Neuville, where the
+German soldiers were in occupation, before a Prussian patrol. In 1872
+the body was exhumed, and buried in the family tomb at Villers-Cotterets.
+Hard by, where as a boy of twelve Dumas heard the Prussian cannon, three
+nations are now fighting.
+
+R.S. GARNETT.
+
+
+[1] Dumas knew Frankfort well, having lived there for some time in 1838
+with Gérard de Nerval, the author of "Les Filles de Feu."
+
+[2] These facts are taken from the "Encyclopædia Britannica."
+
+[3] It should be stated that M. Hollander, who wished the brilliant name
+of Dumas to shine on as many issues of his newspaper as possible,
+stipulated for not less than sixty _feuilletons_. Dumas complied, but
+was forced to include some hunting stories which he puts into the mouth
+of his hero, Benedict Turpin. These stories will not be found in the
+present volume.
+
+
+
+
+THE PRUSSIAN TERROR
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+BERLIN
+
+
+The architect of Berlin appears to have carefully designed his plan
+according to line and rule in order to produce a capital of dullness as
+far removed from the picturesque as his ingenuity could accomplish. Seen
+from the cathedral, which is the loftiest point attainable, the place
+suggests an enormous chess-board on which the Royal Palace, the Museum,
+Cathedral, and other important buildings fairly represent kings, queens,
+and castles. And, much as Paris is intersected by the Seine, so is
+Berlin divided by the Spree, except that instead of surrounding one
+island, as does the former river, two artificial canals branch out right
+and left like the handles of a vase, and form two islands of unequal
+size in the centre of the town. Berlin being the capital of Privilege,
+one of these islands is distinguished by possessing the Royal Palace,
+the Cathedral, the Museum, the Bourse, most other public buildings, and
+a score of houses which in Turin, the Berlin of Italy, would certainly
+be called palaces; the other contains nothing remarkable, corresponding
+to the Parisian Rue Saint-Jacques and the quarter Saint-André-des-Arts.
+
+The aristocratic, the smart Berlin lies to the right and left of the
+Friedrich Strasse, which extends from the Place de La Belle Alliance by
+which one enters Berlin to that of Oranienburg by which one leaves it,
+and which is crossed nearly in the middle by the Unter den Linden. This
+famous promenade traverses the fashionable quarter and extends from the
+Royal Palace to the Place d'Armes. It owes its name to two rows of
+magnificent lime trees which form a charming promenade on each side of
+the broad carriage-way. Both sides abound in cafés and restaurants,
+whose crowds of customers, overflowing in summer on to the public road,
+cause a considerable amount of lively motion. This, however, never rises
+into noisy horse-play or clamour, for the Prussian prefers to amuse
+himself _sub rosa_, and keeps his gaiety within doors.
+
+But on June 7th, 1866, as beautiful a day as Prussia can produce, Unter
+den Linden, at about six in the evening, presented a scene of most
+unusual commotion. The excitement was caused in the first place by the
+increasingly hostile attitude assumed by Prussia towards Austria, in
+refusing to allow the States of Holstein to proceed to the election of
+the Duke of Augustenburg, also by the general arming on all sides, by
+reports concerning the immediate calling up of the Landwehr and the
+dissolution of the Chamber, and finally by rumours of telegrams from
+France containing threats against Prussia, said to have been made by
+Louis Napoleon himself.
+
+It is necessary to travel in Prussia before one can in the least
+comprehend the sort of hatred therein cherished against the French. It
+is a species of monomania which distorts even the very clearest vision.
+No minister can be popular, no orator will gain a hearing unless the one
+lets it be supposed his policy is for war, and the other can produce
+some brilliant epigram or clever _sous-entendu_ levelled against France.
+Nor will the title of poet be allowed, unless the claimant can qualify
+by being the author of some popular rhyme, entitled "The Rhine,"
+"Leipzig," or "Waterloo."
+
+Whence comes this hatred for France--a deep, inveterate, indestructible
+hatred which seems to pervade the very earth and air? It is impossible
+to say. Can it date from the time when a legion from Gaul, the advanced
+guard of the Roman army, first entered Germany? Abandoning this idea we
+come down to the battle of Rosbach as a possible cause, in which case
+the German national character must be an uncommonly bad one, seeing they
+beat us there. Still later, it might possibly be explained by the
+military inferiority shown by the pupils of Frederic the Great ever
+since the Duke of Brunswick's famous manifesto threatening that not one
+stone of Paris should be left on another! One battle, that of Valmy,
+expelled the Prussians from France in 1792; and another, that of Jena,
+opened the gates of Berlin to us in 1806. Still, to these dates, our
+enemies--no, our rivals--can oppose the names of Leipzig and of
+Waterloo. Of Leipzig, however, they cannot claim more than a quarter,
+seeing their army was combined with those of Russia, Austria, and
+Sweden, to say nothing of that of Saxony, which also deserves to be
+remembered. Nor is more than one-half of Waterloo to their credit, for
+Napoleon, who till then had the advantage, was already exhausted by a
+six hours' struggle with the English when they arrived.
+
+Consequently, remembering this heritage of hate, which, indeed, they
+have always shown quite openly--one could not be surprised at the
+popular emotion caused by a rumour, non-official but widely spread, that
+France would throw down the gauntlet and join in the impending conflict.
+Many, however, doubted the news, as not a word of it had appeared in the
+"Staat's Anzeiger" that morning. Berlin, like Paris, has its faithful
+adherents to the Government and the "Moniteur," who believe that the
+latter cannot lie, and that a paternal Government would never, never
+keep back news interesting to its affectionate subjects. These were
+joined by the readers of the "Tages Telegraphe" ("Daily Telegraphic
+News"), certain that their special organ would have known whatever was
+to be known, and also by those of the ministerial and aristocratic
+"Kreuz Zeitung," who equally declined to believe anything not contained
+in its usually well-informed columns. And besides these one heard the
+names of a dozen other daily or weekly issues bandied from side to side
+in the excited crowd, until suddenly a harsh cry of "French news! French
+news! Telegraphic News" "One kreutzer," succeeded in dominating the din.
+
+The effect produced on the crowd may be imagined. Despite the proverbial
+Prussian economy, every hand sought its pocket and drawing forth a
+kreutzer, proceeded to exchange it for the square bit of paper
+containing the long-desired news. And indeed the importance of the
+contents made amends for the delay in obtaining it. The dispatch ran as
+follows:
+
+"June 6th, 1866. His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon III, having gone to
+Auxerre, in order to be present at the provincial assembly, was met at
+the gates of the town by the mayor, who presented an address, offering
+the respectful homage of himself and the inhabitants. His Majesty
+replied in the following terms, which do not require to be explained to
+our countrymen. Their meaning must be sufficiently clear to all.
+
+"I see with much pleasure that Auxerre still remembers the First Empire.
+Let me assure you that I, on my side, have inherited the feelings of
+affection entertained by the Chief of our family for the patriotic and
+energetic communities which supported him alike through good and evil.
+And I myself owe a debt of gratitude to the department of the Yonne as
+being one of the first to declare for me in 1848. It knew, as indeed the
+greater part of the nation knew, that its interests and mine were
+identical and that we both equally detested those treaties of 1815,
+which are used to-day as a means of controlling our external policy."
+
+Here the dispatch broke off, the sender evidently not considering the
+remainder of the emperor's discourse worth transcribing. Certainly his
+meaning was sufficiently clear without it. Nevertheless some minutes
+elapsed before the sense of the communication was understood by the
+readers, and evoked the display of hatred which naturally followed.
+
+When at last they began to comprehend and to see the hand of the nephew
+of Napoleon the Great overshadowing their beloved Rhine, there arose
+from one end of Unter den Linden to the other such a tempest of threats,
+howls, and hurrahs, that, to borrow Schiller's lively expression, one
+would have thought the encircling hoops of the heavenly concave must all
+be burst asunder. Threatening toasts were called, curses shouted, and
+fists shaken against offending France. A Göttingen student springing on
+a table began to recite with due emphasis Rückert's ferocious poem
+entitled "The Return," in which a Prussian soldier, having returned home
+in consequence of peace being declared, bitterly regrets the various
+outrages he is in consequence debarred from committing. Needless to say,
+this recital was enthusiastically applauded. Shouts of "Bravo!" and
+"Hurrah!" mixed with cries of "Long live King William!" "Hurrah for
+Prussia!" "Down with France!" formed an accompaniment which would
+doubtless have been continued to the next piece, the reciter proposing
+to give a lyric by Theodor Körner. The announcement was received with
+loud applause.
+
+It was, however, by no means the only safety valve at which the passion
+of the surging crowd, now at white heat, sought and found a vent. A
+little lower down, at the corner of the Friedrich Strasse, a well-known
+singer happened to be returning from rehearsal, and as he chanced on one
+occasion to have made a hit by singing "The German Rhine" some one who
+remembered this raised a cry of "The German Rhine! the German Rhine!
+Heinrich! sing 'The German Rhine!'" The crowd instantly recognized and
+surrounded the artist, who, owning a fine voice, and being familiar with
+the piece demanded, did not wait to be asked twice, but gratified his
+audience by singing his very best, thereby far surpassing the Return in
+the tremendous reception he obtained.
+
+But all at once a loud and furious hiss which might have issued from the
+throttle of a steam engine was heard above all the wild applause, and
+produced the effect of a blow in the face bestowed on the singer. A bomb
+suddenly exploding in the crowd could hardly have been more effective;
+the hiss was answered by a dull roar something like that which precedes
+a hurricane and every eye was turned towards the quarter whence it
+proceeded.
+
+Standing by a solitary table was a handsome young man, apparently about
+five-and-twenty, fair-haired, fair-skinned, rather slightly built, and
+in face, moustache and costume somewhat resembling the portrait of
+Vandyke. He had just opened a bottle of champagne and held a foaming
+glass aloft. Undisturbed by angry looks and threatening gestures he drew
+himself up, placed one foot on his chair, and raising his glass above
+his head cried loudly, "Vive la France!" then swallowed the contents at
+one draught.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE HOUSE OF HOHENZOLLERN
+
+
+The immense crowd surrounding the young Frenchman remained for a moment
+dumb with stupefaction. Many, not understanding French, failed to
+comprehend his meaning, and others who did understand, appreciating his
+courage in thug braving a furious crowd, surveyed him with more
+astonishment than anger. Others again, who realized that a dire insult
+had been offered them, would nevertheless with typical German
+deliberation have allowed him time to escape had he wished. But the
+young man's demeanour showed that, whatever the consequences of his
+bravado, he intended to face them. Presently a threatening murmur of
+"Franzose, Franzose," arose from the crowd.
+
+"Yes," said he, in as good German as might be heard anywhere between
+Thionville and Memel. "Yes, I am French. My name is Benedict Turpin. I
+have studied at Heidelberg and might pass for a German since I can speak
+your language as well as most of those here, and better than some. Also
+I can use a rapier, pistol, sword, sabre, single-stick, boxing gloves,
+or any other weapon you like to choose. Any one wishing for satisfaction
+may find me at the Black Eagle."
+
+The young man had hardly finished his audacious defiance when four men
+of the lower class advanced upon him. The crowd kept silence, and the
+contemptuous words, "What! four to one? Leipzig again! Come on! I am
+ready!" were distinctly heard. Then, not waiting to be attacked, the
+young Frenchman sprang at the nearest and broke the bottle of champagne
+over his head, blinding him with foam. The second he tripped up,
+throwing him a good ten paces off, and disposed of the third with a
+vigorous blow in the ribs which hurled him against a chair. Then,
+seizing the fourth by the collar and grasping his waist he actually held
+him aloft in the air for a moment, then flinging him on the ground he
+placed a foot on his chest.
+
+"Is not Leipzig avenged?" said he.
+
+Then at last the tempest burst. A rush was made for the Frenchman, but
+he, still keeping a foot on his fallen enemy, seized a chair and whirled
+it round him so vigorously that for a moment the crowd was held at bay
+and only ventured on threats. But the circle drew closer, some one
+grasped the chair and succeeded in stopping it. A few moments more and
+the audacious Frenchman would probably have been torn to pieces had not
+two or three Prussian officers intervened. They forced their way through
+the crowd and formed a guard around the young man, one of them addressed
+the crowd thus:
+
+"Come, come, my friends, don't murder a brave young man because he does
+not forget he is a Frenchman and has cried 'Vive la France!' He will now
+cry 'Vive Guillaume IV!' and we will let him off." Then, whispering to
+Benedict, "Cry 'Vive Guillaume IV!' or I can't answer for your life."
+
+"Yes!" bawled the crowd, "let him cry 'Vive Guillaume IV!--Vive la
+Prusse!' and we will let him go."
+
+"Very well," said Benedict, "but I prefer to do so freely, and without
+compulsion. Leave me alone and let me speak from a table."
+
+"Stand aside and let him pass," said the officers, releasing Benedict
+and leaving him free. "He wishes to address you."
+
+"Let him speak! let him speak!" cried the crowd.
+
+"Gentlemen!" said Benedict, mounting the table nearest to the open
+windows of the café, "oblige me by listening. I cannot cry 'Vive la
+Prusse,' because at this very moment my country may be at war with
+yours, in which case a Frenchman would disgrace himself if he cried
+anything except 'Vive la France.' Nor can I very well cry 'Vive le roi
+Guillaume,' because, not being my king, it does not matter to me whether
+he lives or dies. But I will recite some charming verses in answer to
+your 'German Rhine!'"
+
+The audience heard him impatiently, not knowing what he meant to recite.
+They had another disappointment in discovering that the lines in
+question were not German but French. However, they listened with all the
+more attention. In enumerating his accomplishments Benedict had omitted
+those of amateur actor and elocutionist. The lines were those written by
+de Musset in response to the "German Rhine," and they lost nothing in
+his impassioned delivery. Those among his hearers able to follow the
+reciter soon perceived that they had been tricked into listening to
+truths they had no desire to hear. Once this was understood, the storm,
+momentarily lulled, burst forth with redoubled violence.
+
+Knowing that there would be no further chance of protection, Benedict
+was carefully considering the distance between his table and the nearest
+window, when suddenly the attention of the crowd was diverted by the
+report of several pistol-shots rapidly fired in the immediate vicinity.
+Turning towards the sound they perceived a well-dressed young civilian,
+struggling desperately with a much older man in colonel's uniform. The
+young man fired again, with the only result of further exasperating his
+adversary, who seized him with a grasp of iron, and, disdaining to call
+for help, shook him as a terrier shakes a rat. Then, throwing him down,
+he knelt upon the would-be murderer's chest, tore the now useless
+revolver from his hand, and placed the barrel against his forehead.
+"Yes, fire, fire!" gasped the young man. But the colonel, in whom the
+bystanders now recognized the powerful minister, Count von Bismarck,
+changed his mind. He pocketed the revolver, and beckoning to two
+officers, "Gentlemen," said he, "this young man is probably mad, or at
+any rate he is a clumsy fool. He attacked me without the slightest
+provocation and has fired five times without hitting me. You had better
+consign him to the nearest prison whilst I acquaint the king with what
+has happened. I think I need hardly mention my name--Count von
+Bismarck."
+
+Then, wrapping his handkerchief round his hand which had been slightly
+scratched in the conflict, the count retraced his steps towards the
+royal palace hardly a hundred yards distant, while the two officers
+handed the assassin over to the police. One of them accompanied him to
+the prison, where he was at once incarcerated. The crowd having now time
+to remember Benedict Turpin found that he had vanished. However, this
+did not trouble them much, for the excitement of the more recent event
+had changed the course of their ideas. Let us profit by the interval and
+glance at the characters who are destined to appear in our recital. But,
+first let us examine the stage on which they will play their several
+parts.
+
+Least German of all Germanic states, Prussia is inhabited by a mixture
+of races. Besides Germans proper, numbers of Slavonians are found there.
+There are also descendants of the Wends, Letts, Lithuanians, Poles, and
+other early tribes, and a mixture of Frankish refugees. The prosperity,
+though not perhaps the grandeur of the House of Hohenzollern, began with
+Duke Frederic, the greatest usurer of his day. It is as impossible to
+calculate the enormous sums wrung from the Jews as to narrate the means
+by which they were extorted. At first a vassal of the Emperor
+Wenceslaus, when that monarch's impending fall became evident Frederic
+deserted his camp for that of his rival Otho, and when Otho's crown
+began to totter, he passed over to Sigismund, brother of Wenceslaus.
+
+In 1400 A.D., the same year in which Charles VI ennobled the goldsmith
+Raoul, as a reward for financial help, Sigismund, equally embarrassed,
+borrowed 100,000 florins from Frederic, giving him the Margravate of
+Brandenburg as security. Fifteen years later, Sigismund having had to
+provide for the extravagance of the Council of Constance, found himself
+in debt to Frederic for 400,000 florins. Utterly unable to pay, he sold,
+or granted in compensation, both the Marches of Brandenburg and the
+dignity of Elector. In 1701 the electorate rose into a kingdom and the
+Duke Frederic III became the King Frederic I of Prussia.
+
+The Hohenzollerns display the faults and the characteristics of their
+race. Their exchequer is admirably managed, but the moral balance-sheet
+of their administration can rarely be compared with the financial one.
+They have advanced on the lines of Duke Frederic, with more or less
+hypocrisy, but with ever-increasing rapacity. Thus in 1525, Albert of
+Hohenzollern, Grand Master of the Teutonic knights, then lords of
+Prussia, forsook his faith and became a Lutheran, receiving in return
+the rank of Hereditary Duke of Prussia, under the over-lordship of
+Poland. And in 1613, the Elector John Sigismund, wishing to obtain the
+duchy of Cleves, followed Albert's example and became a Calvinist.
+
+The policy of the Great Elector has been summed up by Leibnitz in a
+single phrase: "I side with him who pays best." To him is due the
+formation of the European permanent standing army, and it was his second
+wife, the famous Dorothea, who started shops and taverns in Berlin for
+the disposal of her beer and dairy produce. The military genius of the
+Great Frederic is beyond dispute, but it was he who, in order to curry
+favour with the Russian Court, offered to "supply" the Grand Dukes with
+German princesses "at the lowest reasonable rate!" One lady thus
+"supplied" a princess of Anhalt, is known as "Catherine the Great." We
+may remark incidentally that he also is chiefly responsible for the
+partition of Poland, a crime which has weighted the Prussian crown with
+the malediction of nations, and which he celebrated by this scandalously
+impious summons to his brother Henry, "Come, let us receive the
+Eucharist of the body of Poland!" To Frederic also, we owe the
+economical maxim, "He dines best who eats at another's table!"
+
+Frederic died childless, a fact for which, oddly enough, historians have
+seen fit to blame him. His nephew and successor, William II, invaded
+France in 1792. His entry, preceded by the famous manifesto of the Duke
+of Brunswick, was ostentatious to a degree, but his departure,
+accompanied by Danton and Dumouriez, was accomplished without sound of
+trumpet or drum.
+
+He was succeeded by the "Man of Jena," Frederic William III. Among the
+numerous stupid, and servile letters received by the Emperor Napoleon in
+the days of his prosperity, must be counted those of William III.
+
+Frederic William IV--we are rapidly approaching our own times--came to
+the throne in June 1840. According to the Hohenzollern custom his first
+ministry was a liberal one and on his accession he remarked to Alexander
+von Humboldt:
+
+"As a noble I am the first gentleman in the kingdom; as a king I am only
+the first citizen."
+
+Charles X had said much the same on succeeding to the crown of France,
+or, rather, M. de Martignac had said it for him.
+
+The first proof the king gave of his liberalism was an attempt to drill
+properly the intellectual forces of the kingdom, which duty he entrusted
+to the Minister Eichhorn. The name--it means "squirrel"--was quite
+prophetic. At the end of ten years the project had not advanced a step,
+although the minister himself had done wonders of perpetual revolution.
+On the other hand reaction had progressed. The press was persecuted,
+promotion and rewards were obtained only by hypocrites and informers.
+High office could only be acquired by becoming a servile instrument of
+the pietistic party, which was headed by the king.
+
+Frederic William and King Louis of Bavaria were the two most literary of
+contemporary sovereigns. But Louis encouraged Art under whatever form it
+appeared, whereas Frederic William wished it to be drilled into a sort
+of auxiliary to despotism. Feeling himself constrained, like our great
+satirist Boileau, to give an example of good manners to both court and
+city, he began a correspondence with Louis, in the course of which he
+sent the latter a quatrain commenting on the scandal caused by his
+intimacy with Lola Montes. The King of Bavaria replied in another which
+made the round of all the courts of Europe.
+
+     "Contempteur de l'amour, dont adore l'ivresse,
+      Frère, tu dis que, roi sans pudeur, sans vertu,
+      Je garde à tort Lola, ma fille enchanteresse.
+      Je te l'enverrai bien.--Oui; mais qu'en ferais-tu?"
+
+And, by general consent of the wits, the laugh remained on the side of
+the versatile King Louis.
+
+After six years of domiciliary visits, suppressions, and summary
+expulsions of offending journalists, the Prussian Diet at length
+assembled at Berlin. In his opening speech the king addressed the
+deputies thus:
+
+"Recollect, gentlemen, that you are here to represent the interests of
+the people, but _not_ their _sentiments_."
+
+A little later in the year, Frederic William inaugurated his Divine
+Right by observing as he tore up the Constitution:
+
+"I shall not allow a scrap of paper to stand between my people and their
+God!" meaning, though he did not dare to say it, "between my people and
+me."
+
+Then the revolution of 1848 burst forth, and did not spare Berlin, which
+was soon in full revolt. The king lost his head completely. In leaving
+the town he had to drive past the dead bodies of rioters killed in the
+struggle. There was a shout of "Hats off!" and the king was obliged to
+remain uncovered while the people sang the famous hymn composed by the
+Great Electress.
+
+     "Jesus, my Redeemer lives."
+
+Every one knows how Absolutism succeeded in dominating the National
+Assembly, and how presently reaction brought the following leaders into
+power:
+
+Manteuffel, whose policy led to the unfortunate Austrian triumph at
+Olmutz.
+
+Westphalen, who revived provincial councils, and brought the king to the
+famous Warsaw interview.
+
+Statel, a converted Jew and Protestant Jesuit, a Grand Inquisitor who
+had missed his vocation.
+
+And, lastly, the two Gerlachs, intriguers of the first water, whose
+history belongs to that of the two spies, Ladunberg and Techen.
+
+Although the Constitution, establishing two Chambers, was sworn to by
+William IV, February 6th, 1850, it was not until his successor, William
+Louis, was on the throne that both Upper and Lower Chambers began to
+legislate.
+
+A league was now formed by the bureaucracy, the orthodox clergy, the
+provincial squirearchy, and some of the proletariat. This was the origin
+of the famous association inappropriately designated the _Patriotic_
+Association, which had for its aim the annihilation of the Constitution.
+
+There now appeared as First President of the Association at Königsberg,
+the Count von Bismarck, who has played so great a part in Prussian
+history. We cannot do less for him than we have done for the
+Hohenzollerns, that is to say, we must devote an entire chapter to him
+and to the Prussia of to-day. For is not the Count von Bismarck a much
+greater monarch than the King of Prussia himself?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+COUNT VON BISMARCK
+
+
+Many have sought, and some profess to have found, the reasons for the
+remarkable royal favour enjoyed by Count Bismarck, but the chief, and to
+our thinking the only one, is the extraordinary genius which even his
+enemies dare not dispute, notwithstanding the fact that genius is
+usually anything but a passport to the favour of kings.
+
+We will relate one or two little anecdotes concerning the Prime
+Minister, beginning with one which does not refer to him personally, but
+may serve as a sort of preface to another. Every one knows the absurd
+point to which military etiquette is carried in Prussia.
+
+A Pomeranian general--Pomerania may be called the Prussian
+BÅ“otia--being in garrison at Darmstadt and being bored even to the
+fullest possibility of Darmstadt boredom, was standing at his window,
+wishing for a conflagration, a revolution, an earthquake--anything--when
+he beheld an officer in the distance--an officer minus his sword! An
+awful breach of discipline! "Ah!" thought the delighted general, "here
+is a lieutenant to make a scapegoat of. Ten minutes' lecture and a
+fortnight's arrest! What luck!"
+
+The unsuspecting officer drew nearer, and when within hail: "Lieutenant
+Rupert," shouted the general. The officer looked up, saw the general,
+and immediately remembering his missing sword, understood his terrible
+position. The general had seen him; he could not go back, and he felt he
+must brave the storm. The general beamed and rubbed his hands cheerfully
+at the prospect of some amusement at last. The lieutenant plucked up
+courage, entered the house, and arriving at the ante-room, beheld a
+regulation sword hanging on the wall. "What a mercy!" he murmured,
+unhooking the sword and quickly buckling it on. Then looking as innocent
+as possible, he entered the room, and standing at attention by the door,
+
+"The general did me the honour to call," he said.
+
+"Yes," said the general with severity, "I have to enquire--" he stopped
+suddenly, observing that the culprit's sword was at his side. His
+expression changed, and he said smiling:
+
+"Yes, I wanted to ask, I wanted to ask--What on earth was it? Ah, yes. I
+wanted to ask after your family, Lieutenant Rupert. I particularly
+wished to enquire after your father."
+
+"If my father could hear of your kind feeling towards him, general, he
+would be greatly gratified. Unhappily, he died twenty years ago."
+
+The general looked considerably taken aback.
+
+The young officer continued: "Have you any further commands, sir?"
+
+"Why, no," said the general. "Only this. Never be seen without your
+sword. Had you been without it to-day, I should have given you a
+fortnight's arrest."
+
+"I will take the greatest care, sir! You see?" answered the lieutenant,
+boldly indicating the sword which hung at his side.
+
+"Yes, yes, I see. It is all right. You can go now."
+
+The young man lost no time in profiting by the permission; he saluted,
+left the room, and carefully hung up the sword as he went through the
+ante-room. As he left the house the general, being again at the window,
+again saw that he had no sword. He summoned his wife:
+
+"Look here," he said, "do you see that officer?"
+
+"Certainly I do," she replied.
+
+"Has he a sword or not?"
+
+"He has not."
+
+"Well then, you are mistaken; he looks as if he hadn't one, but he has."
+
+The lady made no remark, being accustomed to accept whatever her husband
+said. The young officer escaped with the fright, and took good care not
+to forget his sword a second time.
+
+Well, a similar misfortune--more, a real humiliation of this kind very
+nearly happened to the King of Prussia, when he was only the Prince
+Royal. Von Bismarck was then merely an attaché at the Frankfort Legation
+without any handle to his name. When the prince stopped at Frankfort on
+his way to a review at Mayence von Bismarck had the honour of being told
+off to accompany him.
+
+It was a hot day in August and the railway carriages were stifling.
+Etiquette notwithstanding, everyone from the prince downward,
+unbuttoned his coat. On arriving at Mayence, where the troops were drawn
+up at the station to receive him, the prince refastened his coat but
+left one button undone. He was just leaving the carriage, when, luckily,
+von Bismarck noticed the oversight.
+
+"Good heavens, prince!" he exclaimed, "what are you about?"
+
+And, for once forgetting etiquette, which forbids the royal person to be
+contaminated by profane fingers, he sprang forward and fastened the
+offending button. Hence, according to some, came the royal favour, for
+the king, greatly embarrassed by the events of '58, reflected that the
+man who had saved his credit at Mayence might also save his crown at
+Berlin.
+
+The count now became the leader of the "Junker" faction, voiced by the
+"Kreuz Zeitung." He was, in fact, the fittest man for the position,
+possessing oratorical eloquence, great mental and physical activity, and
+a complete conviction that any sort of means is justified by the end.
+And, the end accomplished, he flung from the height of his tribune this
+epigram in the face of an astonished Chamber: "Might is Right!" in three
+words summing up both his political creed and the direct consequences
+which followed.
+
+The life-giving principles of humanity should be exemplified by three
+nations:
+
+     Commercial activity by England.
+     Moral expansion by Germany.
+     Intellectual brilliance by France.
+
+If we ask why Germany does not occupy the great position assigned to her
+we find the answer in this: France has attained freedom of thought, but
+Germany is allowed only the freedom of a dreamer. The sole atmosphere in
+which she can breathe freely is that of the fortress or the prison. And
+if we wonder why the rest of Germany is ruled by the rod of Prussia the
+explanation may be found in this: German _manners_ do not exist, but
+there is a national _genius_; a genius which desired no revolution, but
+peace and liberty, and, above all--intellectual independence. This
+desire was Prussia's greatest difficulty; she fought it, she weakened
+it, and she hopes to conquer it entirely. She boasts of her compulsory
+education; her children are indeed taught all they can be taught, but
+once out of school they are never permitted to think for themselves.
+
+The Junker faction is composed chiefly of younger sons who have to seek
+either an official career or a military one. Failing this, they must
+depend on the head of the family for a decent maintenance. With very few
+exceptions there is no "old nobility" in Prussia, the aristocracy is not
+distinguished by either wealth or intellect. A few names here and there
+recall ancient Germanic history; others belong to Prussian military
+annals. But the rest of the nobility can claim no distinction, and have
+only owned their estates for a century or two.
+
+Consequently, nearly all the liberal and progressive members of the
+Chamber depend, either by position or office, on the Government, and not
+one of them was strong enough to fight against a despotism which seizes
+a child at the moment of his birth, guides him through adolescence, and
+escorts him for the rest of his life. Therefore Count von Bismarck could
+insult both Chamber and deputies with impunity, knowing that their
+complaints would rouse no answering echo in the country, while at Court
+they were considered as being next door to the servants. On one occasion
+the President Grabow, being present at a state concert, was going to
+occupy a chair in one of the less crowded rooms, when a footman stopped
+him with "These chairs are meant for Excellencies, sir."
+
+"Indeed, my friend," answered the President, "I am evidently out of
+place here."
+
+From the advent of Hohenzollern supremacy may be dated the decay of
+moral independence, both in Prussia and the other Germanic states. Not
+only have the Hohenzollerns failed to exercise any civilizing influence
+by encouraging literature and purifying the language, but they have
+changed Minerva into Pallas, and the beneficent deity of knowledge and
+wisdom has become the Medusa-brandishing goddess of war.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+IN WHICH BISMARCK EMERGES FROM AN IMPOSSIBLE POSITION
+
+
+Now for three months past Bismarck had been in an impossible position,
+and no one could predict how he would emerge from it. Notwithstanding
+the important events which were being enacted from China to Mexico, it
+was upon him that the eyes of Europe were fixed.
+
+Old ministers, experienced in all the wiles of diplomacy, followed him
+with their eyes, spyglass in hand, never doubting that the epoch-making
+minister had an accomplice on the throne in a policy of which they
+vainly sought for precedents in the world's history. If, however, there
+should prove to be no accomplice, they pronounced that he must be a fool
+without an equal.
+
+Young diplomats, modestly aware that they did not quite rank with the
+Talleyrands, the Metternichs, or Nesselrodes, studied him more
+seriously, believing they desired the infancy of a new policy destined
+to carry their epoch to its zenith, whispering the question which
+Germany has asked for three hundred years: "_Ist es der Mann?_" (Can it
+be the Man?) To make this question comprehensible we must tell our
+readers that Germany awaits a liberator as the Jews awaited a Messiah.
+Whenever her chains gall her, she exclaims: "_Wo bleibt der Mann?_"
+(Where, then, is the Man?)
+
+Now, some pretend that to-day in Germany a fourth party, which up to the
+present has been crouching in the gloom, is preparing to emerge--a
+horrible figure, if the poets of Germany are to be believed. Listen to
+Heine on the subject:
+
+"There is thunder truly in Germany, yea, even in Germany: it comes
+slowly; it rolls up gradually from afar; but I doubt not it will come.
+
+"And when you hear a crash, such a crash as the world has not heard in
+all history, you will know that the German thunder has done its work. At
+this uproar eagles will fall dead from the upper air; and lions in the
+pathless deserts of Africa will crouch terrified in their lairs. In
+Germany will be enacted a drama compared with which the French
+Revolution will seem but an _innocent idyll_."
+
+Had Heinrich Heine been the only prophet I should not repeat his
+auguries, for Heine was a dreamer. But here is what Ludwig B---- says:
+
+"In truth, Germany has accomplished nothing for three centuries, and has
+patiently endured all the suffering inflicted upon her. But, even so,
+her labours, sufferings, and joys have not subdued her virgin heart, nor
+her chaste spirit. She contains the reserve forces of liberty and will
+ensure its triumph.
+
+"Her day will come; and to bring it about but little is necessary a
+flash of good-humour, a smile, a summer shower, a thaw, a fool the more,
+or a fool the less, a nothing; the bell of a mule is enough to bring
+down an avalanche. Then France, which is not easily astonished, France
+which accomplished in three days the work of three hundred years, and
+has ceased to wonder at her own work, will survey the German nation with
+astonishment which will not be merely surprise but admiration."
+
+But whether it was the Man or was not the Man that the gallery watched
+as he weighed Europe in the scales, putting everything into one, nothing
+into the other, whether he belonged to the old or to the new diplomacy
+mattered little. The only question was--will von Bismarck demand a
+dissolution of the Chamber, or will the Chamber impeach the count?
+
+The conquest of Schleswig-Holstein had carried him to the height of
+fortune, but the new complications arising _à propos_ of the election of
+the Duke of Augustenburg, made everything seem doubtful even to the
+genius of von Bismarck. During a long interview with the king which took
+place the very day on which this story begins, he fancied that his
+influence was shaken, and he attributed the king's coldness to the
+persistent ill will of the queen.
+
+It is true that until now the count had worked only for his own personal
+advancement, and, having kept entire silence as to his projects, was
+reserving an explanation for a favourable moment, when by the grandeur
+and clearness of his views he hoped to recover the goodwill of his
+sovereign, by an audacious _coup d'état_ to build up a more solid and
+unassailable position than ever.
+
+He had, then, just left the king, intending to unmask his new plan as
+soon as possible, counting on the telegraphic despatches to create an
+effect favourable to himself, which, by making war inevitable, would
+ensure his own safety.
+
+He left the palace accordingly, immersed in these thoughts, and so
+preoccupied that not only did he scarcely observe the excitement in the
+crowded streets, but he did not notice a young man leaning against one
+of the columns of the theatre, who left his place as he passed, and
+followed him like his shadow in and out of the groups blocking the
+street. Twice or thrice, however, as if warned of this close pursuit by
+some magnetic current, the count turned his head, but seeing only a
+well-dressed young man apparently belonging to his own class in life, he
+paid no attention to him.
+
+It was not until he had passed the Friedrich Strasse and was crossing
+the road that he really noticed that the young man seemed determined to
+follow him. He then decided as soon as he had reached the other side to
+stop and ask what his pursuer meant by shadowing him.
+
+But the shadower did not give him an opportunity. The count had hardly
+proceeded three or four steps on his way when he heard a report, and
+felt the wind of a ball which just missed his coat collar. He stopped
+and turned sharply round, seeing in a flash the eddying smoke, the aimed
+revolver, the assassin with his finger on the trigger preparing to fire
+again.
+
+But, as we have said, the count was naturally brave: it did not occur to
+him either to fly or to call for help. He threw himself upon his enemy,
+who, without an instant's delay, fired the second and third shots, which
+whistled harmlessly by. Whether the assassin's hand trembled under
+stress of emotion, or whether, as some say, Providence (which
+nevertheless permitted the assassinations of Henri IV and Gustavus
+Adolphus) forbade the accomplishment of such a crime, the two balls
+passed right and left of von Bismarck.
+
+Then the murderer lost courage and turned to fly. But the count seized
+him by the collar with one hand and with the other clutched the barrel
+of the revolver. Once again a shot was fired; the count was slightly
+wounded, but kept his hold and grasped his adversary closely, throwing
+him on the ground, and finally handed him over to the Prussian officers.
+
+Seizing the favourable occasion with the promptitude of genius, he
+again took his way to the palace, bent on making this event the turning
+point of the situation.
+
+This time he passed through a double avenue of spectators, whereas
+previously in the public commotion no one had noticed him. It was now
+otherwise--the murderer's attempt, of which he had been the object and
+from which he had emerged with so much courage, attracted every one's
+attention, if not their sympathy, and whether loved or not loved, all
+made room and saluted him. Sympathy might be wanting, but the count
+could at all events read admiration upon every face.
+
+Von Bismarck was at this time about fifty or fifty-two; tall, with a
+well-proportioned figure, slightly puffy, and almost bald except at the
+temples, with a thick moustache. One of his cheeks was furrowed by a
+scar, the legacy of a duel fought at the University of Göttingen.
+
+The palace guard had already heard the news and turned out to receive
+the count, who, as colonel in the Army, was entitled to this mark of
+respect. He graciously responded, and went up the staircase leading to
+the king's audience chamber.
+
+As prime minister, the count had the right of entry at any time. He was
+about to turn the door handle when the usher in waiting stopped him,
+saying:
+
+"His Excellency will pardon me, but the king can see no one."
+
+"Not even me?" asked the count.
+
+"Not even your Excellency," replied the usher with a low bow.
+
+The count stepped backward with a movement of the lips that might have
+passed for a smile, but was certainly not one. Then he began to study,
+but without seeing it, a large naval picture which decorated the
+ante-room, standing out by reason of its immense gilt frame from the
+official green paper which adorns all the royal apartments.
+
+At the end of a quarter of an hour, the door opened, the count hearing
+the _frou frou_ of a satin dress, turned and bowed low before a woman of
+forty to forty-five years of age, who had evidently possessed great
+beauty and was indeed still beautiful. Perhaps, if the "Almanach de
+Gotha" were consulted, it would be found that the lady was rather older
+than this, but as the proverb says: "A woman is as old as she looks,"
+and I see no reason why queens should be excepted.
+
+The lady was Queen Marie Louise Augusta Catherine, daughter of Charles
+Frederic, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and known throughout Europe as the
+Queen Augusta. She was of medium height--is best described by the
+essentially French word _attrayant_. She wore on her left arm the
+feminine Order of Queen Louise of Prussia. She passed the minister
+slowly and somewhat haughtily, saluting him indeed, but without her
+usual kindness. By the doors through which she passed the count
+understood she had been with the king, and was now returning to her own
+apartments.
+
+The queen had left the door belonging to the king's apartment open
+behind her, and the usher now intimated that the minister might enter.
+He waited, however, until the door had closed upon the queen.
+
+"Yes," he said, "it is true that I was not born a baron, but let us see
+what the future will do for me."
+
+And then he passed forward. The various lackeys or chamberlains whom he
+met hastened to open the doors leading to the audience-room. Reaching it
+the chamberlain announced in a loud voice: "His Excellency Count von
+Bismarck."
+
+The king started and turned round. He was standing before the
+chimney-piece, and heard the name of von Bismarck with some surprise, it
+being barely a quarter of an hour since the minister had left him. The
+count wondered if the king had already heard what had happened to him in
+the interval.
+
+He bowed low before His Majesty.
+
+"Sire," he said, "an event of great importance has recalled me to Your
+Majesty, but I see with regret that the moment is unfavourable--"
+
+"Why?" enquired the king.
+
+"Because I have just had the honour of meeting the queen in the
+ante-room, and not having the happiness of being in Her Majesty's good
+graces--"
+
+"Well, count, I admit that she does not see eye to eye with you."
+
+"She is wrong, sire, for my devotion belongs equally to my king and to
+my queen, and the one cannot become Emperor of Germany without the other
+becoming Empress."
+
+"A dream, my dear count, in which Queen Augusta unfortunately believes,
+but which is not the dream of a reasonable being."
+
+"Sire, the unity of Germany is as much decreed in the design of
+Providence as the unity of Italy."
+
+"Excellent," said the king, laughing; "can there be a united Italy while
+the Italians possess neither Rome nor Venice?"
+
+"Italy is in formation, sire. She began her march in '59 and will not
+stop on the way. If she looks like stopping, she is only taking breath.
+Indeed, have we not promised her Venice?"
+
+"Yes, but it is not we who will give it her."
+
+"Who then?"
+
+"France? who has already given her Lombardy, and has let her take the
+duchies and Naples. France!" said the king. "France let her take all
+that with quite the best will in the world."
+
+"Is Your Majesty aware of the contents of the telegraphic despatches
+which arrived when I was here and which were delivered as I left?"
+
+"Yes, I know. The Emperor Napoleon's speech at Auxerre," answered the
+king with some embarrassment. "You refer to that, do you not?"
+
+"Well, sire, the emperor's speech means war--war not only against
+Austria but against Germany. It means Venice for Italy and the Rhine
+provinces for France."
+
+"You really think so?"
+
+"I mean that if we give France time to arm, the question without
+becoming desperate becomes grave, but that if we fall promptly and
+vigorously upon Austria, we shall be on the Moldau with three hundred
+thousand men before France can reach the Rhine with fifty thousand."
+
+"Count, you do not give the Austrians their proper value; the swagger of
+our young men has gone to your head."
+
+"Sire, if I appear to adopt the opinions of the heir-apparent and of
+Prince Frederic Charles, I can only say that the prince having been born
+on June 29th, 1801, is scarcely a young man; but the fact is, that in
+these matters I rely on my own opinion only, and I say deliberately in a
+war against Prussia, Austria will certainly be beaten."
+
+"Really?" said the king doubtfully. "Yet I have heard you speak in high
+terms of both their generals and their soldiers."
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Well then, it does not seem to me so remarkably easy to conquer good
+soldiers commanded by good generals."
+
+"They have good, soldiers, sire, they have good generals, but we shall
+beat them because our own organization and arrangement are superior to
+theirs. When I persuaded Your Majesty to undertake the war on Schleswig
+which Your Majesty did not desire to do--"
+
+"If I had not desired to make war on Schleswig it would never have been
+made!"
+
+"That is very true, sire, but Your Majesty hesitated; I had the courage
+to insist, and Your Majesty approved of my reasons."
+
+"Yes, and what is the result of the war on Schleswig? War throughout
+Germany!"
+
+"True, sire, in the first place I like a situation that calls for
+resolute action; and as I consider war in Germany inevitable, I
+congratulate you."
+
+"Will you explain whence comes your confidence?"
+
+"Your Majesty forgets that I made the campaign with the Prussian army. I
+did not do it for the mere pleasure of hearing cannon, of counting the
+dead, and of sleeping on the battlefield, where I assure you one sleeps
+very badly, or for the purpose of giving you what was nevertheless well
+worth having, two posts on the Baltic, of which Prussia stood in great
+need. No, I made the campaign with the object of trying the Austrians,
+and I repeat that they are behind us in everything--discipline,
+armaments, use of arms: they have bad rifles, bad artillery, and worse
+powder. In a war against us Austria will be beaten from the very
+commencement, for we have everything which she has not, and Austria once
+vanquished, the supremacy in Germany must inevitably fall from her hands
+into those of Prussia."
+
+"And how is Prussia with a population of eighteen millions to maintain
+her superiority over sixty? Only look at her pitiful appearance on the
+map."
+
+"That is exactly the point. I have looked at her for three years, and
+now is the time to mould her anew. Prussia is a great serpent whose head
+is at Thionville, while her tail is at Memel, and which has a lump in
+her stomach because she has swallowed half Saxony. She is a kingdom cut
+in two by another--Hanover--in such a fashion that you cannot get home
+without going abroad. You must understand, sire, Hanover is bound to
+become part of Prussia."
+
+"But what will England say to this?"
+
+"England is no longer in the age of Pitt and Cobourg. England is the
+very humble servant of the Manchester School, of Gladstone, Cobden, and
+their scholars; England will do no more for Hanover than she did for
+Denmark. Must we not take Saxony also?"
+
+"France will never allow us to meddle with Saxony, if only in memory of
+the king who was faithful to her in 1813."
+
+"Not if we took too big a mouthful; but if we only nibble she will shut
+both eyes, or at least one of them. And is not Hesse also very
+necessary?"
+
+"The Confederation will not abandon all Hesse."
+
+"But if it will let us take half, that is all we want. Now let us
+consider Frankfort-on-the-Main."
+
+"Frankfort-on-the-Main! The free town! The seat of the Diet!"
+
+"The moment Prussia can reckon thirty millions of men instead of
+eighteen the Diet is dead. Prussia will then be the Diet. Only, instead
+of crying a decree she will say 'decree.'"
+
+"We shall have the whole of the Confederation against us. It will side
+with Austria."
+
+"So much the better!"
+
+"And why?"
+
+"Austria once beaten, the Confederation is beaten along with her."
+
+"We shall have a million men against us."
+
+"Let us count them."
+
+"There are four hundred and fifty thousand in Austria--"
+
+"Agreed."
+
+"And four hundred and fifty thousand in Venetia."
+
+"The emperor is too obstinate to recall troops from Venice before two or
+three battles if he is successful, before ten if he is beaten."
+
+"Bavaria has one hundred and sixty thousand."
+
+"I will answer for Bavaria--her king is too fond of music to love the
+sound of cannon."
+
+"Hanover, twenty-five thousand men."
+
+"Only a mouthful to swallow on our first march."
+
+"Saxony, fifteen thousand."
+
+"Another mouthful."
+
+"And a hundred and fifty thousand belonging to the Confederation."
+
+"The Confederation will have no time to arm them; only we must not lose
+a moment, sire; therefore I now say 'War, Victory, the supremacy of
+Prussia--myself--or-'"
+
+"Or?"
+
+"Or my resignation, which I lay very humbly at Your Majesty's feet."
+
+"What is that on your hand, count?"
+
+"Nothing, sire."
+
+"It looks like blood."
+
+"Perhaps it is."
+
+"Is it true, then, that some one attempted your life by firing at you
+with a revolver?"
+
+"Five times, sire."
+
+"Five? Good gracious!"
+
+"He thought it none too many for me."
+
+"And you are unwounded?"
+
+"Only a scratch on the little finger."
+
+"And who was your assassin?"
+
+"I do not know who he is."
+
+"Did he refuse to give his name?"
+
+"No, I forgot to ask him; besides, that is the Attorney-General's
+affair, not mine. I do not interfere with other people's concerns. Now,
+my own business is my King's business, and that is here."
+
+"I am listening," said the king.
+
+"To-morrow the chamber is dissolved; the following day we mobilize; in
+eight days hostilities are declared, or else--"
+
+"Or else what?"
+
+"Or else, as I have the honour to repeat to Your Majesty, my
+resignation."
+
+Then, without waiting for the king's answer the Count von Bismarck bowed
+low, and according to etiquette retired backwards from the king's
+presence. The king said nothing to detain his minister, but before
+closing the door, that gentleman heard the bell rung loudly enough to
+rouse the whole palace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A SPORTSMAN AND A SPANIEL
+
+
+On the day following the events just narrated, a young man about
+twenty-five years of age arrived in Brunswick by the eleven o'clock
+train from Berlin. Leaving his luggage, which was labelled "Hanover," in
+the station, he took a small knapsack on which were strapped a
+sketch-book and camp-stool, buckled on a cartridge belt, flung a baldric
+supporting a double-barrelled gun over his shoulder, and completed his
+toilet with a large grey felt hat. Altogether he appeared a sort of
+cross between sportsman and tourist. Accompanied by a beautiful
+jet-black spaniel he left the station and hailed an open carriage,
+whereupon the dog instantly justified his name of "Frisk" by springing
+joyously in, and installing himself on the front seat, while his master
+reclined on the back after the manner of one accustomed to do things
+comfortably. Courteously addressing the driver in excellent German:
+
+"Coachman," said he, "kindly take me to the best hotel the town affords,
+or at any rate, to the one which provides the best lunch!"
+
+The coachman nodded as if to say he required no further instructions,
+and the carriage rattled and bumped over the cobble stones to the Hôtel
+d'Angleterre. The dog, who had hardly been able to retain his position,
+instantly sprang out, and showing his relief by active gambols,
+besought his master to follow. The latter alighted, but left his
+knapsack and gun in the carriage. Turning to the driver:
+
+"You may wait," he said, "and keep an eye on my things."
+
+Hackney coachmen, all the world over, have a keen eye for good
+customers. This honest fellow was no exception.
+
+"Excellency may be quite satisfied," he answered with a wink. "I will
+keep careful guard over them."
+
+The traveller entered the inn, and passing straight through it arrived
+at a pleasant court shaded by lime-trees. Here he selected a small table
+with chairs for two, one of which was promptly occupied by Frisk; his
+master took possession of the other and the two proceeded to lunch. This
+occupied an hour, and no lady could have received more attention than
+the young man bestowed on Frisk. The dog ate whatever his master ate,
+only politely protesting when a hare, accompanied by currant jelly,
+appeared on the scene, that as a sporting dog he ought not to touch
+game, and personally had a serious objection to sweets. Meanwhile, the
+driver remaining on his box refreshed himself with bread, cheese, and a
+half bottle of wine. Consequently, when master and dog re-occupied the
+carriage the trio presented an appearance of general satisfaction.
+
+"Where to, Excellency?" enquired the driver, wiping his mouth on his
+sleeve, with the air of a man ready to drive to the world's end if you
+wished.
+
+"I don't quite know," was the answer, "it depends a little on you."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"Well, if I find you a good fellow, I might wish to keep you on for some
+time."
+
+"Oh, a year if you like!
+
+"No, that is too long."
+
+"Well, a month then."
+
+"Neither a year nor a month, but a day or two."
+
+"Oh, that's not enough. I really thought you meant to take me on lease."
+
+"To begin with, what will you charge for going to Hanover?"
+
+"It is six leagues, you know."
+
+"Four and a half, you mean."
+
+"But it is up and down hill the whole way."
+
+"Nonsense! it is as flat as a billiard-table."
+
+"One can't get round you," said the grinning driver.
+
+"In one way you can."
+
+"And which is that?"
+
+"Simply by being honest."
+
+"Ah, indeed! That is a new idea."
+
+"It is one which has not before occurred to you, I think."
+
+"Well, name your own price, then."
+
+"Four florins."
+
+"But you are not counting the drive from the station and the time for
+lunch."
+
+"You are right, I will allow for that."
+
+"And the _pourboire_."
+
+"That is as I may choose."
+
+"Agreed. I don't know why, but I trust you."
+
+"Only, if I keep you more than a week it will then be three and a half
+florins per day, and no _pourboire_."
+
+"I couldn't agree to that."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because I see no reason for depriving you of the pleasure of doing the
+handsome thing when I have the misfortune of leaving you."
+
+"The dickens! One would take you for a wit!"
+
+"I've wit enough to look like a fool when I want to."
+
+"Well done! Where do you come from?"
+
+"From Sachsenhausen."
+
+"And where may that be?"
+
+"It is a suburb of Frankfort."
+
+"Ah! yes, it is a Saxon colony from the days of Charlemagne."
+
+"That is so. So you know that, do you?"
+
+"I also know that you are a fine race, something like the Auvergnats of
+France. We will settle up when we part."
+
+"That's suits me down to the ground."
+
+"What's your name?
+
+"Lenhart."
+
+"Very well, Lenhart, let us get on then."
+
+The carriage started, scattering the usual crowd of idle spectators. A
+few minutes brought it to the end of the street leading to the open
+country. The day was magnificent. The trees had just burst into leaf,
+and earth had assumed a mantle of green, the soft spring breeze seemed
+laden with the perfume of flowers. Overhead the birds were already
+seeking food for their little ones, and awakening Nature appeared to
+listen to their songs. From time to time a lark arose from among the
+corn, and ascending high in the air seemed as if floating above the
+summit of a pyramid of song.
+
+Beholding this magnificent country the traveller exclaimed: "But there
+must be splendid shooting here, is there not?"
+
+"Yes, but it is strictly preserved," replied the coachman.
+
+"So much the better," said our friend, "there will be all the more
+game."
+
+In fact, before they had gone quite a mile from the town, Frisk, who
+had given various signs of impatience, sprang out of the carriage,
+rushed into a field of clover, and pointed.
+
+"Shall I go on or wait," enquired the driver, seeing the young man
+loading his gun.
+
+"Go on a yard, or two," was the answer. "There, that will do; now, draw
+up as near to the field as you can."
+
+The carriage, with the sportsman standing up in it, gun in hand, halted
+within thirty yards of the dog. The driver looked on with all the
+interest of his class, an interest which is always on the side of the
+sportsman and hostile to the landlord and the gamekeeper. "That is a
+clever dog," he remarked. "What is he pointing at?"
+
+"It is a hare."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"Had it been a bird he would have wagged his tail. See."
+
+A big leveret showed itself among the clover and fell a victim to the
+gun. It was promptly brought in by Frisk. Further on a covey of
+partridges was seen, but the dog was called off, and the young brood
+left in peace. They were already approaching Hanover when a startled
+hare was seen some sixty yards from the carriage.
+
+"Ah!" said Lenhart, "this one wisely keeps his distance."
+
+"It does not follow," replied the sportsman.
+
+"You don't expect to hit at that distance, do you?"
+
+"Have you still to learn, my friend, you who profess to be able to
+shoot, that to a good shot and a good gun distance is of small
+importance? Now, watch!"
+
+Then, having altered the charges in his gun the young man enquired:
+
+"Do you know all about the manners and customs of hares, Lenhart?"
+
+"Why, yes, I think I know all any one can know who can't speak their
+language."
+
+"Well, I can tell you this. A startled hare, if not pursued, will run
+about fifty paces and will then sit down to have a look round and
+perform his toilet. Look!"
+
+And in fact, the hare, which had run towards the carriage, instead of
+away from it, suddenly stopped, sat down, and began to wash its face
+with its forepaws. This predicted toilet cost the poor animal its life.
+A prompt shot and the hare bounded upwards and fell back dead.
+
+"Beg pardon, Excellency," said Lenhart, "but if we are going to war as
+it is said we are, on which side will you be?"
+
+"As I am neither Austrian nor Prussian, but happen to be a Frenchman,
+you will probably find me fighting for France."
+
+"So long as you do not fight for these Prussian beggars I am quite
+satisfied. If you will fight against them, however--_donnerwetter_--but
+I have something to say."
+
+"Well? at is it?"
+
+"I offer you the free use of my carriage to fight from."
+
+"Thanks! my friend, 'tis an offer not to be despised. I always thought
+that if I had to fight, I should like to make the campaign in a
+carriage."
+
+"Well, then, here is the very thing you want. I can't tell you how old
+my horse is, he wasn't young when I bought him ten years ago, but I know
+if I took him to a Thirty Years' War he would see me through it. As for
+the carriage, you can see it is as good as new. Those shafts were put on
+only three years ago, and last year it had new wheels and a new axle,
+and it is only six months since I provided it with a new body."
+
+"You remind me of an anecdote we have in France," replied the other. "It
+is that of Simple Simon's knife, which had first a new blade and then a
+new handle, but was still the same knife."
+
+"Ah, sir," said Lenhart, with the air of a philosopher, "every country
+has its Simple Simon's knife."
+
+"And also its simpletons, my good friend."
+
+"Well, if you put new barrels on your gun you might give me the old
+ones. Here comes your dog with the hare," lifting it by the ears. "You
+can join the other, you fool," he said. "See what comes of too much
+vanity! Ah, sir! don't fight against the Prussians if you don't want to,
+but, good heaven, don't fight for them!"
+
+"Oh, as to that you may be quite easy. If I do fight, it will be against
+them, and perhaps I shall not wait for war to be declared."
+
+"Bravo! Down with the Prussians!" cried Lenhart, touching up his horse
+with a sharp cut. The animal, as if to justify his praises, and excited
+by his master's voice and cracking whip, broke into a gallop, bolted
+through the suburban streets and only stopped at the Hôtel Royal.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+BENEDICT TURPIN
+
+
+Lenhart, in his double capacity of hackney coachman and purveyor of
+travellers and tourists for the Hôtel Royal, Hanover, was well known to
+Mr. Stephen, landlord thereof, who gave him a cordial reception. Anxious
+to magnify the importance of his present consignment, Lenhart hastened
+to inform him that the new arrival was a mortal enemy of the Prussians,
+that he never missed a shot, and that if war were declared, he would
+place himself and his deadly weapon at the disposal of the King of
+Hanover. To all of which Stephen lent an attentive ear.
+
+"But where does your traveller come from," he at length enquired.
+
+"He says he's a Frenchman, but I don't believe it. I've never once heard
+him boast about anything, besides, his German is too good. But there, he
+is calling you."
+
+Stephen quickly answered the summons. The stranger was talking to an
+English officer of the Royal Household and his English appeared no less
+fluent than his German. Turning to Stephen he said in the latter
+language.
+
+"I have asked a question of Colonel Anderson, who has kindly given me
+one-half of the answer, and tells me to apply to you for the rest. I
+asked for the title of the principal newspaper here, and the name of
+its editor. Colonel Anderson says the 'Hanoverian Gazette,' but does not
+know the editor's name."
+
+"Wait a moment, Excellency. Yes, yes, let me see. He is Herr Bodemeyer,
+a tall, thin man with a beard, is he not?"
+
+"Never mind his appearance. I want his name and address. I wish to send
+him my card."
+
+"I only know the office address, Park Strasse. Do you dine at the _table
+d'hôte_? If so, Herr Bodemeyer is one of our regular guests. It is at
+five o'clock, he will be here in half-an-hour."
+
+"All the more reason why he should have my card first," and producing a
+visiting-card bearing the legend "Benedict Turpin, Artist," he addressed
+it to Herr Bodemeyer, and handed it and a florin to the hotel messenger,
+who undertook to deliver it within ten minutes.
+
+Stephen then ventured to suggest that if there were private matters to
+discuss a private room might be desirable.
+
+"A good idea," said Benedict, and going to Colonel Anderson, "Sir," said
+he, "although we have never been formally introduced, I nevertheless
+hope you will waive etiquette and do me the honour of dining with me and
+Herr Bodemeyer, who I think will not refuse to join us. Our host
+promises an excellent dinner and good wine. It is six months since I
+left France, consequently six months since I had a chance of
+conversation. In England they talk, in Germany they dream, it is in
+France only that they converse. Let us have a nice little dinner at
+which we can do all three. Here is my card, that of an insignificant
+artist, devoid of armorial bearings or coronets, but with the simple
+Cross of the Légion d'Honneur. I would add, colonel," he continued
+seriously, "that in a day or two I may find myself obliged to ask a
+favour of you, and I should like to prove myself not unworthy of the
+consideration I hope you will show me."
+
+The colonel accepted the card and bowed politely.
+
+"Sir," said he with courteous English formality, "the hope you give me
+of being able to render you some service would certainly induce me to
+accept your hospitality. I have no reason whatever against dining with
+Herr Bodemeyer, and I have a thousand for wishing to dine with you, not
+the least being, if I may say so, that I find your person and manners
+exceedingly attractive."
+
+Benedict bowed in his turn.
+
+"Since you have done me the honour to accept," he said, "and I feel
+pretty sure of Herr Bodemeyer, it becomes my first duty to see that the
+dinner is a decent one. If you will excuse me I should like to interview
+the chef on the subject," and he departed kitchenwards while the colonel
+sought the hotel reading-room.
+
+Left in possession of a fair income at an age when the usual idea is
+only how best to squander it, Benedict Turpin had shown practical sense
+as well as genius. A believer in the excellent proverb which says that a
+man doubles his opportunities in life when he learns a new language, he
+had quadrupled his by spending a year in England, another in Germany, a
+third in Spain, and a fourth in Italy. At eighteen he was a first-rate
+linguist, and he spent the next two years in completing his education by
+classical and scientific studies, not neglecting the use of weapons and
+the general practice of games, calculated to further his physical
+development. By the time he was twenty he had attained an all-round
+proficiency very unusual in youths of his age and promised much in the
+time to come.
+
+He took part in the Chinese expedition, and being possessed of
+sufficient means to indulge his taste for travelling, spent several
+years in world-wide wandering, hunting wild beasts, traversing deserts,
+picking up tapestries, jewels, curiosities, etc., wherewith on his
+return he furnished one of the most artistic studios in Paris. At the
+time our story opens he had, in the course of a round of visits to
+celebrated German painters, arrived in Berlin, where he upheld the
+honour of France, with the insolent good luck which seemed never to
+desert him. When the attention of the mob was momentarily diverted by
+the attack on the Prime Minister, Benedict succeeded in escaping
+unnoticed, and took refuge at the French Embassy, where he was well
+known. Early in the following morning he left by train and finally
+arrived at Hanover without let or hindrance. He had just given his last
+instructions to the cook when he was warned that Herr Bodemeyer was
+already approaching the hotel.
+
+Benedict hurried to the entrance, where he saw close at hand a gentleman
+drawing near, who held a visiting card in his hand, and seemed pondering
+much as to what the owner could possibly want with him.
+
+It is said that the denizens of that ancient Gaul which gave Cæsar so
+much trouble have so marked a personality that, wherever one is seen,
+the passers-by immediately remark: "Look, that's a Frenchman!"
+
+Herr Bodemeyer, at any rate, seemed to recognize Benedict's nationality
+at once. He advanced smiling, with extended hand. Benedict promptly
+descended the steps to meet him and the two exchanged the customary
+civilities. Hearing that the artist had come from Berlin, and being
+professionally eager for news, the editor at once demanded an account of
+the uproar of the previous evening, and of the attempted assassination
+of Count Bismarck.
+
+As to the latter, Benedict could give little information. He had heard
+the shots, seen two men struggling, and one handed over to some
+officers, and then had hastily sprung into the café, left it by a door
+in another street, and found shelter at the Embassy. There he heard
+further that the young man was the stepson of a proscribed refugee of
+the '48, named Blind, and that he had made terrible accusations against
+the count, which, coming as they did from the relative of a banished
+rebel, were held to count for very little.
+
+"Well, we know a little more than that," said Herr Bodemeyer, "we hear
+that the young man attempted to cut his throat with a penknife, but that
+the wounds were only slight and the doctor says are not dangerous. But
+the "Kreuz Zeitung" will be here directly and we shall know a little
+more."
+
+Even as he spoke newsboys hurried down the street shouting "Kreuz
+Zeitung--Zeitung!" There was a rush for the paper. Hanover was nearly as
+excited as Berlin had been the night before. Did the poor little kingdom
+already feel itself in the crushing embrace of the Prussian
+boa-constrictor?
+
+Benedict beckoned to one of the newsboys and bought a paper. Turning to
+the Hanoverian editor,
+
+"I hope you will dine with me and Colonel Anderson," he said. "We have a
+private room, and can talk politics as much as we like. Besides, I have
+something to ask of you which I could hardly ask at a public table."
+
+Just then Colonel Anderson approached. He and Bodemeyer knew each other
+by sight already. Benedict now formally introduced them. The colonel had
+already glanced at his newspaper.
+
+"Do you know," said he, "that although the doctor pronounced the wound
+of no consequence, young Blind nevertheless died early this morning? A
+Hanoverian officer come from Berlin says that about four o'clock a man
+wrapped in a large cloak and wearing a large shady hat which concealed
+his face, arrived at the prison provided with a permission to see the
+prisoner, and was taken to his cell. Blind had been put into a strait
+waistcoat and no one knows what passed between them, but when his cell
+was inspected at eight o'clock he was dead. The doctor says he must have
+been dead nearly four hours, so that he must have died about the time
+this mysterious visitor left him."
+
+"Is this official news?" enquired Bodemeyer. "As editor of a Government
+paper I am bound to accept only official information. Let us see what
+the 'Kreuz Zeitung' has to say."
+
+They withdrew to the room assigned to them, and the Hanoverian editor
+proceeded to examine the Berlin newspaper. The first paragraph of
+consequence stated:
+
+"We are assured that the king's warrant decreeing the dissolution of the
+Lower Chamber will be officially published to-morrow."
+
+"Come," said the colonel, "that is of some importance."
+
+"Wait a moment; there is something more."
+
+"It is also announced that a decree ordering the mobilization of the
+Landwehr will be officially published the day after to-morrow."
+
+"That is enough," observed the colonel, "we know now that the minister
+wins all along the line and that war will be declared in less than a
+fortnight. Let us have the general news. We know all we want to know of
+the political. Only, first, on which side will Hanover be?"
+
+"There is no doubt about that," replied Bodemeyer. "Hanover is bound to
+adhere to the Confederation."
+
+"And on which side is the Confederation," asked Benedict.
+
+"On the side of Austria," answered the journalist promptly. "But listen,
+here is a fresh account of the scene in Unter den Linden."
+
+"Oh! let us have that by all means," cried Benedict. "I was there, and I
+want to know if the account is correct.
+
+"What! were you there?"
+
+"Very much there," and he added laughing, "I might even say with Æneas,
+'_Et quorum pars magna fui._' I was in the thick of it."
+
+Herr Bodemeyer continued:
+
+"We are now able to give fuller details concerning the demonstration in
+Unter den Linden which occurred yesterday after the report of the
+Emperor Louis Napoleon's speech had been received. It appears that just
+as our most distinguished vocalist finished singing 'The German Rhine,'
+which was received with tremendous enthusiasm, a loud hiss was heard. It
+was soon seen that the author of this insult was a foreigner, a French
+painter, evidently intoxicated, and who would probably have atoned for
+his folly with his life, had not some Prussian officers generously
+protected him from the infuriated populace. The young fool further
+defied the crowd by giving his name and address, but when enquiries were
+made at the Black Eagle this morning he had disappeared. We commend his
+prudence and wish him a pleasant journey."
+
+"Is that paragraph signed," asked Benedict.
+
+"No. Is it inaccurate?" returned the reader.
+
+"May I be permitted to remark that the one thing I have everywhere
+observed in my wanderings over three of the four quarters of the
+world--I beg your pardon, there are five, if we count Oceania--is the
+extremely small regard for truth shown by the purveyors of this sort of
+news. Whether in the north or the south, St. Petersburg or Calcutta,
+Paris or Constantinople, they are all alike. Each journal is bound to
+give so many beats of its drum every day. Good or bad, false or true, it
+has to give them, and those who feel injured must obtain redress--if
+they can."
+
+"Which means, I suppose," observed Colonel Anderson, "that this account
+is incorrect."
+
+"Not only incorrect, but incomplete. The 'young fool' it speaks of, not
+only hissed, but cried, 'Vive la France!' Further, he drank to the
+health of France, and also disposed satisfactorily of the four first who
+attacked, him. It is true that these three Prussian officers intervened.
+They wished him to cry 'Vive Guillaume I' and 'Vive la Prusse.' He
+mounted a table, and instead, gave them a recital of Alfred de Musset's
+'Answer to the German Rhine' from end to end. It is also true that just
+then the reports of Blind's revolver attracted general attention, and,
+not proposing to fight all Berlin, he profited by the incident to
+escape, taking refuge in the French Embassy. He had challenged one, two,
+or four adversaries, but not the entire populace. He also left a message
+at the Black Eagle to be given to any enquirers to the effect that he
+could not remain in Berlin, but would wait in some neighbouring country
+in order to oblige any one demanding satisfaction. And, leaving Berlin
+by an early train he arrived at Hanover an hour ago and at once sent his
+card to Herr Bodemeyer, hoping that that gentleman will kindly announce
+in his Gazette both the town and the hotel where this 'young fool' may
+be found by any one unable to find him at the Black Eagle."
+
+"Good heavens," exclaimed the editor, "then it was you who caused this
+mighty uproar at Berlin."
+
+"Even I; small things make much noise, as you see." Turning to the
+Englishman, Benedict continued, "And now you also see why I warned
+Colonel Anderson that I had a favour to ask him. I want him to be my
+second in case, as is quite possible, some wrathful individual should
+arrive demanding why, being in a foreign country, I have dared to uphold
+the honour of my own."
+
+His hearers, with one accord, immediately offered their hands. Benedict
+continued:
+
+"And now, to show I am not absolutely unknown, here is a letter from the
+Head of our 'Department of Fine Arts' to Herr Kaulbach, Painter to the
+King of Hanover. He lives here, does he not?"
+
+"Yes, the king had a charming house built on purpose for him."
+
+At this moment the door communicating with the next room was thrown
+open, the rotund figure of the landlord appeared in the opening and a
+solemn and impressive voice announced:
+
+"Their Excellencies are served."
+
+Whether the chef had perceived that Benedict really understood what he
+was talking about, or else had had orders from his master to do what he
+was told, he had, at any rate, carried out his instructions to the very
+last letter, the result being neither French, English, nor German, but
+cosmopolitan, a banquet for a conference if not a congress. Nor was
+brilliant conversation lacking. Bodemeyer, like all German journalists,
+was a well-read man, but had never been outside Hanover. Anderson, on
+the contrary, had read little, but had travelled everywhere and seen
+much. He and Benedict had explored the same countries and encountered
+the same people. Both had been at the siege of Pekin; Anderson had
+followed Benedict in India, and preceded him in Russia. Both related
+their experiences, the one with English reserve and humour, the other
+with French vivacity and wit. The Englishman, a true modern
+Phœnician, saw everything from the industrial and commercial point of
+view, the Frenchman from that of intellectual progress. Their different
+ideas, brought forward with warmth and also with the courtesy of
+well-bred and distinguished men, crossed each other like foils in the
+hands of experienced fencers, emitting sparks, brilliant if transitory.
+Bodemeyer, unused to this style of discussion, endeavoured to give it a
+philosophical turn, in which he was met by Benedict, but which Anderson
+found difficult to follow. The journalist seemed unintelligible, but
+Benedict's theories he understood as he had never understood before.
+
+The clock striking eight abruptly terminated the conversation. The
+editor sprang up.
+
+"My paper!" he cried, "my 'Gazette'! It is not ready by half!" Never
+before had he succumbed to such an intellectual temptation. "Frenchmen
+are the very devil," he muttered, trying in vain to find a hat which
+would fit him. They _are_ the champagne of the earth, they are clear,
+strong, and sparkling. In vain did Benedict entreat him for five minutes
+in which to write his announcement. "You must let me have it before
+eleven o'clock," cried Bodemeyer, as, having discovered his own hat and
+cane he fled as if the enemy were behind him.
+
+Next morning the following announcement might have been read in the
+"Hanoverian Gazette".
+
+     "On June 7th, 1866, in Unter den Linden at Berlin I had occasion to
+     both give and receive several blows in an encounter with various
+     excellent citizens who wished to tear me to pieces because I had
+     publicly emptied my glass to the glory of France. I have not the
+     honour of knowing who gave these blows, but, wishing to be known by
+     those who received mine, I hereby announce that during the next
+     eight days I may be found at the Hôtel Royal, Hanover, by any one
+     wishing to criticize either my words or actions on the said
+     occasion, and I particularly hope that the author of a certain
+     article referring to me in yesterday's issue of the 'Kreuz
+     Zeitung,' will accept this invitation. Being ignorant of his name,
+     I have no other means of addressing him.
+
+     "I wish to thank the three Prussian officers who interfered to
+     protect me from the amiable people of Berlin. But, should any of
+     them consider himself offended by me, my gratitude will not extend
+     to refusing him satisfaction.
+
+     "I said then and I repeat now, that I am familiar with the use of
+     all weapons."
+
+                          "BENEDICT TURPIN.
+            "_At the Hôtel Royal, Hanover_."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+KAULBACH'S STUDIO
+
+
+Benedict lost no time in leaving his note at the "Gazette" office, and
+his letter of introduction at Kaulbach's studio, where he left also his
+card on which was written, "I hope to have the honour of calling on you
+to-morrow." He therefore ordered Lenhart to be ready a little before
+eleven, in order to pay his two visits, one of thanks to Herr Bodemeyer,
+and one to Kaulbach. As the latter lived at the extreme end of the town
+where the king had had a charming little house erected for him, he
+called at Herr Bodemeyer's office first. The last copies of the
+"Gazette" were just being struck off, and Benedict was able to convince
+himself that his letter was actually in print. As the "Gazette" had
+numerous subscribers in Berlin and would be on sale there at six that
+evening, there was no doubt but that his communication would be widely
+read. The dissolution of the Chamber was confirmed and it was certain
+that mobilization would be announced on the morrow. Benedict continued
+on his way to the studio.
+
+Seen by daylight the house appeared to be a pretty villa in Italian
+style, standing in a garden enclosed with iron railings. The gate stood
+invitingly open. Benedict entered, rang, and was answered by a servant
+in livery, whose manner showed that the visit was expected. He at once
+led the way to the studio.
+
+"The master is just finishing dinner," he said, "but he will be with you
+in a moment."
+
+"Tell the master," replied Benedict, "that I am too delighted at being
+able to see the beautiful things here to wish to hurry him."
+
+And, indeed, the studio, full of original pictures, sketches, and copies
+of some of the works of the greatest painters known, could not fail to
+be intensely interesting to an artist such as Benedict, who now suddenly
+found himself in the sanctuary of one of the greatest of German
+painters. Kaulbach is an artist who has adhered to his Christian faith,
+and everywhere one saw proofs of this. But among highly finished
+sketches for some of his world-famous pictures, such as "The Dispersion
+of Mankind," "The Taking of Jerusalem," etc., Benedict's attention was
+drawn to a modern portrait group of five persons. It represented an
+officer, evidently of high rank, holding a boy of about ten by the hand.
+His charger stood ready on the terrace below, and a lady in the prime of
+life sat near him with two little girls, one leaning against her knee,
+while the other sat at her feet and played with a small dog and some
+roses. The picture, apparently, was a work of love, for the artist had
+taken immense pains with it; too much so, in fact, for the elaborately
+finished details threw the faces into the background, and the general
+effect was too flat.
+
+Absorbed in the study of this group, Benedict did not observe that
+Kaulbach had entered the room and was standing beside him, looking on
+with a smile. Presently he said:
+
+"You are right, that picture is too flat, and I had it brought back, not
+to finish it still more, but to tone it down and soften some parts. Such
+as it is your public would never like it. Delacroix has spoilt you for
+'clean' pictures."
+
+Benedict laughed.
+
+"Do you mean to imply that he painted dirty ones?" he enquired.
+
+"Heaven forbid! His works are excellent, but your nation did not
+appreciate them."
+
+"We do him justice now, however."
+
+"Yes, now that he is dead," said Kaulbach smiling. "Is it not always
+so?"
+
+"Not in your case. Admired in France, adored in Germany, happily you are
+yet with us."
+
+Kaulbach at this time was about fifty-two, slightly grey, sallow in
+complexion, having brilliant dark eyes and a highly nervous
+constitution. Tall and slight, he was at the zenith of his artistic
+powers and hardly past that of his physical ones. The two men studied
+each other critically, until at last Turpin began to laugh.
+
+"Do you know what I am thinking?" asked the German. "I am wondering how
+you have managed to wander from Pekin to St. Petersburg, from Astrakhan
+to Algiers, and yet found time to produce the remarkable pictures you
+have painted. I know these only by report unfortunately, but I have
+heard a good deal. You are a pupil of Scheffer's?"
+
+"Yes, I have also studied under Cabat."
+
+"Great masters, both of them. And you are the hero of that unlucky
+business at Berlin. I have just read your letter in the 'Gazette.'"
+
+"But why 'unlucky'?"
+
+"Well, you will have two or three duels on your hands."
+
+"So much the worse for my adversaries."
+
+"Allow me to remark that you are not lacking in self-confidence."
+
+"No, because I have the certainty of success. Look!" and Benedict held
+out his hand. "Observe that the line of life is double. There is not
+the slightest break anywhere--nothing to indicate accident, sickness, or
+even the slightest scratch. I might live to a hundred--but I won't say
+as much of those who quarrel with me."
+
+Aulbach smiled.
+
+"At the end of your letter of introduction," he said, "there was a
+postscript, which informed me that you were more deeply interested in
+studying occult science than in pursuing your own art."
+
+"I don't know that I study either very much. I am rather a slave to
+temperament. If a thing amuses me, well, yes, I study it. If I think I
+have found a truth, I try to follow it out to the very end. And I do
+believe that chiromancy can give us a glance into the future, and that
+the hand is a page on which the lines of our fate have been traced by
+Destiny. If for five minutes only I could study the hand of either the
+King of Prussia or of Count Bismarck, I could give you some idea of what
+will happen."
+
+"Meanwhile," said Kaulbach, "your science says you will escape scot-free
+from any duels arising out of this Berlin scrimmage?"
+
+"Certainly I shall. But we were talking about your work, which is
+infinitely more interesting. I believe I know all your pictures, or
+nearly so."
+
+"I would wager you don't know the best of them."
+
+"Yes, I do. You mean 'Charlemagne visited in his Tomb by the Emperor
+Otho'? It is the masterpiece of modern German painting."
+
+Kaulbach was evidently delighted.
+
+"You have seen that!" he exclaimed, and he held out his hand to
+Benedict. "I don't think as much of it as you seem to do, but it is the
+best thing I have done. Oh! pardon me, but I see two visitors who come
+for a sitting. But wait, they are kind friends of mine, and may not
+object to your presence. I will tell them who you are, and then if they
+do not mind your being here you can please yourself as to whether you go
+or stay." So saying he hastily quitted the studio.
+
+A carriage was at the garden gate, quite plain in appearance, with no
+arms emblazoned on the panels, yet Benedict's practised eye saw at once
+that the horses had cost at least £200 each. Two gentlemen were leaving
+it, the elder of the two, who seemed about forty-five, wore the
+epaulettes of a general with an undress uniform of dark green, the
+collar and facings being of black velvet. Kaulbach said a few words,
+upon which he took off an order he was wearing and also two crosses,
+retaining those of the Guelphic Order and of Ernest Augustus. Then, that
+he might cross the little garden and ascend the steps he took the arm of
+the younger man, who seemed to be his son, and who, tall and very
+slight, appeared to be about one-and-twenty, and wore a Hussar uniform
+of blue and silver.
+
+Kaulbach opened the studio door and stood respectfully aside. Benedict,
+as he bowed, instantly recognized the central figure of Kaulbach's
+portrait group. He glanced quickly at the picture on which the missing
+decoration was depicted in all its glory. It was the Star of the Order
+of the Garter, worn by few except sovereign princes. He knew at once
+that the visitors must be the blind King of Hanover, one of the most
+cultivated and artistic sovereigns of Germany, and his son, the Crown
+Prince.
+
+"Milords," said Kaulbach, "I have the honour to present a brother artist
+to you. He is young, but is already famous, and he brings a special
+introduction from the Minister of Fine Arts at Paris. May I add that
+his own personality is a better recommendation even than those."
+
+The general bent his head graciously, the youth touched his cap. The
+elder man then addressed Benedict in English, regretting that his French
+was only indifferent. Benedict replied in the same language, saying that
+he was too great an admirer of Shakespeare, Scott, and Byron not to have
+made an effort to read these authors in their own tongue. The king,
+satisfied that he was unrecognized, discussed various subjects, and,
+knowing that Benedict had travelled much, asked many questions which
+were in themselves a compliment, for only men of superior intelligence
+could have asked and answered them. Kaulbach, meanwhile, rapidly worked
+at his picture softening down the too hard accessories. The young prince
+listened eagerly, and when Benedict offered to show him sketches made in
+India, he appealed anxiously to his father as to when and where he could
+see them.
+
+"Better ask both these gentlemen to lunch in your own rooms," said the
+King, "and if they do you the honour to accept--"
+
+"Oh! can you come to-morrow?" enquired the prince, delighted.
+
+Benedict looked at Kaulbach in embarrassment.
+
+"I fear I may have work of another kind to-morrow," he replied.
+
+"Yes," said Kaulbach, "I fear my friend here is a trifle hot-headed. He
+only arrived yesterday and he has already written a letter for the
+'Gazette,' which is now well on its way to Berlin."
+
+"What! the letter I thought so amusing that I read it aloud to my
+father! Is that yours, monsieur? But, indeed, you will have duels
+without end."
+
+"I count on two," said Benedict. "It is a lucky number."
+
+"But suppose you are killed or wounded?"
+
+"If I am killed, I will, with your permission, bequeath you my album. If
+I am badly hurt, I will ask Herr Kaulbach to show it you instead. If I
+am only scratched, I will bring it myself. But you need not be anxious
+on my account; I can assure you nothing unpleasant will happen to me."
+
+"But how can you know that?"
+
+"You know my friend's name, I think," said Kaulbach. "He is Benedict
+Turpin. Well, he descends in the direct line from the famous enchanter
+Turpin, the uncle of Charlemagne, and he has inherited the gifts of his
+ancestor!"
+
+"Good heavens," said the prince, "are you spirit, magician, or what?"
+
+"None of them. I simply amuse myself by reading the past, the present,
+and as much of the future as one's hand can reveal."
+
+"Before you came," said Kaulbach, "he was deeply regretting not being
+able to see the hand of the King of Prussia. He would have told us what
+will happen in the war. My lord," he continued, emphasizing the title,
+"could we not find somewhere a royal hand for him to see?"
+
+"Very easily," said the king, smiling, "only it should be that of a real
+king or a real emperor. Such as the Emperor of China, who is obeyed by
+millions of subjects, or Alexander, who reigns over the ninth part of
+the whole world. Do you not think so, M. Turpin?"
+
+"I think, sir," replied Benedict, as he bent low before the king, "that
+it is not always great kingdoms which make great kings. Thessaly
+produced Achilles, and Macedonia gave birth to Alexander," and again
+bowing, even more deeply, he left the studio.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE CHALLENGE
+
+
+Benedict's prediction was duly fulfilled. He had hardly opened his eyes
+the next morning when Lenhart, who had assumed the duties of valet,
+appeared, bearing a magnificent silver salver which he had borrowed from
+the landlord. On it were displayed two cards.
+
+The cards bore the respective names of "Major Frederic von Bülow" and
+"Georges Kleist, Editor of the 'Kreuz Zeitung.'" Two different classes
+of Prussian society were therefore represented desiring satisfaction.
+
+Benedict enquired where these gentlemen were to be found, and hearing
+that they were both at his own hotel, sent a hasty message to Colonel
+Anderson, begging him to come at once. When he appeared Benedict gave
+him the cards, requesting him to deal with the owners in due order of
+precedence, beginning with Major von Bülow, and to agree to whatever
+terms were proposed whether as to weapons, time, or place. The colonel
+would have protested, but Benedict declared he would have it his own way
+or not at all, and Anderson had no choice but to agree.
+
+He returned at the end of half-an-hour. Von Bülow had chosen swords.
+But, having been sent officially to Frankfort, and having come out of
+his way in order to accept M. Turpin's challenge, he would be greatly
+obliged if the meeting might take place as soon as possible.
+
+"The sooner the better," said Benedict. "It is the very least I can do
+to oblige a man who comes out of his way in order to oblige me."
+
+"All he wants, seemingly, is to be able to continue his journey this
+evening," observed Anderson.
+
+"Ah!" said Benedict. "But I cannot answer for his ability to do that,
+however early we meet!"
+
+"That would be a pity," said the colonel. "Major von Bülow is very much
+a gentleman. It seems that three Prussian officers interfered to protect
+you from the mob on condition that you cried 'Vive King William!' 'Vive
+la Prusse!'"
+
+"Pardon me, there were no conditions."
+
+"Not on your side, but they undertook it for you."
+
+"I did not prevent them from crying it as much as they liked."
+
+"Doubtless, only, instead of doing it yourself--"
+
+"I recited one of Alfred de Musset's finest poems; what more could they
+want?"
+
+"They consider that you treated them with disrespect."
+
+"Perhaps I did. Well, what next?"
+
+"When they read your letter they decided that one of them must accept
+the challenge and the other two act as seconds. They drew lots, and the
+lot fell on von Bülow. That very moment he received orders to go on this
+mission to Frankfort. The others wished that one of them should take his
+place in the duel. But he refused, saying that if he were killed or
+badly wounded, one of them could take on the dispatches which would not
+be much delayed. So I then arranged the meeting for one o'clock."
+
+"Very well. What about the other man?"
+
+"Herr Georges Kleist is not remarkable in any way: he is a typical
+German journalist. He chooses pistols and wants to fire at close
+quarters on account of his defective eyesight. I believe it is quite
+good enough, but, however, he does wear glasses, so you are to be at
+forty-five paces--"
+
+"Good gracious! Do you call that close quarters?"
+
+"Have a little patience! You may each advance fifteen paces nearer,
+which reduces the ultimate distance to fifteen. But we had a discussion.
+His seconds say that he is the aggrieved party and has the right to fire
+first. I say, nothing of the kind; you ought to fire together, at a
+given signal. You must decide; it is a serious matter, and I decline the
+responsibility."
+
+"It is soon decided; he must fire first. I hope you fixed an early time
+for him also? We could then kill two birds with one stone."
+
+"That is just what I have done. At one o'clock you meet von Bülow with
+swords, and at a quarter-past, Herr Kleist, with pistols."
+
+"Well then, my dear colonel, I will go and order breakfast, and will you
+be so good as to tell Herr Kleist that he can have first shot? And," he
+added, "let it be understood that I don't provide any arms myself; I
+will use the swords and pistols they bring with them."
+
+It was then eleven o'clock. Benedict promptly ordered breakfast. Colonel
+Anderson returned in ten minutes and announced that all was settled.
+Whereupon they applied themselves to their repast until the clock struck
+twelve.
+
+"Colonel," said Benedict, "do not let us be late."
+
+"We have no great distance to go. It is a pretty place, as you will see.
+Are you influenced by surroundings?"
+
+"I would rather fight on grass than on cultivated ground."
+
+"We are going to Eilenriede; it is a sort of Hanoverian Bois de
+Boulogne. In the middle of the wood there is a little open glade with a
+spring in it, which might have been made for this sort of encounter. I
+have been there once or twice on my own account and three or four times
+on other people's. By the way, have you secured another second?"
+
+"There are five on the other side, one of them will oblige me."
+
+"But suppose they refused?"
+
+"Not likely! But, even if they did, you alone would be sufficient. And,
+as they seem anxious to finish the affair one way or another, there will
+be no difficulties."
+
+Lenhart had already announced the carriage. The colonel explained the
+way to him. In half-an-hour they arrived at the little glade, with ten
+minutes to spare.
+
+"A lovely spot," said Benedict. "As the others are not yet here, I will
+sketch it."
+
+And, producing a sketch-book from his pocket, he dashed off a very
+accurate view of the place with remarkable rapidity and skill.
+
+Presently a carriage appeared in the distance. As they drew near
+Benedict rose and took off his hat. The three officers, the editor, and
+a surgeon they had brought, occupied it. In the officers, Benedict at
+once recognized his three protectors at Berlin.
+
+His adversaries left their carriage at a little distance and courteously
+returned his salute. Colonel Anderson went to meet them and explained
+that his principal, being a stranger, had no second but himself, and
+asked if one of his opponents would supply the deficiency. They
+consulted a moment, then one of the officers crossed over and bowed to
+Benedict.
+
+"I am much obliged by your courtesy, sir," said Benedict.
+
+"We will agree to anything, sir--rather than lose time," replied the
+officer.
+
+Benedict bit his lip.
+
+"Will you at once select the weapons," he said to Colonel Anderson in
+English, "we must not keep these gentlemen waiting."
+
+Von Bülow had already divested himself of helmet, coat, waistcoat, and
+cravat. Benedict studied him carefully as he did so. He appeared to be
+about thirty-three and to have lived in his uniform until he felt
+uncomfortable out of it. He was dark, with glossy black hair cut quite
+short, a straight nose, black moustache and very decided chin. Both
+courage and loyalty could be read in the frank and open glance of his
+dark eyes.
+
+Von Bülow, having provided the swords, Benedict was offered his choice
+of them. He simply took the first that came, and immediately passed his
+left hand along the edge and felt the point. The edge was keen as a
+razor. The point sharp as a needle. The major's second observed his
+action, and, beckoning Colonel Anderson aside.
+
+"Will you," he said, "kindly explain to your principal that in German
+duels we use only the edge of the sword? To thrust with the point is
+inadmissible."
+
+"The devil!" said Benedict when this information was repeated to him,
+"it is well you told me. In France, where duels, especially military
+ones, are usually serious, we use every stroke we can, and our
+sword-play is actually called 'counterpoint.'"
+
+"But indeed," exclaimed von Bülow, "I beg, sir, that you will use your
+sword in whatever way you find best."
+
+Benedict bowed in acknowledgment. Having fought several duels at
+Heidelberg he was well acquainted with German methods of fencing and
+placed himself with apparent indifference. As the affronted person has
+the right of attack, and a challenge may be considered an affront, he
+waited, standing simply on guard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE TWO DUELS
+
+
+"Engage, gentlemen!" cried the colonel.
+
+Von Bülow's sword swept through the air with a flash like lightning.
+But, rapid though it was, it descended in empty space. Warned by the
+instinct of a true fencer, the blades had barely crossed when Benedict
+sprang swiftly aside and remained standing unguarded, his point lowered,
+and his mocking smile disclosing a fine set of teeth. His adversary
+paused, perplexed, then swung round so as to face him, but did not
+immediately advance. However, feeling that this duel must be no child's
+play, he stepped forward and instantly the point of Benedict's sword
+rose menacingly against him. Involuntarily he retreated a step. Benedict
+now fixed his eyes upon him, circling round him, now bending to the
+right, now again to the left, but always keeping his weapon low and
+ready to strike.
+
+The major began to feel a kind of hypnotic influence overpowering him.
+Determined to fight against it, he boldly stepped forward, holding his
+sword aloft. Instantly he felt the touch of cold steel. Benedict thrust,
+his rapier pierced von Bülow's shirt and reappeared on the other side.
+Had not the major remained standing motionless opposite him, an onlooker
+would have supposed he had been run through the body.
+
+The seconds hastened up, but:
+
+"It is nothing, I assure you," said the major.
+
+Then, perceiving that Benedict had only intended to pierce his shirt and
+not himself, he added:
+
+"Come, sir, let us continue this game in earnest."
+
+"Ah!" said Benedict, "but you see, had I played in earnest, you would
+now be a dead man!"
+
+"On guard, sir," cried von Bülow, furious, "and remember this is a duel
+to the death."
+
+Benedict stepped back and saluting with his sword:
+
+"Pardon me, gentlemen," he said, "you see how unfortunate I am. Although
+fully intending not to use my point I have nevertheless made two holes
+in my opponent's shirt. My hand might again refuse to obey my will, and,
+as I do not visit a country merely to rebel against its
+customs--particularly when they happen to be philanthropic--so--"
+
+He went up to a rock which rose out of the little valley and, placing
+the point of his rapier in a crevice, broke off a good inch of the
+blade.
+
+His adversary wished to do likewise, but,
+
+"It is quite unnecessary, sir," said Benedict, "you are not likely to
+use your point."
+
+Being now reduced to ordinary sword-play, Benedict crossed swords with
+his opponent, which necessitated their keeping close together. But he
+continually retreated half a pace and advanced again, thanks to which
+incessant movement the major merely made cuts in the air. Becoming
+impatient, he endeavoured to reach Benedict, missed again, and
+involuntarily lowered his weapon. Benedict parried a back stroke and
+touched von Bülow's breast with the broken point. Said he:
+
+"You see I was right in breaking the point of my sword. Otherwise, this
+time something besides your shirt would have been pierced."
+
+The major remained silent, but quickly recovering himself again stood on
+guard. He now saw that his adversary was a most skilful swordsman, who
+united French celerity with determined coolness and who was fully
+conscious of his strength.
+
+Benedict, seeing that an end must be made, now stood still, calm but
+menacing, with frowning brows and eyes fixed on his enemy, not
+attempting to strike but retaining a posture of defence. It seemed as if
+he awaited the attack, but suddenly with the unexpected celerity which
+characterized all his movements, he sprang forward with a bound like
+that of a jaguar, aimed a blow at his adversary's head, and as the
+latter raised his arm in defence, drew a line with his blade right
+across his chest. Then, springing lightly back in the same instant he
+again lowered his sword as before.
+
+Von Bülow's shirt, slashed as though cut by a razor, was instantly
+tinged with blood. The seconds moved forward.
+
+"Do not stir, I beg," cried the major, "it is nothing but a scratch. I
+must confess the gentleman's hand is a light one."
+
+And he again stood on guard.
+
+Courageous though he was, he felt he was losing confidence, and,
+dumbfounded by his enemy's agility, a sense of great danger oppressed
+him. Evidently Benedict was keeping just out of reach, and was merely
+waiting until he should expose himself by an unwary advance. He
+understood that hitherto his opponent had simply played with him, but
+that now the duel was approaching an end and that his smallest mistake
+would be severely punished. His sword, never able to encounter
+Benedict's, seemed to become lifeless, and ceased to respond to his
+will.
+
+His previous experience in fencing seemed useless here, and this
+flashing blade which he could never touch, but which rose constantly
+before him, alert, intelligent, as if endued with life, confused his
+senses. He dared not risk a movement before this enemy always just
+beyond his reach, so imperturbable and yet so alert, and who evidently
+intended, like the artist he was, either to finish with one brilliant
+stroke or else--which did not seem likely--to expire in a dignified pose
+like the "Dying Gladiator."
+
+But, exasperated by his opponent's perfect bodily grace, by his elegant
+and masterly swordsmanship, and still more by the mocking smile which
+hovered on his lips, von Bülow felt the blood rise to his temples, and
+could not resist muttering between his teeth:
+
+"This fellow is the very devil!"
+
+And, springing forward, no longer fearing the broken point, he raised
+his sword and aimed a blow with all his might at his adversary, a blow
+which, had it reached its object, would have split his head as though it
+had been an apple. Again, the stroke only encountered empty air, for
+once more Benedict had effaced himself by a light, graceful spring, very
+familiar to Parisian fencing masters.
+
+The major's raised sword had broken his guard. A flash, as of lightning,
+and his arm, streaming with blood, fell against his side. His sword
+dropped, but remained upright supported by the sword knot.
+
+The seconds hurried to his side. Very pale, but with smiling lips, von
+Bülow bowed to Benedict and said:
+
+"I thank you, sir. When you might have run me through the body you only
+wounded my shirt; when you might have cut me in two you let me off with
+the sort of cut one gets in shaving, and now, when you might have either
+cleft my head or maimed my arm, I escape with a ruined sleeve. I now
+ask you to extend your courtesy even further, and to complete the
+record like the gentleman you are by explaining why you have spared me
+thus?"
+
+"Sir," said Benedict with a smile, "in the house of Herr Fellner, the
+Burgomaster of Frankfort, I was introduced to his god-daughter, a
+charming lady, who adores her husband. Her name was the Baroness von
+Bülow. When I saw your card it occurred to me that you might be related,
+and though, beautiful as she is, mourning could only add to her charm,
+it would grieve me to have been the cause of compelling her to wear it."
+
+The major looked Benedict in the face and, stern soldier though he might
+be, there were tears in his eyes.
+
+"Madame von Bülow is my wife," he said. "Believe me, sir, wherever she
+may meet you she will greet you thus: 'My husband foolishly quarrelled
+with you, sir; may you ever be blessed because for my sake you spared
+him!' and she will give you her hand with as much gratitude as I now
+offer you mine."
+
+And he added smiling:
+
+"Forgive me for only offering my left hand. It is entirely your own
+fault that I cannot give you the right."
+
+And now, although the wound was not dangerous, von Bülow did not refuse
+to have it dressed. The surgeon promptly ripped up his sleeve,
+disclosing a wound, not very deep, but terrible to look at, which
+extended down the arm from the shoulder to the elbow. And one shuddered
+to think what such a wound would have been, had the swordsman struck
+with all his force instead of simply drawing his blade along the arm.
+
+The surgeon dipped a cloth in the ice-cold spring which rose at the foot
+of the rock and wrapped it round the arm. He then drew the sides of the
+wound together and strapped them with plaster. He assured the major that
+he would be quite able to continue his journey to Frankfort in the
+evening.
+
+Benedict offered his carriage to the major, who, however, declined,
+being curious to see what would happen to his successor. He excused
+himself on the score that courtesy required him to wait for Herr Georges
+Kleist.
+
+Although Herr Kleist, having had time to see what sort of adversary he
+had to deal with, would willingly have been some leagues away, he put a
+brave face on the matter, and although he grew perceptibly pale during
+the first duel, and still paler when the wound was dressed, he was,
+nevertheless, the first to say.
+
+"Excuse my interrupting you, gentlemen, but it is my turn now."
+
+"I am quite at your service, sir," said Benedict.
+
+"You are not properly dressed for a duel with pistols," interposed
+Colonel Anderson, glancing at Benedict's costume.
+
+"Really," said Benedict, "I never thought about what clothes I was to
+fight in. I only wanted to do it with comfort to myself. That's all!"
+
+"You can at least put on your tunic and button it!"
+
+"Bah! It is much too hot."
+
+"Perhaps we ought to have taken the pistols first. All this sword-play
+may have unsteadied your hand."
+
+"My hand is my servant, dear colonel; it knows it has to obey me and you
+will see it does so."
+
+"Do you wish to see the pistols you are to use?"
+
+"You have seen them, have you not? Are they double barrelled or single?"
+
+"Single barrelled duelling pistols. They were hired this morning from a
+gunsmith in the Grande Place."
+
+"Then call my other second and see them properly loaded. Mind the shot
+is inside the barrels, and not dropped outside."
+
+"I will load them myself."
+
+"Colonel," asked the Prussian officers, "do you wish to see the pistols
+loaded?"
+
+"Yes. I wish to do so. But how are we to arrange? Herr Kleist will only
+have one second."
+
+"These two gentlemen may answer for Herr Kleist," said the major, "and I
+will go over to M. Turpin." And his wound being now bandaged, he went
+and sat down on the rock which gave its name to the glade.
+
+Meanwhile the pistols were loaded, Colonel Anderson fulfilling his
+promise by putting in the balls himself. Benedict came up to him.
+
+"Tell me," the Englishman asked gravely, "do you mean to kill him?"
+
+"What do you expect? One can't exactly play with pistols as one can with
+swords or rapiers."
+
+"Surely there is some way of disabling people with whom you have no
+serious quarrel without killing them outright?"
+
+"I really cannot undertake to miss him just to oblige you! Think! He
+would naturally go and publish everywhere that I did not know how to
+shoot!"
+
+"All right! I see I need not have spoken. I bet you have an idea of some
+sort."
+
+"Frankly, I have. But then he must do his part."
+
+"What must he do?"
+
+"Just keep perfectly still, it ought not to be so very difficult. See,
+they are ready."
+
+The seconds had just measured the forty-five paces. Colonel Anderson now
+measured off fifteen from each end, and to mark the exact limit which
+neither combatant was to pass, he laid two scabbards across and planted
+a sword upright in the ground at each end to decide the starting-point.
+
+"To your places, gentlemen," cried the seconds.
+
+Herr Kleist having selected his pistol, the colonel brought the other to
+Benedict, who was talking to the major, and who took the pistol without
+as much as looking at it, and still chatting with von Bülow, walked
+quietly to his place.
+
+The duellists now stood at the extreme distance.
+
+"Gentlemen!" said Colonel Anderson, "you are now forty-five paces apart.
+Each of you may either advance fifteen paces before firing, or may fire
+from where he now stands. Herr Georges Kleist has the first shot and may
+fire as soon as he pleases. Having fired, he may hold his pistol so as
+to protect any part of himself he wishes.
+
+"Now, gentlemen!"
+
+The two adversaries advanced towards each other. Having arrived at the
+mark, Benedict waited, standing, facing his opponent with folded arms. A
+light breeze ruffled his hair and blew his shirt open at the chest. He
+had walked at his ordinary pace.
+
+Herr Kleist, dressed entirely in black, bare-headed, and with closely
+buttoned coat, had advanced slowly, by force of will overcoming physical
+disinclination. He halted at the limit.
+
+"You are ready, sir?" he asked.
+
+"Quite ready, sir."
+
+"Will you not turn sideways?"
+
+"I am not accustomed to do so."
+
+Then, turning himself, Herr Kleist slowly raised his pistol, took aim,
+and fired.
+
+Benedict heard the ball whiz close by his ear and felt the wind ruffle
+his hair; it had passed within an inch of his head.
+
+His adversary instantly raised his pistol, holding it so as to protect
+his face, but was unable entirely to control a nervous movement of his
+hand.
+
+"Sir," said Benedict, "you courteously asked just now if I would not
+stand sideways, which is unusual between combatants. Permit me in my
+turn to offer a piece of advice, or rather, make a request."
+
+"What is it, sir?" asked the journalist, still protecting himself with
+his pistol.
+
+"This; keep your hand steady, your pistol is moving. I wish to put my
+ball in the wood of your pistol, which will be very difficult unless you
+keep it quite still. Against my own will I might hit you, either in the
+cheek or the back of the head, whereas--if you keep your hand just as it
+is--"
+
+He raised his pistol and fired instantly.
+
+"There! it is done now!"
+
+It was done so rapidly that no one could have supposed he had taken any
+aim at all. But, even as the report was heard, Herr Kleist's pistol was
+blown to pieces and he himself staggered and fell on one knee.
+
+"Ah!" said Anderson, "you have killed him."
+
+"I think not," replied Benedict. "I aimed between the two screws which
+hold the hammer. It is the shock of the concussion which has brought him
+down."
+
+The surgeon and the two seconds hastened to the wounded man, who now
+held only the butt end of his pistol. There was a terrible bruise on his
+cheek, reaching from the eye to the jaw. Otherwise he was untouched,
+only the shock had knocked him down.
+
+The barrel of the pistol was picked up on one side and the lock on the
+other. The ball had lodged exactly between the two screws. Had it
+continued its course unobstructed it would have broken the upper jaw and
+penetrated the brain.
+
+The dressing was simple--the bruise was a very bad one, but the skin was
+only broken in two places, and the surgeon considered a cold-water
+bandage to be all that was required.
+
+Benedict embraced the major, bowed to the journalist, shook hands with
+the seconds, put on his coat, and got into the carriage, looking less
+dishevelled than if he had come from a picnic.
+
+"Well, my dear sponsor," he said to Colonel Anderson.
+
+"Well, my dear godson," responded the latter, "I know at least ten men
+besides myself who would willingly have given a thousand pounds to see
+what I have seen to-day."
+
+"Sir," said Lenhart, "if you would promise neither to hunt nor to fight
+unless I am there to see, I, my horse, and my carriage should be at your
+service for the rest of my life."
+
+And indeed, Benedict returned as he had foretold, having fought his
+duels, vanquished his adversaries, and come off without a single
+scratch!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+"WHAT WAS WRITTEN IN A KING'S HAND"
+
+
+When Benedict returned to his hotel he was met by Kaulbach's servant,
+sent by his master to learn what had happened. In the good town of
+Hanover it had speedily become known that in answer to Benedict's letter
+in the "Gazette" two challenges had been received that very morning, and
+that he, his challengers, and seconds, had all gone to Eilenriede, the
+usual place for settling affairs of this description. Benedict desired
+him to assure his master that all was well, adding that he would have
+come in person to acknowledge his courtesy, had he not feared to rouse
+the curiosity of the whole town.
+
+Colonel Anderson had made an excuse for leaving Benedict as soon as they
+returned. Being an officer of the Royal Ordnance he had probably some
+report to make to the king.
+
+The news of the result of this double combat spread as rapidly as had
+that of the challenges. Such an event as two duels successfully fought
+without a scratch being received was quite unheard of, and was
+considered so extraordinary that the young men of the town, who also had
+no love for the Prussians, sent a deputation to congratulate Benedict on
+his success. He received the deputies and replied in such excellent
+German that they retired marvelling more than ever.
+
+The doors had scarcely closed on them when Stephen appeared, and
+announced that all his guests were so interested in the events of the
+day that they begged Benedict would honour them by dining at the _table
+d'hôte_, in order that they might all have the pleasure of personally
+congratulating him.
+
+Benedict replied that he did not in the least understand so much
+admiration for his perfectly natural conduct, but that he was quite
+willing to do anything which might be agreeable to his fellow guests.
+
+Stephen had time to let the news circulate in the town that the young
+Frenchman of whom every one was talking, would, for once only, consent
+to dine at the _table d'hôte_. Instead of twenty-five only, he had
+covers laid for two hundred guests. Every place was occupied.
+
+The police feared disorder of some kind, and came to investigate. They
+were assured that it was only a family affair, a demonstration such as
+had been made three days before under the windows of Count von
+Bismarck--only it was the other way about! Now the Hanoverian police was
+an excellent body, which highly approved of family fêtes and patriotic
+demonstrations. Therefore, instead of objecting to this one they
+encouraged it with all their power, thanks to which all passed off in
+perfect order.
+
+At midnight, Benedict was at length allowed to retire, but his admirers
+organized a serenade beneath his windows which lasted till two o'clock
+in the morning.
+
+At nine Kaulbach entered his room. The Crown Prince invited Benedict to
+breakfast at the Palace of Herrenhausen, and requested him to bring his
+sketches. Kaulbach was commissioned to bring him back. The breakfast was
+at eleven, but the prince would be obliged if Benedict would come at ten
+in order to have some time for conversation both before and after.
+
+Benedict lost no time in dressing, and although Kaulbach, intimate at
+the palace, assured him he could go in ordinary costume, he preferred to
+wear the naval uniform in which he had made the Chinese campaign. On his
+breast was the Cross of the Légion d'Honneur, of which the simple red
+ribbon means much more when worn by some than do the various grand
+crosses worn by others. He added a sabre, the gift of Said Pasha, took
+his sketches, and got into the carriage with Kaulbach.
+
+Lenhart had a whole day's holiday.
+
+Twenty-five minutes brought them to Herrenhausen, which is about a
+league from Hanover, and, the carriage being open, Benedict could see
+the young prince watching for him eagerly at a window. He was
+accompanied only by his aide-de-camp, an officer of Engineers, and
+consequently well able to draw. Also, which is more unusual, he did not
+disdain the picturesque.
+
+The prince enquired courteously after Benedict's health, without making
+the smallest allusion to the duels of the day before. It was evident
+nevertheless that he knew all about them. Had there been any doubts on
+the subject they would have been dispelled by the appearance of Colonel
+Anderson as another invited guest.
+
+But the prince's chief interest centred in the portfolio which Benedict
+carried under his arm.
+
+Anticipating his wishes, Benedict observed;
+
+"Your Highness wished to see some of my sketches. I have brought some
+representing hunting incidents, thinking that they might interest you
+most."
+
+"Oh! let me see, let me see!" exclaimed the prince, extending his hand,
+and placing the portfolio on the piano, he began eagerly to examine the
+contents. After having turned over several, "Ah," said he, "but they are
+beautiful. Will you not tell me something of the adventures which I am
+sure they illustrate? They must be so interesting."
+
+Benedict endeavoured to gratify the prince, and the time both before and
+after the breakfast passed rapidly in listening to accounts of elephant
+hunting, of encounters with pirates in the Straits of Malacca, of
+adventures in the Caucasus, and he had just finished an especially
+thrilling anecdote relating to the poisonous snakes of India when the
+king was seen approaching from the gallery. He held the arm of his
+aide-de-camp with whom he was conversing and walked firmly as if able to
+see. He entered the dining-room without being announced. The four guests
+rose immediately, but:
+
+"Do not let me disturb you, gentlemen," said the king. "I merely came to
+visit the prince, to ask if he has all he wants, and if not, to convey
+his wishes to the persons concerned."
+
+"No! thanks to Your Majesty's kindness, nothing is wanting here except
+yourself. Your knowledge of men has not deceived you, and Monsieur
+Benedict is the most delightful companion I ever met."
+
+"The prince is imaginative, sire," said Benedict laughing. "He
+attributes to some very simple anecdotes and hasty sketches an
+excellence which they do not possess."
+
+But the king replied as if answering his own thought, the thought which
+had led him to visit the young man.
+
+"Yesterday," he said, addressing Benedict and turning towards him, as he
+always did in conversation, "you said something about a science which
+interested me in former days, namely, chiromancy. My thoughts carry me
+on towards the mysterious unexplored regions of the human mind, of
+nature, of creation. I should like to know they are based upon logic, on
+physiology, for instance."
+
+"I know, sire," replied Benedict, smiling, "that is why I ventured
+yesterday to mention the occult sciences to Your Majesty."
+
+"You know. But how?" demanded the king.
+
+"I should be a poor student, sire, if I had limited my enquiries to the
+hands only, and had not united the study of Lavater and Gall to that of
+Arpentigny. I saw at once in the form of your hands and head those
+precious aptitudes which are shown in phrenology by the well-developed
+organs of the poetic faculty and of the love of harmony, which betoken
+the student of natural science. The protection accorded by Your Majesty
+to the poor herbalist, Lampe, arose not from benevolence only, but from
+the conviction that certain men are empowered to receive a revelation,
+and that it is not always the highly placed ones of earth to whom truth
+is thus manifested."
+
+"It is true," said the king. "Other men may see the stars shining in the
+midnight silence, but it seems to me that I actually hear that 'music of
+the spheres' spoken of by Pythagoras. And I am proud to think that while
+I stand on the summit of earthly society, there are, immediately above
+me, intermediate angelic influences which carry on a boundless electric
+chain, linking us not merely with our own little planetary system, but
+with others--with the whole universe."
+
+"I do not venture," the king continued with a smile, "to discourse
+openly on these beliefs. I should get the reputation of 'a king of
+dreams,' about the worst a king can have. But to you, who are a dreamer
+like myself, I do say--yes, I believe in these celestial influences, and
+I believe that each mortal has, in that precious casket which he calls
+his skull, the signs of his destiny. He may strive to alter or delay its
+course, but it will bear him on irresistibly to fortune, success, or
+misery, as the case may be.
+
+"And I speak with conviction because I have had proofs. In early youth I
+once met a gipsy woman in the course of a solitary walk. She examined my
+hand and told me certain things which came to pass. I wish to believe
+you, but I must have proofs. Can you read the past in my hand even as
+the gipsy read the future. Can you, do you, sincerely believe you have
+this power?"
+
+"I do, sire. And I think actual science will tell you what has before
+been perhaps merely guessed at by intuition or tradition."
+
+"Well then," said the king, extending his hand, "now tell me what you
+read."
+
+"Sire," replied Benedict, "I do not know how far I dare--"
+
+"Dare what?" enquired the king.
+
+"What if I read only a threatening future?"
+
+"We live in days when no predictions, however terrible, can exceed the
+reality of the convulsions which are taking place around us. What can
+you predict for me that can be so terrible? Is it the loss of my
+kingdom? I lost more than a kingdom when I lost the vision of sun and
+sky, of earth and sea. Take my hand, and tell me what is written."
+
+"Everything?"
+
+"Everything. As for misfortunes, is it not better to know of them than
+to encounter them unforeseen?"
+
+Benedict bowed so deeply over King George's hand that he almost touched
+it with his lips.
+
+"A truly royal hand," he said, after having glanced over it, "a
+beneficent hand; an artistic hand."
+
+"I did not ask for compliments, sir," said the king, smiling.
+
+"See, my dear master," said Benedict, addressing Kaulbach, "how well the
+Mount of Apollo, there, under the ring-finger, is developed! Apollo
+bestows love of the arts; he is the giver of intelligence, of all that
+is brilliant and creates brilliance. It is he who gives the hope of an
+immortal name, calm of the soul, the sympathy that creates love. Look at
+the Mount of Mars, represented by the part opposite the thumb. This is
+what gives courage, both civil and military, calm, coolness in danger,
+resignation, pride, devotion, resolution, and the strength of
+resistance. Unfortunately, Saturn is against us. Saturn threatens. You
+know, sire, Saturn is Fate. Now, I ought to tell you, the lines of
+Saturn are not only unfavourable; they are calamitous."
+
+And here Benedict raised his head and looking at the king with the
+utmost respect and sympathy:
+
+"I might continue more intimately yet, sire," he said, "and reveal your
+whole character in its most secret recesses. I might sketch your
+inclinations one by one to you to their lightest shades; but I should
+prefer to pass at once to graver facts. At twelve years old, Your
+Majesty had a serious illness."
+
+"It is true," said the king.
+
+"At nineteen, a line extends both towards the brain and towards the
+Mount of the Sun--a nervous seizure on one side; on the other, something
+resembling death, but which is not death--an eclipse! And worse than
+that, an eclipse is momentary one night!"
+
+"The gipsy told me literally the same as you--something that resembles
+death, but is not death! The fact is that at the age of nineteen I
+passed through great trouble."
+
+"Stay! Here, sire, on Jupiter there is a marvellous gleam; one of the
+highest seats of human fortune--about the age of thirty-nine."
+
+"Again the words of the gipsy. At thirty-nine I became king."
+
+"I was ignorant of the precise dates," said Benedict, "but it might be
+supposed that I knew them. Let me look for a fact that I could not have
+known. Ah, I see it. Yes, it is certainly here. An agony of terror, an
+accident due to water. What is it? A boat in danger? A tempest watched
+from the shore? The imminent wreck of a vessel containing some one
+beloved? There is fearful terror, but terror only; for there is a rescue
+traced close to the line of fate. Your Majesty undoubtedly experienced
+terrible anxiety for the life of some one greatly beloved.'
+
+"Do you hear this, Ernest?" said the king addressing his son.
+
+"Oh, my father!" said the young prince, throwing his arms around his
+father's neck. Then, to Benedict: "Yes, indeed, my poor father was in
+terrible fear. I was bathing in the sea at Nordeney. I can swim fairly
+well; but without perceiving it I let myself be carried away on a
+current; and, upon my word, I was on the point of sinking when I grasped
+the arm of an honest fisherman who had come to my assistance. One second
+more, and all would have been over with me."
+
+"And I was there," said the king. "I could hear his cries, I stretched
+my arms towards him--it was all I could do. Gloucester offered his
+kingdom for a horse: and I would gladly have given mine for a ray of
+light. Do not let us think of it. All the misfortunes of the future
+together are not more terrible than the shadow of that misfortune which
+did not happen."
+
+"And so, sire?" said Benedict.
+
+"And so I am convinced," said the king. "I have no need of further
+proofs. Let us pass on to the future."
+
+Benedict looked with great attention at the king's hand. He hesitated a
+moment and asked for a magnifying glass, to see more distinctly. It was
+brought.
+
+"Sire," he said, "you are about to be drawn into a great war. One of
+your nearest neighbours will not only betray, but will despoil you; and
+notwithstanding--look, monseigneur!" he said to the prince, "the line of
+the Sun shows victory: but an empty victory, useless, without fruit."
+
+"And then?" asked the king.
+
+"Oh, sire, what do I read in this hand!"
+
+"Good tidings, or bad?"
+
+"You told me to keep nothing from you, sire."
+
+"And I repeat it. Tell me then; this victory--"
+
+"This victory, as I have told Your Majesty, leads to nothing. Here is
+the Line of the Sun broken off above the Line of the Head by a line
+starting from Mars which also cuts the Mount of Jupiter."
+
+"And that foretells?"
+
+"A defeat. But however--No," said Benedict, seeking to read the most
+mysterious secrets from the royal hand; "moreover, it is not the last
+word of your destiny. Here is the Line of the Sun after its breakage
+starting afresh, reaching the ring-finger and stopping at its base. And
+there see further, above this line traversing Jupiter, a straight line
+like a furrow crowned with a star, as a sceptre is crowned with a
+diamond."
+
+"And that prophesies?"
+
+"Restoration."
+
+"Then according to you, I shall lose the throne and reconquer it?"
+
+Benedict turned towards the prince.
+
+"Your hand, if you please, monseigneur."
+
+The prince gave him his hand.
+
+"After the age of forty, monseigneur, the Line of Life sends a branch
+towards the Line of the Sun. At that period you will ascend the throne.
+This is all that I can tell you. Now, if you ascend the throne, prince,
+it can only mean that your father has either recovered or has never lost
+it."
+
+The king remained silent for a moment, resting his head on his left
+hand. He seemed gazing fixedly before him as if absorbed in some great
+idea. The most profound silence reigned in the apartment.
+
+"I cannot tell you," he said at length, "how much this unknown science
+interests me. Does Providence permit each of us to recognize his destiny
+in advance, just as the wrestler of ancient Greece might calculate the
+strength of his adversary in the circus, and consider how best to avoid
+his grip and obtain the victory?"
+
+He remained silent for a few moments, then continued:
+
+"After all, it would seem only just, only reasonable, that Providence
+which announces a storm by gathering clouds and muttering thunder,
+should allow to man and especially to man placed on the highest point of
+earthly grandeur, some indication of the approach of the storms of life.
+Yes, this science should be true, if only for the reason that it is
+necessary, and has hitherto been a missing link--unknown as it was--in
+the harmony of creation and in the logic of the Divine Mercy."
+
+At this moment an usher appeared and informed the king that the Minister
+of Foreign Affairs desired an audience on account of important business.
+
+The king turned to Benedict:
+
+"Sir," said he, "though your predictions are gloomy, you will always be
+welcome in the home of him to whom you have made them. You have foretold
+a victory; well, I to-day commission you to depict it. And if you remain
+with us, it only rests with you to share it. Ernest, give your Guelphic
+Cross to M. Benedict Turpin. I will tell my Minister of Foreign Affairs
+to have the patent ready for signature to-morrow."
+
+The king embraced his son, gave his hand to Kaulbach, graciously saluted
+Anderson and Benedict, and taking the arm of his aide-de-camp left the
+apartment as he had entered it.
+
+The young prince detached the cross and ribbon of the Guelphic Order
+which decorated his uniform, and fastened them on Benedict's coat with
+signs of the most livery pleasure. The latter thanked him and expressed
+his gratitude with evidently heartfelt warmth. Said the prince:
+
+"Only promise me one thing, M. Benedict. If your predictions should be
+verified, and you should have nothing better to do, we will go on our
+travels together, and you will show me how to kill lions and elephants
+in these wonderful forests I have heard of to-day."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+BARON FREDERIC VON BÃœLOW
+
+
+And now we will leave our friend Benedict Turpin in order to follow one
+of his adversaries who is destined to become an important character in
+our story. We mean Baron Frederic von Bülow, whom we left with Georges
+Kleist in the glade of Eilenriede.
+
+Although his wound appeared at first sight the more serious of the two,
+it was not in reality so. Moreover, he was the most eager to leave the
+field. Entrusted as he was with a mission to Frankfort, he had turned
+aside from his road to call Benedict to account, and from the first
+moment that he was able to bear the fatigue of the journey he did not
+lose a moment in pursuing it.
+
+Although untouched by the ball, the impact of the broken pistol with the
+right side of Kleist's face had had deplorable results. The blow was so
+violent that it had left a bruise of the exact shape of the muzzle of
+the pistol. His eyes were bloodshot and his cheek immoderately swollen.
+In short, Herr Kleist would be obliged for at least a fortnight to forgo
+the pleasures of society.
+
+When the Baron Frederic von Bülow and Herr Kleist arrived at the Royal
+Hotel they found their misadventure and Benedict's triumph were already
+public property. The fact of their being Prussians was no
+recommendation, and they were received with an amount of derision which
+induced Herr Kleist, suffering though he was, to take the train
+immediately. As for the major, having already accomplished a third of
+his journey, he had only to continue on a branch line running direct
+from Hanover to Frankfort.
+
+We have already given some account of the appearance and physique of the
+Baron Frederic von Bülow; we will now complete our description, first
+relating the romantic manner in which he entered the military career and
+the happy chance by which his undoubted merits found their due reward.
+
+Frederic von Bülow came of a family belonging to Breslau. He had been a
+student at Jena. One fine day he resolved to make a tour which is
+frequently undertaken by German students along the banks of the Rhine.
+He set out alone; not that he was in the least misanthropical; but he
+was a poet. He loved to travel according to the inclination of the
+moment, to stop when it suited him, proceed when he pleased, and have no
+companion drawing him to the left when he wanted to follow a charming
+woman to the right.
+
+He had reached the most picturesque part of the Rhine; the Seven
+Mountains. On the opposite bank, on the summit of a lofty hill there
+stood a fine Gothic castle, lately restored. It belonged to the brother
+of the King of Prussia, who was then only the Prince Royal. Not only had
+he rebuilt the castle on its ancient foundations, but he had furnished
+it throughout with appointments of the sixteenth century, collected in
+the neighbourhood from the peasantry and convents, and new pieces made
+by clever workmen from ancient models. Hangings, tapestries, mirrors,
+all were of the same period, and formed a charming miniature museum of
+arms, pictures, and valuable curiosities. When the prince was not in
+residence he allowed the castle to be shown to visitors of distinction.
+
+How difficult it is to define the phrase "visitors of distinction."
+Frederic, whose family was of ancient nobility, considered that he had a
+right, though travelling on foot, to see the castle. Knapsack on
+shoulder, staff in hand, he climbed the steep path and knocked at the
+door of the keep. The sound of a horn was heard, and the door opened. A
+porter appeared and an officer in the costume of the sixteenth century,
+who asked what could be done for him. Frederic von Bülow explained his
+wish as an archæologist to see the Prince Regent's castle. The officer
+replied, regretting he was not able to gratify him; the prince's
+intendant had arrived the evening before, preceding his master only by
+twenty-four hours. Visitors could no longer be admitted. But the
+traveller was invited according to custom to inscribe his name, titles,
+and qualifications in the visitors' book. He took a pen and wrote
+Frederic von Bülow, student of the University of Jena. Then he took up
+his iron-shod stick, saluted the officer, and began to descend the path.
+
+But he had not taken a hundred steps when he heard himself called. The
+officer beckoned and a page ran after him, saying the intendant begged
+him to return and would take upon himself to grant the desired
+permission to see the castle.
+
+In the ante-room Frederic met, as if by chance, a man of about
+fifty-eight or sixty. It was the prince's intendant. He entered into
+conversation with the young man, appeared pleased with him, and offered
+to be his guide throughout the castle, an offer that Frederic took good
+care to accept. The intendant was very well informed; Frederic was a
+young man of ability, and three or four hours had passed without either
+being aware how the time was going, when a servant announced, dinner.
+Frederic gracefully expressed his concern at leaving his cicerone so
+soon; and his regret was evidently shared by his guide.
+
+"See here," he said. "You are travelling as a student; I am here _en
+garçon_. Suppose you dine with me. You will not dine so well as you
+might with the king, but at any rate it will be better than hotel fare."
+
+Frederic protested as far as he thought good breeding demanded, but as
+he was really longing to accept the invitation he ended by acceding with
+visible pleasure, and they consequently dined together. Frederic was a
+delightful companion, being both poet and philosopher, qualities one
+finds only united in Germany. He quite made a conquest of his host, who
+after dinner proposed a game of chess. Midnight struck, and each thought
+the evening barely begun. It was not possible to return to the village
+at such an hour. Frederic, after some modest reluctance, remained at the
+castle and slept in the Landgrave Philip's bed; and it was only the next
+day after lunch that he obtained his host's permission to resume his
+journey.
+
+"I am not without some slight influence at court," said the intendant on
+taking leave of him, "and if I can ever be of any service to you, pray
+make use of me."
+
+Frederic promised that he would.
+
+"And whatever may happen," added his host, "I shall remember your name.
+You may forget me, but I shall not forget you."
+
+Frederic finished his travels on the Rhine, returned to the University
+of Jena, concluded his studies there, entered the diplomatic service and
+was greatly astonished at being one day summoned to the cabinet of the
+grand duke.
+
+"Sir," said the great man, "I have selected you to convey my
+congratulations to William the First, King of Prussia, on his recent
+accession to the throne."
+
+"But, Highness!" cried Frederic in astonishment, "who am I to be
+honoured with such a commission?"
+
+"Really! are you not Baron Frederic von Bülow?"
+
+"Highness! Baron? I? But since when have I become a baron?"
+
+"Since I made you one. You will start at nine o'clock to-morrow; your
+letters of credit will be ready at eight."
+
+Frederic could only bow and utter his thanks; he bowed deeply,
+gratefully thanked the grand duke and left the room.
+
+The next morning at ten o'clock he was in the train and by the evening
+he was in Berlin. His arrival was immediately announced to the new king.
+The new king replied that he would receive him the following day at the
+castle Of Potsdam.
+
+On the morrow Frederic, in his court suit, started for Potsdam and
+arrived at the castle. But to his great astonishment he learnt that the
+king had just gone away and had left only his intendant to represent
+him.
+
+Frederic's first idea was to return to Berlin; but he remembered that it
+was this official who had entertained him so kindly and courteously two
+years before at the castle of Rheinstein. He did not want to appear
+ungrateful or offended, so had his name sent in accordingly. But while
+crossing the ante-room he observed a full-length portrait of the king.
+He stopped for an instant stupefied. His Majesty resembled his intendant
+as one drop of water resembles another. The truth now dawned on
+Frederic. It was the king's brother himself who, to-day reigning as King
+William I, had received him at the castle of Rheinstein, who had acted
+as his guide, had kept him to dinner, who had won three games of chess
+out of five, and had made him sleep in the Landgrave Philip's bed--who
+had offered his influence at court, and who on taking leave of him had
+promised not to forget him.
+
+He understood now why he had been chosen by the Grand Duke of Weimar to
+carry his congratulations to the king; why the Grand Duke of Weimar had
+made him a baron, why the king had appointed a meeting at Potsdam, and
+why finally His Majesty had returned to Berlin, leaving his intendant
+only to represent him.
+
+His Majesty wanted to enjoy another day like that they had passed
+together at Rheinstein. Frederic was a good courtier, and was ready to
+contribute all in his power to this caprice. He entered as if he had no
+suspicion, greeted his host like an old acquaintance, only showing the
+respect due to an older man, thus recalling the scene which had left
+such a pleasing influence on his mind.
+
+The intendant made excuses for His Majesty, and invited Frederic to pass
+the day at the castle of Potsdam, an invitation which was accepted like
+the one at Rheinstein. He again offered his services as cicerone, took
+him into the mausoleum, and showed him the tomb and the sword of the
+Great Frederic.
+
+A court carriage was ready waiting for them, and they went to see the
+castle of Sans-Souci, which is only two miles from Potsdam. It was here,
+it will be remembered, in the park of this château that the famous mill
+was situated which its owner refused to sell to Frederic II, and which
+caused the king to exclaim when the miller gained his lawsuit, "So there
+are still judges at Berlin!" In the sequel the descendants of the
+stubborn miller were softened and sold their mill to William I, who,
+wishing to preserve it as a monument of the occurrence, refused to allow
+it to be demolished.
+
+But time, which cares nothing for the commands of kings, had in store
+for William and his guest an example of its disregard. An hour before
+the arrival of Frederic and the so-called agent, the four sails of the
+windmill had fallen, bringing down in their fall the balustrade which
+surrounded it. So that to day one must conclude that there are no longer
+judges in Berlin, as there is no longer a mill at Sans-Souci.
+
+On their return to Potsdam, Frederic and his companion found a table
+ready laid for two. They dined alone together, played five games of
+chess out of which the agent won three, and it was only at midnight that
+they separated, when on the agent wishing Frederic a good night, the
+latter replied with a deep bow: "Sire, may God grant Your Majesty a good
+night."
+
+The next day the fiction was abandoned. The king breakfasted with
+Frederic, gave him the Order of the Red Eagle, and with much pressing
+induced him to hand in his resignation and join the army. A week later
+he received his commission as lieutenant of the line, and came to pay
+his respects in his new character to the king, who undertook that the
+king would ever remember him whom the prince had promised not to forget.
+
+Two years later, Frederic received a proof that the king indeed had not
+forgotten. His regiment was stationed in garrison at Frankfort, where at
+the house of Herr Fellner, the burgomaster, he made the acquaintance of
+a family of French descent exiled by the revocation of the Edict of
+Nantes, which had since its expatriation become Catholic. The family
+consisted of the mother, aged about thirty-eight, the grandmother, who
+was sixty-eight, and two girls of twenty and eighteen. Their family name
+was Chandroz.
+
+The elder daughter, Emma, had black hair, black eyes, a pale clear skin,
+and well-marked eyebrows; her marvellously beautiful teeth showed like
+pearls against her vividly red lips. She had, in fact, that stately dark
+beauty which suggests the Roman matron, Lucretia and Cornelia in one.
+
+Helen was worthy of her name. Her hair was of that exquisite blonde tint
+which can only be compared to the colour of ripe corn. Her complexion
+faintly tinted with rose had the freshness and delicacy of the camellia.
+And the effect was almost astonishing when under these fair locks, and
+upon that countenance of almost transparent pallor, she raised large
+dark eyes, eloquent of passion, overarched with dark eyebrows and
+fringed with lashes which gave to their sparkling orbs deep reflections
+like those of the black diamonds of Tripoli. And as one had only to look
+at Emma to see foreshadowed in her the calm and wisdom of those matrons
+among whom the Catholic religion finds its saints, so one could divine
+in Helen all that tempestuous future which the united passions of two
+races hold in store for the hybrids of their sex.
+
+Whether it were that this strange manifestation of divine caprice
+dismayed him, or whether he felt himself drawn by irresistible sympathy
+to the elder of the two sisters--it was to her that the Baron von Bülow
+paid his homage. He was young, handsome, and rich. It was known that the
+King of Prussia held him in warm regard. He stated that if he were
+granted Emma's hand, his royal protector at the same time would make him
+a captain. The two young people were in love, and the family had no
+serious opposition to raise to their union. They said: "Obtain your
+promotion as captain, and we will see." He asked three days' leave,
+started for Berlin, and came back on the third day with his captain's
+commission.
+
+All was arranged. But during his absence Emma's mother was slightly
+indisposed. Her illness increased, developed into disease of the lungs,
+and at the end of six months Emma was doubly orphaned.
+
+It was a further reason for giving the family a protector. The
+grandmother, sixty-nine years of age, might die at any moment. They
+waited till the strict season of mourning dictated both by their hearts
+and by custom had elapsed, and at the end of six months they were
+married.
+
+Three days after the birth of his first child, a boy, the Baron Frederic
+von Bülow received his commission as major. On this occasion the
+protection of the king was so obvious and so kindly intentioned that the
+baron resolved to make a second journey to Berlin, not on this occasion
+to ask for favours, but to return thanks for them. This journey was all
+the more opportune because a word dropped by His Majesty's secretary had
+warned him that there were great events on the horizon in which he might
+take part, and that he would do wisely to come to Berlin on any suitable
+pretext and see the king in person.
+
+And in fact we have already said that Count von Bismarck had worked hard
+to bring great events to pass. The king had three times received Baron
+Frederic in private, and had freely discussed with him the probability
+of a terrible war. To crown all, he attached him to the staff, so that
+he might become aide-de-camp to any general whom he sent to any special
+place, or even at need to his son or his cousin.
+
+This was how Baron Frederic chanced to find himself at Berlin on June
+7th, that is, on the day of the attempted assassination of Bismarck. As
+we have seen, he, with two other officers rescued Benedict from the
+hands of the mob; but, having promised the crowd that the Frenchman
+should shout "Long live Prussia! Long live King William I!" he was
+confounded when, instead of adopting this prudent course, Benedict
+declaimed Alfred de Musset's verses on the Rhine, almost as well known
+in Prussia as the song to which they were an answer. He and his comrades
+took this affront, which the public had witnessed, as a deliberate
+insult. All three presented themselves at the Black Eagle, which
+Benedict as we know had given as his address, intending to demand
+immediate satisfaction.
+
+But, as they met each other and learnt that their errands were all the
+same, they recognized that three men, who do not wish to gain their end
+by intimidation, cannot all demand satisfaction from a single opponent.
+For this reason they cast lots as to who should have the honour of
+fighting with Benedict, and the lot as we have seen fell upon Frederic.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+HELEN
+
+
+There stands in Frankfort-on-Main, at the corner of the Ross-market,
+opposite the Protestant Church of St. Catherine, a mansion, which, by
+its architecture, belongs to the transition period between Louis XIV and
+Louis XV. It is known as Passevent House. The ground-floor was occupied
+by a bookseller, and all the rest by the Chandroz family, already known
+to the reader by name.
+
+A sort of uneasiness, not quite amounting to actual trouble, seemed to
+prevail in the house. The morning before a letter had been received by
+Baroness von Bülow, announcing her husband's return in the evening, and
+close upon that came a telegram, saying that he would not arrive before
+the following morning, and that she must not be anxious if there were a
+further delay. The fact was, that two hours after writing his letter,
+the baron saw Benedict's announcement in the "Gazette." Fearing that he
+might be delayed by a wound, he wished to spare his wife any possible
+anxiety, her infant being only just over a week old.
+
+Although the train was not due until four in the morning, Hans, the
+confidential servant of the family, had already departed at three,
+taking the carriage to meet his master at the station and at least ten
+times during the interval Emma rang up her maid, wondering why the time
+passed so slowly.
+
+At length the sound of a carriage was heard, followed by the creaking of
+the great gate, the carriage passed under the arch, the tread of spurred
+boots echoed on the staircase, Emma's door opened, and Emma's arms
+enfolded her husband.
+
+It did not escape her notice that Frederic winced when she threw her
+arms round him. She asked the cause. Frederic replied with a
+cock-and-bull story of a cab accident in which he had slightly sprained
+his arm.
+
+The sound of the carriage and the general movement in the house informed
+Helen of the baron's arrival. Hastily wrapping herself in a
+dressing-gown with her beautiful hair falling loosely over it, she
+hurried to greet her brother-in-law whom she loved tenderly. In order
+not to disturb the Countess de Chandroz, their grandmother, orders had
+been given to keep her wing of the house as quiet as possible.
+
+Madame von Bülow, with the usual penetration of wives, soon guessed that
+Frederic's arm was more hurt than he chose to acknowledge. She insisted
+that the family doctor, Herr Bodemacker, should be sent for, and
+Frederic, who knew by the pain he suffered, that the bandage must have
+been displaced during his journey, made no objection. He only begged her
+to keep quiet while he went to his own room for the bath he had ordered,
+saying that it would be much better for the doctor to follow him there
+and decide which of his two hundred and eighty-two bones required
+attention.
+
+The question of importance was to keep the baroness in ignorance as to
+the serious nature of the wound. With the help of Hans and the
+connivance of the doctor this would be easy. The bath was a marvellous
+help, and Emma allowed him to go to his room without suspecting the real
+cause of his requiring it.
+
+When the doctor arrived, Frederic astonished Hans by explaining that the
+evening before he had received a sword wound which had laid open his
+arm, that the bandage must have slipped in the train, and that it, his
+coat, and his shirt were all soaked in blood.
+
+The doctor slit the sleeve the whole way up, and then cut it clear at
+the top. Frederic then was told to plunge his arm into the warm water of
+the bath which enabled the doctor to remove the coat sleeve. He then
+loosened the shirt sleeve by sponging it with the warm water, and
+finally, cutting it away at the shoulder, was able to expose the wound.
+
+The arm, compressed by the sleeves, was frightfully red and swollen, the
+plaster had given way, the wound was gaping widely through its whole
+length, and in the lower part the arm appeared cut to the bone. It was
+fortunate that there had been plenty of warm water at hand. The doctor
+brought the two sides of the cut together again, fixed them carefully,
+bandaged the whole arm and put it in splints as if it had been broken.
+But it was absolutely necessary that the baron should remain quite quiet
+for two or three days. The doctor undertook to find the general in
+command and to explain privately that Baron von Bülow was charged with a
+mission to him but could not possibly leave the house.
+
+Hans quickly removed the water and stained bandages. Frederic went down,
+kissed his wife, and satisfied her by saying the doctor had merely
+ordered him to rest for a few days. The word dislocation spread through
+the house and accounted for the baron's indisposition. Returning to his
+own apartment he found the Prussian general awaiting him. He explained
+matters in two words; moreover, before long the story would be in all
+the papers. The important question was, to keep the baroness in
+ignorance. She would be uneasy about a dislocation, but in despair over
+a wound.
+
+Frederic handed over his despatches to the general. They merely warned
+him to be ready for action at a moment's notice. It was evident that
+Count Bismarck, from whom the order came, wished to have a garrison at
+hand during the Diet, to overawe the assembly, if possible. Afterwards
+he would withdraw it or leave it, according to circumstances. This
+question would be put to the Diet. "In case of war between Austria and
+Prussia, on which side will you be?"
+
+Frederic was extremely anxious to see his young sister Helen, having
+important communications to make. After he and Benedict had vowed
+eternal friendship on the field of battle, and Benedict had spoken of
+having met the baroness at the burgomaster's house, he had conceived an
+idea which he could not drive away, namely, to marry Benedict to his
+sister-in-law. From what he had seen and heard of the young man, he felt
+convinced that these two impetuous, imaginative, and artistic
+characters, always ready to pursue an idea suggested by a ray of
+sunlight or a scented breeze, were, out of the whole creation, the best
+suited to each other. Consequently he wished to ascertain if Helen had
+been attracted by his friend. Were this the case, he would find some
+pretext for bringing Benedict to Frankfort, and, little as Helen cared
+for admiration, he thought the acquaintance would soon assume the
+character he wished.
+
+Moreover, he wished to warn Helen to keep newspapers away from her
+sister and grandmother, and on this account it was absolutely necessary
+to take her into his confidence. She anticipated his wishes, for
+scarcely had the general left him, when some one knocked softly at his
+door, such a knock as might have proceeded from a cat or a bird. He
+knew Helen's gentle manner of announcing herself.
+
+"Come in, little sister, come in!" he cried, and Helen entered on
+tip-toe.
+
+The baron was lying on his bed in his dressing-gown, lying on his left
+side, his wounded arm extended along his body.
+
+"Ah! you good-for-nothing," said she, folding her arms and gazing at
+him, "so you have been and gone and done it, have you?"
+
+"How? done what?" enquired Frederic, laughing.
+
+"Well, now I have got you alone, we can talk."
+
+"Exactly, dear Helen, now we are alone as you say. You are the
+strong-minded person of this house, although no one else knows it, not
+even yourself. So I want to discuss important matters with you--and they
+are not a few."
+
+"So do I, and I shall begin by taking the bull by the horns. Your arm is
+not dislocated nor even sprained. You have fought a duel, like the
+hothead you are, and your arm is wounded by either a sabre or
+sword-cut."
+
+"Well, my little sister, that is exactly what I wanted to tell you. I
+did fight a duel--for political reasons. And I did get a sabre cut in my
+arm, but it was a friendly sabre, very neatly and prettily applied. It
+is not dangerous, no artery or nerve severed. But the story will be in
+all the papers; it has made noise enough already. Now we must prevent
+both grandmamma and Emma from seeing the newspapers."
+
+"The only paper taken here is the 'Kreuz Zeitung.'"
+
+"Which is precisely the one that will say the most."
+
+"What are you smiling at?"
+
+"I can't help thinking of the face of the man who will have to supply
+the details!"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Nothing. I was only talking to myself, and when I say things to myself
+they are not worth repeating aloud. The question is--to keep an eye on
+the 'Kreuz Zeitung.'"
+
+"Certainly I will keep an eye on it."
+
+"Then I need not trouble any more about it?"
+
+"When I tell you that I will see to it myself!"
+
+"Very well! We will talk about something else."
+
+"About anything you like."
+
+"Do you recollect meeting a young Frenchman at Herr Fellner's, an
+artist, a painter?"
+
+"Monsieur Benedict Turpin? I should think so! A charming man who makes
+the most rapid sketches, and though they are flattering, they are still
+likenesses."
+
+"Oh! come, come! You are quite enthusiastic."
+
+"I can show you one he did of me. He has given me a pair of wings, and I
+really look like an angel!"
+
+"Then he is clever?"
+
+"Enormously clever."
+
+"And witty."
+
+"He can certainly give you as good as you gave. You should have seen how
+he routed some of our bankers when they tried to chaff him. He spoke
+better German than they did."
+
+"Is he rich as well?"
+
+"So they say."
+
+"It also seems as if there were remarkable affinities between his
+character and that of a little girl I know."
+
+"But who? I don't understand."
+
+"Nevertheless, it is some one you know. He appears to be capricious,
+imaginative, vivacious; he adores travelling, is an excellent rider,
+and a good sportsman, either on foot or horseback, all which coincides
+admirably with the tastes of a certain 'Diana Vernon.'"
+
+"I thought that was what you always called me."
+
+"So it is. Do you recognize my portrait?"
+
+"Not at all, not in the least. I am gentle, calm, collected. I like
+travelling, yes. But where have I been? To Paris, Berlin, Vienna,
+London, and that is all, I love horses, but what do I ever ride except
+my poor little Gretchen?"
+
+"She has nearly killed you twice over!"
+
+"Poor thing! it was my own fault. As for shooting, I have never held a
+gun, and as for coursing, I have never started a hare."
+
+"True, but why not? Only because the grandmother objected. If you could
+have had your own way--"
+
+"Oh, yes! It would be glorious to rush against the wind, to feel it
+blowing through one's hair. There is great pleasure in rapid motion, a
+feeling of life which one finds in nothing else."
+
+"So you would like to be able to do these things which you don't do."
+
+"Yes, indeed."
+
+"With Monsieur Benedict?"
+
+"Why Monsieur Benedict more than any one else?"
+
+"Because he is more charming than most."
+
+"I do not think so."
+
+"Really?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then; supposing you were allowed to choose a husband out of all my
+friends, you would not choose M. Benedict?"
+
+"I should never dream of doing so."
+
+"Now, little sister, you know I am an obstinate man, who likes to
+understand, things. How is it that a man, young, handsome, rich,
+talented, courageous, and imaginative, fails to interest you,
+particularly when he has both the good qualities and the defects of your
+own character?"
+
+"What am I to say? I do not know, I cannot analyse my feelings. Some
+people are sympathetic to me, some indifferent, some downright
+disagreeable!"
+
+"Well, you don't class Monsieur Benedict among the disagreeable, I
+hope."
+
+"No, but among the indifferents."
+
+"And why among the indifferents?"
+
+"Monsieur Benedict is of medium height, I like tall men: he is fair, I
+like dark men. He is volatile, I like serious people. He is bold, always
+rushing off to the ends of the world; he would be the husband of other
+men's wives, and not even the lover of his own."
+
+"Let us resume. What sort of man, then, must he be that would please
+you?"
+
+"Somebody just the opposite of M. Benedict."
+
+"He must be tall."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Dark?"
+
+"Either dark or dark chestnut."
+
+"Grave."
+
+"Grave, or at least, serious. Also brave, steady, loyal, and--"
+
+"Just so. Do you know that you have described, word for word, my friend,
+Karl von Freyberg?"
+
+Helen blushed crimson, and moved quickly, as if to leave the room, but
+Frederic, disregarding his wound, caught her hand and made her sit down
+again. The light from between the curtains irradiated her face like the
+sunlight falling on a flower. He looked at her intently.
+
+"Well, yes," she said, "but no one knows but you."
+
+"Not Karl himself?"
+
+"He may have some idea."
+
+"Well, little sister," said Frederic, "I see no great harm in all this.
+Come and kiss me, and we will talk again another time."
+
+"But how comes it," exclaimed Helen, with vexation, "that you know all
+you want to know, although I have told you nothing at all?"
+
+"Because one can see through a crystal which is pure. Dear little Helen,
+Karl von Freyberg is my best friend, he has all I could wish in a
+brother-in-law, or that you could desire in a husband. If he loves you
+as much as you seem to love him, there should be no great difficulty
+about your becoming his wife."
+
+"Ah! dear Frederic," said Helen, shaking her pretty head, "but I once
+heard a Frenchwoman say that the marriages which present no difficulties
+are just those which never come off!"
+
+And she retired to her own room, wondering no doubt as to what
+difficulties Destiny could interpose to the completion of her own
+marriage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+COUNT KARL VON FREYBERG
+
+
+In the days of Charles V the Austrian Empire dominated for a period both
+Europe and America, both the East and the West Indies. From the summit
+of the Dalmatian mountains Austria beheld the rising of the sun, from
+the chain of the Andes she could watch his setting. When the last ray of
+sunset sank in the west, the first light of dawn was reappearing in the
+east. Her empire was greater than that of Alexander, of Augustus, of
+Charlemagne.
+
+But this empire has been torn by the devouring hands of Time. And the
+champion by whom the armour of this colossus, piece by piece, has been
+rent away, is France.
+
+France took--for herself--Flanders, the Duchy of Bar, Burgundy, Alsace,
+and Lorraine. For the grandson of Louis XIV she took Spain, the two
+Indies, and the islands. For the son of Philip V she took Naples and
+Sicily. She also took the Netherlands and made two separate kingdoms of
+them, Belgium and Holland, and, finally, she tore away Lombardy and
+Venetia, and gave them to Italy. And to-day the boundaries of this
+empire, upon which, three hundred years ago, the sun never set, are, in
+the west, Tyrol; in the east, Moldavia; to the north, Prussia; to the
+south, Turkey.
+
+Every one knows that, strictly speaking, there is no Austria, properly
+so called, only a dukedom of Austria, with nine to ten millions of
+inhabitants, of which Vienna is the capital. And it was a duke of
+Austria who imprisoned Richard CÅ“ur-de-Lion on his return from
+Palestine, and only released him on payment of a ransom of two hundred
+and fifty thousand gold crowns.
+
+The map-space now occupied by Austria, outside the actual dukedom, its
+kernel, consists of Bohemia, Hungary, Illyria, the Tyrol, Moravia,
+Silesia, the Sclavonian district of Croatia, the Vaivody of Servia, the
+Banat, Transylvania, Galicia, Dalmatia, and Styria.
+
+We do not count four to five millions of Roumanians scattered throughout
+Hungary, and on the banks of the Danube. Every one of the above
+districts has its own character, its own customs, language, costume,
+frontier. Especially the dwellers in Styria, composed of Norica and the
+ancient Pannonia, have retained their own language, costume, and
+primitive customs. Before it became included in Austria, Styria had its
+own separate history and nobility, dating from the time when it was
+known as the march of Styria, about 1030. And from that epoch Karl von
+Freyberg dated his ancestry, remaining a great noble at a time when
+great nobles are becoming rare.
+
+He was a handsome young man of about twenty-seven, tall, straight,
+slight, flexible as a cane, and equally tough. His fine black hair was
+cut close, and he had beneath black eyebrows and eyelashes, those dark
+grey eyes which Homer attributes to Minerva and which shine like
+emeralds. His complexion was sunburnt, for he had hunted since
+childhood. He had small hands and feet, unwearied limbs, and prodigious
+strength. In his own mountains he had hunted bear, wild goat, and
+chamois. But he had never attacked the first of these animals with any
+weapon except lance or dagger.
+
+He was now a captain in the Lichtenstein Hussars, and, even in barracks,
+was always followed by two Tyrolean chasseurs dressed in the national
+costume. While the one carried out an order the other remained at hand,
+so that there might be always some one to whom his master might say "Go
+and do this." Although they understood German he always spoke to them in
+their own tongue. They were serfs, understanding nothing about
+enfranchisement, who considered that he had absolute power of life and
+death over them, and although he had several times tried to explain
+matters, telling them they were free to go where they chose, they had
+simply refused either to believe or to listen.
+
+Three years before, during a chamois hunt, one of his keepers lost his
+footing. He fell down a precipice, and was dashed to pieces. Karl
+ordered his steward to pay the widow an annuity. She thanked him, but
+was quite unable to understand that he owed her anything merely because
+her husband had been killed in his service.
+
+When there was a hunt--and he who writes this had twice the honour to be
+of the party--whether in his own country or not, Karl always wore his
+national costume and very picturesque it was.
+
+The count's two attendants never left him. They were loaders. When Karl
+had fired, he dropped his gun on the ground and another ready loaded was
+instantly slipped into his hand.
+
+Whilst waiting for the beaters to be placed, which generally took half
+an hour, the two chasseurs drew from their game-bags small Tyrolean
+flutes made of reeds, on which they played, sometimes together,
+sometimes alone, but always joining again after a certain number of
+bars, Styrian airs, melancholy, but sweet and plaintive. This lasted
+some minutes, then, as if drawn by the music, the count in his turn
+produced a similar flute and put it to his lips. He now took up the
+melody, the others only played accompaniments, which I think must have
+been improvised--so original were they. It seemed as if the
+accompaniments pursued the air, overtook it, and then turned around it
+like creepers or tendrils. Then the air reappeared, charming, but always
+sad, and reaching notes so high that one would have thought only silver
+or glass could produce them. Then a gun was heard, that of the chief
+beater, announcing that all was ready. The three flutes vanished inside
+the game-bags, the musicians took their guns and again became hunters,
+ear and eye strained to the utmost.
+
+Count Karl knocked at eleven o'clock at Baron von Bülow's door, having
+heard both of his return and his accident. Frederic received him with an
+unusually smiling countenance, but only offered his left hand.
+
+"Ah! then, it is true, is it? I have just read the 'Kreuz Zeitung.'"
+
+"What have you read, my dear Karl?"
+
+"I read that you fought with a Frenchman and were wounded."
+
+"Hush--not so loud. I am not wounded for the family, only dislocated."
+
+"What does that mean?"
+
+"It means, my dear fellow, that my wife won't think she need inspect a
+sprained arm, but she would positively insist on examining a wounded
+one. Now she would die of fright over this wound, while I believe you
+would rather like to have it. Have you seen many wounds a foot long? I
+can show you one if you like."
+
+"How so? A skilled fencer like you, who uses his sabre as if he had
+invented it!"
+
+"None the less, I found my master."
+
+"A Frenchman?"
+
+"A Frenchman."
+
+"Well, instead of hunting wild boar in the Taunus to-morrow, as I
+intended, I should like to go and hunt your Frenchman, and bring back
+one of his paws to replace your wounded one."
+
+"Don't do anything of the kind, my dear friend, you might easily only
+bring back a nice little cut like this of mine. Besides, the Frenchman
+is now my friend, and I want him to be yours also."
+
+"Never! A rascal who has cut your arm open--how far? A foot, did you
+say?"
+
+"He might have killed me. He did not. He might have cut me in two, and
+he only gave me this wound. We embraced on the battlefield. Did you see
+the other details?"
+
+"What other details?"
+
+"Those concerning his other duel, with Herr George Kleist."
+
+"Superficially. I don't know him, I only cared about you. I did see that
+your Frenchman had damaged the jaw of some man who writes articles in
+the 'Kreuz Zeitung.' He seems to have quarrelled with two professions,
+since he chooses to encounter an officer and a journalist on the same
+day."
+
+"He did not choose us, we were foolish enough to choose him. We pursued
+him to Hanover, where he was very comfortable. Probably he was annoyed
+by being disturbed. So he sent me home with my arm in a sling, and
+dismissed Herr Kleist with a black eye."
+
+"Is the fellow a Hercules?"
+
+"Not at all, it is curious. He is a head shorter than you, but formed
+like Alfred de Musset's Hassan, whose mother made him small in order to
+turn him out perfect."
+
+"And so you embraced on the battlefield?"
+
+"Better still. I have an idea."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"He is a Frenchman as you know."
+
+"Of good family?"
+
+"Dear friend, they are all of good family since the Revolution. But he
+is clever--very."
+
+"As a fencing master?"
+
+"Not at all, as an artist. Kaulbach says he is the hope of the present
+school. He is young."
+
+"Young?"
+
+"Yes, twenty-five or six at most, and handsome."
+
+"Handsome as well?"
+
+"Charming. An income of twelve thousand francs."
+
+"A trifle."
+
+"Not everybody has two hundred thousand, like you, my dear friend.
+Twelve thousand francs and a fine talent might mean fifty or sixty
+thousand."
+
+"But why in the world do you consider all this?"
+
+"I should like him to marry Helen."
+
+The count nearly sprang out of his chair.
+
+"What! Let him marry Helen! your sister-in-law! A Frenchman!"
+
+"Well, is she not herself partly of French origin?"
+
+"I am sure Mademoiselle Helen loves you too much to be willing to marry
+a man who has wounded you like this. I hope she refused?"
+
+"She did."
+
+The count breathed again.
+
+"But what the deuce put such an idea into your head as to marry him to
+your sister?"
+
+"She is only my sister-in-law."
+
+"That does not matter. What an idea to think of marrying one's
+sister-in-law to the first person picked up on the high road!"
+
+"I assure you this young man is not just--"
+
+"Never mind! She refused, did she not? That is the chief thing."
+
+"I hope to make her think better of it."
+
+"You must be quite mad."
+
+"But tell me, why should she refuse? Explain if you can! Unless, indeed,
+she cares for some one else."
+
+The count blushed up to his eyes.
+
+"Do you think that quite impossible?" he stammered.
+
+"No, but then if she should love someone else, she must say so."
+
+"Listen, Frederic, I cannot positively say that she loves some one else,
+but I can declare that some one else loves her."
+
+"That is half the battle. Is it some one as good as my Frenchman?"
+
+"Ah! Frederic, you are so prejudiced in favour of your Frenchman. I dare
+not say yes."
+
+"Then tell me at once. You see what might have happened had my Frenchman
+been here, and I had made any promise to him."
+
+"Well, at any rate, you won't turn me out for saying it. The some one is
+myself."
+
+"Always modest, loyal, and true, dear Karl but--"
+
+"But? I will have no 'buts.'"
+
+"It is not a very terrible 'but,' as you will see. You are a great
+noble, Karl, compared to my little sister Helen."
+
+"I am the last of my race, there is no one to make objections."
+
+"And you are very rich for a dowry of two hundred thousand francs."
+
+"I can dispose of my own fortune as I choose."
+
+"These are observations I felt bound to make to you."
+
+"Do you consider them really serious?"
+
+"I acknowledge objections to them would be much more so."
+
+"Is it of no consequence to ascertain whether Helen loves me or not?"
+
+"That can be decided at once."
+
+"How?"
+
+"I will send for her, the shortest explanations are always the best."
+
+The count became as pale as he had been red the moment before. In a
+trembling voice he exclaimed:
+
+"Not now, for Heaven's sake! not now!"
+
+"But, my dear Karl!"
+
+"Frederic!"
+
+"Do you believe I am your friend?"
+
+"Good heavens! yes."
+
+"Well, do you suppose I would subject you to an interview which could
+only make you unhappy?
+
+"You mean--"
+
+"I mean that I believe--"
+
+"Believe what?"
+
+"I believe that she loves you as much as you love her."
+
+"My friend, you will kill me with joy."
+
+"Well, since you are so afraid of an interview with Helen, go and do
+your hunting in the Taunus, kill your wild boar and come back again, the
+thing will be done."
+
+"Done, how?"
+
+"I will undertake it."
+
+"No, Frederic, I will not go."
+
+"What, you will not go? Only think of your men waiting there with their
+flutes."
+
+"They may wait."
+
+At this moment the door opened, and Helen appeared on the threshold.
+
+"Helen!" exclaimed Karl.
+
+"You will be careful--you must not be too long with my brother," she
+said, remaining at the door.
+
+"He is waiting for you," observed Frederic.
+
+"For me?"
+
+"Yes, come here."
+
+"But I don't understand in the least."
+
+"Never mind! Come here."
+
+Karl offered his hand to Helen.
+
+"Oh, mademoiselle," he said, "do what your brother asks, I entreat you."
+
+"Well," she said, "what shall I do?"
+
+"You can lend your hand to Karl; he will return it."
+
+Karl seized her hand and pressed it to his heart. Helen uttered a cry.
+Timid as a child, Karl released the hand.
+
+"You did not hurt me," said Helen.
+
+Karl promptly repossessed himself of the released hand.
+
+"Brother," said Frederic, "did you not say you had a secret you wished
+to confide to Helen?"
+
+"Oh yes, yes," cried Karl.
+
+"All right, I am not listening."
+
+Karl bent towards Helen's ear, and the sweet words "I love you" fell
+from his lips with a whisper as of a moth's wings, which flitting by
+your ear on a spring evening breathes the eternal secret of Nature.
+
+"Oh! Frederic, Frederic!" cried Helen, hiding her forehead on his couch,
+"I was not mistaken!"
+
+Then raising her head and languidly opening her beautiful eyes.
+
+"And I," she said, "I love you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE GRANDMOTHER
+
+
+For a few moments Frederic left the lovers to themselves and their
+happiness. Then, as both raised their eyes to his, as if enquiring what
+next should be done:
+
+"The little sister," said he, "must go and tell all this to her big
+sister, the big sister will relate it to the grandmother, and the
+grandmother, who believes in me, will come and talk it over and we will
+arrange things together."
+
+"And when must I go and tell all this to the big sister?" enquired
+Helen.
+
+"At once, if you will."
+
+"I will go now! You will wait for me, Karl?"
+
+Karl's smile and gesture answered her. Helen glided out of his embrace
+and vanished like a bird.
+
+"Now for our own affairs!" said Frederic.
+
+"How! what affairs?"
+
+"I have something to tell you."
+
+"Anything important?"
+
+"Very serious."
+
+"Anything about our marriage? You alarm me!"
+
+"Suppose this morning when you doubted the possibility of Helen's love I
+had answered, 'Do not be afraid, Helen loves and will marry you, but
+there is an obstacle, and the marriage cannot possibly take place in
+less than a year?'"
+
+"What would you have? I should have been in despair at the delay, but
+transported by the news."
+
+"Well, my friend, I tell you now what I should have told you this
+morning. Helen loves you. She did not ask me to tell you this; she has
+told it herself, but at this moment there is an insurmountable
+obstacle."
+
+"At least you will explain what the obstacle is?"
+
+"I am going to tell you what is yet a secret, Karl. In a week, or at
+most, a fortnight, Prussia will declare war against Austria."
+
+"Ah! I feared it. Bismarck is Germany's evil genius."
+
+"Well, now you will understand. As friends we can serve on opposite
+sides, that happens every day. But--as brothers-in-law--we could not.
+You can hardly become my brother-in-law at the very moment of
+unsheathing your sword against me."
+
+"You are quite sure of your information?"
+
+"Most certainly I am. Bismarck now occupies such a position in regard to
+the Chambers, and has forced the king into such a position with regard
+to the other German princes, that, either he must embroil Germany from
+Berlin to Pest and even to Innspruck, or he will be tried for high
+treason, and end his days in a fortress! Now, Bismarck is a power--a
+power of darkness if you will--he will not be tried for high treason,
+and he will embroil Germany--for this reason: Prussia has nothing to
+gain by upsetting him, whereas by upsetting Germany she can annex two or
+three little kingdoms or duchies, which will round off her borders very
+comfortably."
+
+"But the Confederation will be against him."
+
+"Little will he care for that, so long as he himself remains
+indispensable. And, listen to what I tell you; the more enemies Prussia
+has, the more she will beat them. Our army is organized as no other
+European army is organized--at the present moment."
+
+"You say our army, then you have become a _Prussian_. I thought you were
+a _German_."
+
+"I am a Silesian, Prussian since the days of Frederic II. All I have I
+owe to King William, and I would willingly die for him, while regretting
+it should be in a bad cause."
+
+"What do you advise in my case?"
+
+"You are a Styrian, therefore an Austrian. Fight for your emperor like a
+lion, and if by ill luck we meet in a cavalry charge you turn your horse
+to the right, I also turn mine; we salute and pass on. Don't yourself
+get lulled, that is all, and we will sign the marriage contract the day
+peace is declared."
+
+"Unhappily, I see no other way out of it, unless by good luck we could
+both remain at Frankfort, a free and neutral town. I have no wish to
+fight with Germans. It will be an iniquitous war. If it had been Turks,
+French, or Russians, it would be all right, but between children of the
+same country, speaking the same language! My patriotism ends there, I
+confess."
+
+"That last hope must be given up. I myself brought orders to the Prussian
+general here to be ready to leave, Austria will certainly withdraw her
+troops also. Frankfort may have a Bavarian garrison or be left with one
+of her own, but most certainly we, to the last man, shall have to rejoin
+the army."
+
+"Poor dear Helen! What are we to say when she comes back?"
+
+"We will say the marriage is decided on, that the betrothal will take
+place; but the marriage must be delayed for a year. If, in spite of my
+prophecy, war should not be declared, you can marry at once. If this
+war does take place, it is not a war which will last. It will be a
+tempest, a hurricane, passing over and destroying everything, then it
+will be peace. If I fix a date, it is because I am sure not to have to
+ask for further delay. Helen is eighteen, she will then be nineteen, you
+are now twenty-six, you will then be twenty-seven. This delay is not
+caused by circumstances of our making. Circumstances impose it on us. We
+must give way to them."
+
+"You will promise not to let anything change your opinion of me, and
+that from to-day, June 12th, you count yourself my brother-in-law--on
+parole?"
+
+"The honour is too dear for me ever to think of repudiating it. From
+to-day, June 12th, I am your brother-in-law--on parole."
+
+"Madame von Beling!"
+
+This exclamation was drawn from Karl by the unexpected appearance of an
+elderly lady dressed entirely in black. She had splendid hair, white as
+snow, and must in youth have been very beautiful. Her whole appearance
+betokened distinction and benevolence.
+
+"How is this, my dear Frederic?" said she, entering the room. "You have
+been here since five o'clock this morning and I only hear of your
+arrival from your wife at two in the afternoon; also, that you are in
+pain."
+
+"Dear grandmamma," answered Frederic, "but do I not also know that you
+do not awake before eleven, and only rise at noon?"
+
+"True, but they tell me you have a sprained arm. I have three excellent
+remedies for sprains, one, which is perfect, came from my old friend
+Goethe, one from another old friend, Madame Schröder, and the third from
+Baron von Humboldt. You see the origin of all three is unimpeachable."
+
+Turning to Karl, who, bowing, brought forward an armchair for her, she
+said:
+
+"You, Herr von Freyberg, have evidently no sprains, for you are in
+hunting costume. Ah! you do not know how your Styrian dress recalls a
+happy memory of my youth. The first time I saw my husband, Herr von
+Beling it is now something like fifty-two years ago, for it was in
+1814--at a carnival masked ball, he wore a similar costume to the one
+you are now wearing. He was about your age. In the middle of the ball--I
+remember as if it were yesterday--we heard of the landing of that
+accursed Napoleon. The dancers vowed that if he again ascended the
+throne they would go to fight him. The ladies each chose a cavalier, who
+should be entitled to wear her colours in the coming campaign. I did
+like the rest, and I chose Herr von Beling, although in my heart of
+hearts--for I have remained French in heart--I could not be very angry
+with the man who had made France so great.
+
+"This fanciful nomination of Herr von Beling as a champion wearing my
+colours opened my parents' house to him. He could not, he said, be my
+knight without their permission. They gave their permission. Napoleon
+again became emperor. Herr von Beling rejoined his regiment, but he
+first asked my hand from my mother. My mother consulted me, I loved him.
+It was agreed that we should marry when the war was over. The campaign
+was not long, and when Herr von Beling returned we were married; I, at
+the bottom of my heart feeling a little vexed that he had contributed
+the three hundred millionth part towards the dethronement of my hero.
+But I never confessed this small infidelity of enthusiasm, and our life
+was no less happy on that account."
+
+"Dear grandmamma," enquired Frederic, "did Herr von Beling--he must
+have been very handsome in Styrian garb, I have seen his portrait--did
+Herr von Beling kneel before you when he asked the favour of being your
+knight?"
+
+"Certainly, and very gracefully he did it too," returned the old lady.
+
+"Did he do it better than my friend Karl?"
+
+"Better than your friend Karl? But is your friend Karl likely to kneel
+before me by any chance?"
+
+"Just look at him."
+
+Madame von Beling turned round and saw indeed Karl kneeling on the
+ground before her.
+
+"Good gracious!" said she laughing, "have I suddenly grown fifty years
+younger?"
+
+"My dear grandmother," said Frederic, while Karl took possession of the
+old lady's hand. "No, you have still your threescore and ten years,
+which become you so well that I will not let you off a single one of
+them; but here is Karl, who also is going to the war, and who asks to be
+called the knight of your granddaughter Helen."
+
+"Really! and is my little granddaughter Helen actually old enough to
+have a knight of her very own?"
+
+"She is eighteen, grandmother."
+
+"Eighteen! My age when I married Herr von Beling! It is the age when
+leaves forsake the tree and are borne away by the wind. If Helen's hour
+has struck," she continued with a mournful smile, "she must go like the
+rest."
+
+"Never, never, dear grandmother," cried the young girl who had entered
+unperceived, "never so far but that I can every day kiss the dear hand
+which gives life to all of us."
+
+And she knelt down beside Karl and took the other hand.
+
+"Ah!" said Madame von Beling, nodding her head, "so that is why I was
+invited to come upstairs. I was to be caught in a trap. Well, what am I
+to do now? How defend myself? To surrender at once is stupid; it is like
+a scene from Molière."
+
+"Very well, grandmamma, don't surrender, or at least not without
+conditions."
+
+"And what are they to be?"
+
+"That these young people can be betrothed as soon as they like, but that
+the marriage, like your own, can only be celebrated when the war is
+over."
+
+"What war?" asked Helen, in anxiety.
+
+"We will tell you about it later. Meanwhile, if Karl is your knight, he
+must wear your colours. What are they?"
+
+"I have only one," replied Helen. "It is green."
+
+"Then he is wearing them now," said Frederic indicating his friend's
+coat with green facings, and the hat with its wide band of green velvet.
+
+"And in honour of my lady love," said Karl, rising, "a hundred men shall
+also wear them, with me, and like me."
+
+Everything was now settled, and the whole party, Frederic leading the
+way, Madame von Beling on Karl's arm, went downstairs to convey the good
+news to the dear invalid.
+
+That same evening it was known that the Diet was convoked at Frankfort
+for June 15th.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+FRANKFORT-ON-MAIN
+
+
+It is time to give some information concerning the town in which the
+chief events of our history will take place.
+
+Frankfort ranks as one of the most important towns in Germany, not
+merely on account of the number of its inhabitants, nor because of its
+commercial standing, but by reason of the political position which it
+occupies as being the seat of the Imperial Diet.
+
+One continually hears phrases repeated until they become familiar
+without the person precisely understanding the exact meaning. Let us in
+a few words explain what the functions of the Imperial Diet really are.
+
+It is the duty of the Diet to watch over the affairs of Germany in
+general and to smooth down disagreements between the confederate States.
+The president is always a representative of Austria. The decisions of
+the assembly are called _Recesses_. The Diet, which has existed since
+very remote ages, had at first no fixed seat, but was held sometimes at
+Nuremberg, sometimes at Ratisbon, or at Augsbourg. Finally, June 9th,
+1815, the Congress of Vienna established Frankfort as the permanent seat
+of the Diet of the Germanic Confederation.
+
+Thanks to the new constitution Frankfort has a quarter vote at the
+Diet, the other three-quarters belonging to the three free towns of
+Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck. In return for this honour, Frankfort was to
+raise seven hundred and fifty men for the Germanic Confederation and
+fire a salute on the anniversary of the battle of Leipzig. The execution
+of this latter obligation was at first a trifle difficult, for the
+reason that since 1803 Frankfort had ceased to possess ramparts, and
+since 1813 had owned no cannon. But in the first moments of enthusiasm a
+subscription was opened which allowed the purchase of two four-pounders,
+so that since 1814, on the proper day, Frankfort has duly paid the debt
+of fire and smoke owed to the Holy Alliance.
+
+As to the ramparts, they exist no longer. Instead of old walls and muddy
+ditches, Frankfort has seen the gradual formation of a charming English
+garden, a gracious and perfumed enclosure, which enables one to make the
+circuit of the town, while walking on the smoothest of paths and under
+magnificent trees. So that, with its houses painted white, green, and
+pink, Frankfort looks like a bouquet of camellias set in a border of
+heather. The tomb of the mayor to whom this improvement is due stands in
+the midst of a delightful labyrinth of walks, much frequented by the
+burghers and their families about four or five o'clock in the afternoon.
+
+The Teuton name Frankfort means a _free ford_, and the town owes its
+origin to an imperial castle built by Charlemagne at a point where the
+Namur is fordable. The first historical notice of it is the date of the
+Council held there in 794, in which was discussed the question of image
+worship. As to Charlemagne's palace, no trace of it can be found, but
+antiquaries say that it stood where now is the Church of St. Leonard.
+
+It must have been about 796 that Charlemagne founded the colony of
+Sachsenhausen peopled by the Saxons whom he had conquered and baptized.
+In 822 Louis le Debonnaire built the Sala on the site of the present
+Saalhof, and in 838 Frankfort had already a court of justice and walls
+of defence.
+
+In 853 Louis the German raised it to the rank of capital of the eastern
+portion of the French empire; extended its borders, and built the church
+of St. Saviour close to where the autumn fair was held, in accordance
+with the traders' custom of setting up their booths under the walls of
+churches and temples.
+
+The custom of electing the emperor at Frankfort was begun by that great
+Swabian house whose name alone calls up a host of terrible and
+melancholy recollections. In 1240 Frederic II granted letters of safe
+conduct to all going to the market of Frankfort; and the Emperor Louis
+of Bavaria, wishing to show gratitude for his election, proved his
+attachment to the town by granting great advantages, among others the
+right of holding a fair for fifteen days during Lent, which was known as
+the Easter fair.
+
+The Emperor Charles IV confirmed the right of the Imperial Election to
+Frankfort by the famous Golden Bull issued in 1356. This Bull provided
+the Emperor Napoleon with an opportunity for displaying his excellent
+memory. Dining one day with half a score of sovereign princes, at the
+meeting of Erfurth, the conversation chanced to turn on the Golden Bull,
+which, until the Confederation of the Rhine, had laid down the rules for
+Imperial elections. The Prince Primate, being on his own ground, gave
+some details concerning the Bull, fixing the date for 1409.
+
+"I think you are mistaken, prince," said Napoleon. "If my memory is
+correct, the Bull was published in 1356 in the reign of the Emperor
+Charles IV."
+
+"Your Majesty is right," said the primate, reconsidering, "but how is
+it you remember the date of a bull so exactly? Had it been a battle it
+would be less wonderful."
+
+"Shall I tell you the secret of this wonderful memory, prince?" enquired
+Napoleon.
+
+"Your Majesty would give us all much pleasure."
+
+"Well," continued the emperor, "you must know that when I was a
+sub-lieutenant in the Artillery--"
+
+Whereupon there was so decided a movement of surprise and curiosity
+among the illustrious guests that Napoleon paused an instant, but seeing
+that all were waiting for him to continue, he resumed with a smile:
+
+"I was saying that when I had the honour of being a sub-lieutenant of
+Artillery I was in garrison at Valence for three years. I did not care
+for society, and lived very quietly. By a lucky chance I had rooms
+opposite a well-read and obliging bookseller, whose name was Marcus
+Aurelius, and who gave me the run of his library. I read and re-read
+everything in his shop two or three times during my stay in the capital
+of the Drôme, and I remember everything I then read--even to the date of
+the Golden Bull."
+
+Frankfort continued to govern itself as a free imperial town until,
+after having been bombarded by the French in the wars of the Revolution,
+it was one fine day handed over by Napoleon to the Prince Primate
+Charles of Dalberg, when it became the capital of the Grand Duchy of
+Frankfort.
+
+The most interesting building in Frankfort is undoubtedly the Römer, a
+huge building which contains the Hall of the Electors, now used for the
+sittings of the Upper Senate of Frankfort, and the Hall of the Emperors
+in which the latter were proclaimed. A peculiarity of this hall, which
+contains the portraits of all the emperors from Conrad to Leopold II, is
+that the architect who built it made exactly as many niches as there
+have been sovereigns wearing the Imperial crown. So that when Francis II
+was elected, all the niches were already filled, and there was no space
+found for the new Cæsar. There was much discussion as to where his
+portrait could be placed, when in 1805 the ancient German empire
+crumbled into dust at the noise of the cannon of Austerlitz, and the
+courtiers were relieved from their difficulty. The architect had exactly
+foreseen the number of emperors to come. Nostradamus himself could not
+have done better.
+
+After the town hall the most interesting place is the street of the
+Jews. When the writer of these lines visited Frankfort for the first
+time, some thirty years ago, there were still Jews and Austrians
+there--real Jews, who hated Christians even as Shylock hated them, and
+real Christians who hated Jews as did Torquemada.
+
+This street consisted of two long rows of tall houses, black, gloomy,
+sinister in aspect, closely crowded, looking as if they clung to each
+other in terror. It was Saturday, which no doubt added to the gloom of
+the street. Every door was closed, bastard little doors made to allow
+only one person to pass at once. All the iron shutters were also closed.
+No sound of voice, or step, or movement was heard; a look of anguish and
+terror seemed spread over all these houses. Occasionally an old woman
+with a hooked nose like an owl glided past and disappeared in a sort of
+cellar or basement in this strange street. To-day all this is more
+civilized and the houses have a more active and lively appearance.
+
+The population of Frankfort consists of a historic bourgeoisie forming
+the aristocracy of the Imperial town, the coronation town by right of
+the Golden Bull. The chief families are those of the old nobility;
+those of French extraction expatriated by the revocation of the Edict of
+Nantes, and who by their intelligence and industry stand in the first
+rank of society; thirdly, Italian families, in whom the feelings of race
+have been stronger than religious differences, and who, although
+Catholics by profession, have mingled with the French Protestants.
+Finally the Jewish bankers, who naturally group themselves around the
+house of Rothschild as being incontestably members of the same clan. All
+are devoted to Austria, because to Austria the town owes its peculiar
+position, the source of its wealth and independence, and all these
+classes, though divided by race, language, and religion, are united by
+their common affection for the House of Hapsburg--a love which perhaps
+hardly attains to devotion, but which, in words at least, amounts to
+fanaticism.
+
+One must not omit the suburb of Sachsenhausen, situated on the other
+side of the Main, the colony founded by Charlemagne. Its inhabitants,
+living closely together and only marrying among themselves, have
+retained some of the roughness of the old Saxon character. This
+roughness, contrasted with the growing politeness among other nations,
+now seems to be absolute rudeness, but rudeness which is not
+intentional. They are said to be ready in the use of the somewhat harsh,
+but occasionally witty retorts, wherewith the weak sometimes retaliate
+upon the strong. We can give two specimens of the rough speech of the
+people of Sachsenhausen.
+
+As is usual in the month of May, owing to the melting of the snow, the
+Main was in flood. The Great Elector himself came to judge of the rise
+of the water, and the damage it would probably cause. Meeting a man from
+Sachsenhausen:
+
+"Well," he asked, "is the Main still rising?"
+
+"Well, idiot that you are!" replied the individual addressed, "can't you
+see that for yourself?"
+
+And the old Saxon went on, shrugging his shoulders. One of his comrades
+ran after him:
+
+"Do you know to whom it was you spoke?" he asked.
+
+"No, I don't."
+
+"Well, it was the Elector of Hesse himself."
+
+"Thunder and lightning!" exclaimed the old man, "how glad I am I
+answered him civilly!"
+
+At the play one of these honest people leaned against the man sitting in
+front of him; the latter moved away:
+
+"Am I annoying you?" demanded the aggressor, "because if it were you who
+annoyed me, I should give you a punch you would remember the rest of
+your life!"
+
+Since 1815 Frankfort has been garrisoned by two detachments of fifteen
+hundred to two thousand each, one Austrian, the other Prussian; the
+former were much beloved; the latter equally, or even more, hated. A
+Prussian officer was taking some friends to see the curiosities of
+Frankfort. They arrived at the Dôme. There, among other votive
+offerings, representations of hearts, hands, or feet, the sacristan
+exhibited a mouse, made of silver.
+
+"What was that for?" some one asked.
+
+"Through the divine wrath," answered the sacristan, "a whole quarter of
+Frankfort once found itself eaten up by swarms of mice. In vain they
+fetched all the cats of the other quarters, all the terriers, bulldogs,
+every sort of animal that can kill a mouse; the plague increased. At
+last a devout lady thought of having a silver mouse made and dedicated
+to the Virgin as a votive gift. At the end of a week not a mouse was to
+be seen!"
+
+And as the listeners were somewhat astonished when they heard this
+legend:
+
+"What fools these Frankforters are!" said the Prussian, "to tell tales
+of that kind and believe them!"
+
+"We tell them," said the sacristan, "but we do not believe them. If we
+did we should have made a silver Prussian and offered him to the Virgin
+long ago."
+
+It is to be remembered that our friend Lenhart, Benedict's coachman, was
+a citizen of the Sachsenhausen colony.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE DEPARTURE
+
+
+Since the Schleswig-Holstein troubles, the Diet had always assembled at
+Frankfort on June 9th, this year that date was the day after the
+attempted assassination of Bismarck on which Benedict drank to the
+health of France. The Diet, knowing of the mobilization of the Landwehr
+and the dissolution of the Chamber, decreed that, if Frankfort were not
+to be compromised in its position as a free and imperial town in the
+various events which would necessarily follow a war between Prussia and
+Austria, the Prussian and Austrian garrisons must be withdrawn, and
+replaced by a Bavarian garrison.
+
+It was agreed that Bavaria should appoint the commander-in-chief, and
+Frankfort the governor of the town. The Bavarian Colonel Lessel, who had
+been for many years member of the federated military commission for
+Bavaria, was appointed commander-in-chief, and the lieutenant-colonel of
+the Frankfort battalion became governor of the town.
+
+The departure of the Prussian and Austrian troops was fixed for June
+12th, and it was decided that the Prussians should leave by two special
+trains on the Main-Weser line, at six and eight in the morning, for
+Wetzlar, and the Austrians at three in the afternoon of the same day.
+
+This arrangement was known in Frankfort on the 9th, and as may be
+understood, filled the Chandroz house with despair. Emma would be
+separated from her husband and Helen from her lover.
+
+We have said that the Prussians were to leave first. At five in the
+morning Frederic said farewell to his wife, his child, his dear sister
+Helen, and the grandmother. It was too early for Karl von Freyberg to be
+in the house at that hour; but he waited for his friend on the Zeil. He
+and Helen had agreed the evening before that after having seen Frederic
+off Karl should come back and wait for her in the little Catholic church
+of Notre Dame de la Croix.
+
+The harmony between the two young people was perfect. Helen and Karl,
+though born in two different countries hundreds of leagues apart, were
+both Catholics. Doubtless they had selected this early hour, because
+they knew the little liking the people of Frankfort had for the
+Prussians. No manifestation of regret was shown on the departure of the
+latter, perhaps they were watched through the closed shutters, but not a
+window or blind opened for a flower to fall which might say "Au revoir,"
+no waving handkerchief said "Farewell!"
+
+One would have sworn it was a troop of the enemy leaving a town, and the
+town itself seemed only to wait for their departure in order to wake up
+and rejoice. Only the officers of the city battalion came to the station
+courteously to see them off, wishing nothing better than soon to fight
+them with deadly hate.
+
+Frederic left by the second train at eight o'clock in the morning,
+consequently Karl was late and it was Helen who waited for him. She was
+standing by the holy water stoup leaning against a white pillar. She
+smiled sadly when she saw Karl, gently dipped two fingers in the holy
+water and held them towards him. Karl took her whole hand, and made the
+sign of the cross with it.
+
+Never had the beautiful girl looked so lovely as at this moment when
+Karl was going to be parted from her. She had scarcely slept all night;
+all the rest of the time she had wept and prayed. She was dressed in
+white like a bride, with a wreath of little white roses on her head.
+They went together, Karl with Helen's hand in his, to kneel in one of
+the side chapels where Helen was accustomed to pray. Almost all the
+ornaments in the chapel, from the altar cloth to the Virgin's dress,
+were the work of her hand alone, and the Madonna's gold and pearl crown
+had been her gift. They prayed together; then Karl said:
+
+"We are going to part, Helen; what vows shall I make you? and in what
+words shall they be made?"
+
+"Karl," replied Helen, "tell me again before the beloved Madonna who has
+watched over me in childhood and youth, tell me again that you will love
+me always, and that you will have no other wife but me."
+
+Karl quickly extended his hand.
+
+"Ah! yes," he said, "and willingly! for I have always loved you. I love
+you now, and I shall love you always. Yes, you shall be my wife in this
+world and in the next, here and above!"
+
+"Thank you," said Helen; "I have given you my heart, and with my heart,
+my life. You are the tree, and I am the creeper; you are the trunk and I
+am the ivy which covers you with its verdure. At the moment when I first
+saw you, I said with Juliet: 'I will belong to you or to the tomb.'"
+
+"Helen," cried the young man, "why link that dismal word with such a
+sweet promise?"
+
+But she, not listening, continued her thought:
+
+"I ask no other vow than that which you have sworn, Karl; it is the
+repetition of mine; keep yours as it is; but when I have said that I
+will love you always, that I will never love any one but you, and that I
+will never be another's, let me add: and, if you die, I will die with
+you!"
+
+"Helen, my love, what are you saying?" exclaimed the young man.
+
+"I say, my Karl, that since my heart has left my bosom, to dwell in
+yours, you have become all that I think of, all I live for; and that if
+anything happened to you, I should not need to kill myself, I should
+only have to let myself die. I know nothing of these royal quarrels,
+which seem to me wicked, because they cost the blood of men and tears of
+women. I only know that it matters not to me whether Francis Joseph or
+William I is victorious. I live, if you live I die, if you die."
+
+"Helen, do you wish to drive me mad, that you say these terrible
+things?"
+
+"No, I only wish you to know, when you are absent, what is happening to
+me, and if, when far from me, you are mortally wounded, instead of
+saying: 'I shall never see her again!' you must simply say: 'I am going
+to meet her!' And I say this as truly and sincerely as I lay this wreath
+at the feet of my beloved Virgin."
+
+And she took her wreath of white roses and laid it at the Virgin's feet.
+
+"And now," she continued, "my vow is made, I have said what I had to
+say. To stay here now, to speak longer of love would be sacrilege. Come,
+Karl; you go this afternoon at two o'clock, but my sister, my
+grandmother, and Frederic will permit you to remain with me till then."
+
+They rose again, offered each other the holy water and left the church.
+The young girl took Karl's arm for from that moment she considered
+herself as his wife. But with the same feeling of respect which made
+him take off his kolbach when he entered the church, he only allowed her
+hand to lie lightly on his arm all the way from Nôtre Dame de la Croix
+until they reached the house.
+
+The day was passed in intimate conversation. On the day when he had
+asked Helen which were her favourite colours and she had answered green,
+he had made a resolution which he now explained to her. This was what he
+wished to do.
+
+He would ask his colonel for eight days' leave; surely fighting would
+not begin for eight days. It would take him scarcely twenty hours to
+reach his mountains, where he was king. There, besides the twenty-two
+rangers always in his service he would select seventy-eight chosen men
+from the best Styrian hunters. They should wear the uniform he himself
+wore when hunting, he would arm them with the best rifles he could find,
+then he would give in his resignation as captain in the Lichtenstein
+Light Infantry, and ask the emperor to appoint him captain of his free
+company. An excellent shot himself, at the head of a hundred men
+renowned for their smartness, he could hope for results which, when
+buried in a regiment under the orders of a colonel there would be no
+possibility of his attaining.
+
+There would also be another advantage in this arrangement. As the head
+of a free regiment, Karl would have liberty of movement. In such a case
+he would not be attached to any special regiment. He would be able to
+fight on his own account, doing all possible harm to the enemy, but only
+answerable to the emperor. He would thus be able to remain near
+Frankfort, the only town which now existed for him in the world, since
+in this town lived Helen. The heart exists not where it beats, but where
+it loves.
+
+According to the Prussian plan of campaign which was to envelop Germany
+as in a half-circle, hurling king, grand-dukes, princes, and peoples one
+on the top of another while marching from west to east, there would
+certainly be fighting in Hesse, in the duchy of Baden, and in Bavaria,
+all near Frankfort. It was there that Karl would fight; and with good
+spies he could always ascertain where his brother-in-law was likely to
+be and so avoid the risk of meeting him.
+
+In the midst of all these plans, for which unfortunately they could not
+enlist the aid of Fortune, time was flying. The clock struck two.
+
+At two o'clock the Austrian officers and soldiers were to assemble in
+the courtyard of the Carmelite barracks. Karl kissed the baroness and
+the child lying in its cradle beside her; then he went with Helen to
+kneel before her grandmother and ask her blessing.
+
+The dear old lady wept to see them so sad; she laid her hands upon their
+heads wishing to bless them, but her voice broke. They both rose, and
+stood mute before her; silent tears flowed down their cheeks. She pitied
+them.
+
+"Helen," she said, "I kissed your grandfather when I bade him farewell,
+and I see no reason against your granting poor Karl the same favour."
+
+The young people threw themselves into each other's arms, and their
+grandmother, under pretext of wiping away a tear, turned away, leaving
+them free for their last kiss.
+
+Helen had long sought for some means of seeing Karl again, after leaving
+the house where he had been permitted to take his last farewell. She had
+not succeeded, when suddenly she remembered that the burgomaster
+Fellner, her sister's godfather, had windows overlooking the station.
+
+She asked her good grandmother to come with her to ask her old friend
+for a place in his window. Women who remain beautiful when growing old
+generally keep a young heart: the kind grandmother consented. So it was
+only a goodbye of the lips which the young people had already said;
+there remained a last adieu of the eyes and heart.
+
+Hans was ordered to bring round the carriage without delay; while Karl
+went to the Carmelite barracks. Helen would have time on her part to go
+to the burgomaster Fellner. Helen made a sign to Hans to hurry, but he
+replied with another that it was unnecessary. She then glanced again at
+Karl, he had never seemed so handsome as at this moment when about to
+leave her. She came down leaning on his arm, in order not to leave him
+until they reached the threshold, the last moment possible. Once there,
+a last kiss sealed their separation and pledged their vows.
+
+A hussar waited for his captain at the door, holding his horse; Karl
+saluted Helen once again, then galloped off, sparks flying from under
+his horse's hoofs: he was more than a quarter of an hour late.
+
+The instant he had gone, Hans came with the carriage; in another moment
+they were at Herr Fellner's.
+
+Frankfort was now a very different town to what it had been in the
+morning. We have told of the sombre and sad departure of the Prussians,
+who were detested there. The citizens now wished to give a friendly
+farewell to the Austrians, who were adored.
+
+Therefore, although the departure was a separation, and each separation
+may hide the invisible and hide also a coming grief, this departure was
+to be made a farewell fête. The windows were all draped with Austrian
+flags, and at each window where floated a flag might be seen the
+prettiest women of Frankfort with bouquets in their hands. The streets
+which led to the station were crammed with people until one asked how
+the regiment could pass. In the street leading to the station, the
+Frankfort regiment stood at attention, each soldier with the stock of
+his rifle between his feet, and a bouquet in the muzzle of it.
+
+The crowd was so great that Helen was obliged to get out of the
+carriage. At last she reached the house of Herr Fellner, who, although
+not formally advised of the engagement of his young friend, had noticed
+that Captain Freyberg was not indifferent to her. His two daughters and
+his wife received Helen and her grandmother at the door of their
+apartments. They formed a charming family, living with Herr Fellner's
+sister and brother-in-law, who had no children.
+
+In the days of peace and happiness at Frankfort, Herr Fellner and his
+brother-in-law received their friends twice every week. Any strangers of
+distinction passing through were sure to be made welcome by Herr
+Fellner. It was at his house that Benedict Turpin had met the Baroness
+Frederic von Bülow, a meeting which as we have seen he did not forget.
+
+At three o'clock precisely, they heard in the midst of cries, hurrahs,
+and acclamations, the trumpets of the regiment, which was coming to the
+station by the Zeil and the street of All Saints, playing Radetzky's
+March.
+
+It might have been said that the whole population of Frankfort was
+following the splendid regiment. Men waved flags from the windows above
+them; women threw them their bouquets, and then waved their
+handkerchiefs with those cries of enthusiasm which women only know how
+to utter on such occasions.
+
+Helen had recognized Karl, as soon as he turned the corner, and Karl had
+answered her waving handkerchief by saluting with his sabre. When he
+passed under the window she threw him a scabious bound up with
+forget-me-nots. The scabious meant "sorrow and desolation," and the
+forget-me-not "Do not forget me."
+
+Karl caught the flowers in his kolbach and fastened them on his breast.
+Still turning to look back, his eyes never left Helen until the moment
+when he entered the station. At length he disappeared.
+
+Helen leaned far out of the window. Herr Fellner put his arm round her
+waist and drew her back within the room. Seeing the tears that flowed
+from her eyes and divining their cause:
+
+"With the help of God, dear child," he said, "he will return."
+
+Helen escaped from his arms, and threw herself on a sofa, endeavouring
+to hide her tears in the cushions.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+AUSTRIANS AND PRUSSIANS
+
+
+Desbarolles says in his book on Germany:
+
+"It is impossible to talk for three minutes with an Austrian without
+wishing to shake hands with him. It is impossible to talk for three
+minutes with a Prussian without longing to quarrel with him."
+
+Does this difference in the two organizations spring from temperament,
+education, or the degree of latitude? We cannot say; but it is a fact
+that along the whole way from Ostrow to Oderburg, we know when we have
+left Austria and entered Prussia by the way in which the porters bang
+the carriage doors. This double impression is particularly evident at
+Frankfort, a town of gentle manners, cultivated habits, and amateur
+bankers; the country of Goethe has appreciated this difference between
+the extreme civilization of Vienna and the rough Protestant shell of
+Berlin.
+
+We have seen the different demonstrations of feeling at the departure of
+the two garrisons; the people of Frankfort not having the least doubt of
+the result of the war, and believing, after the conclusions of the Diet,
+in the superiority of the Austrian arms, which would be aided by all the
+little States of the Confederation. They had not cared to put the least
+restraint on the manifestation of their feelings; they allowed the
+Prussians to depart like vanquished enemies whom they would never see
+again, and they had, on the contrary, fêted the Austrians like
+victorious brothers, for whom if they had had the time, they would have
+made triumphal arches.
+
+The good burgomaster's drawing-room, where we have introduced our
+readers, was at noon on June 12th an exact and complete specimen of all
+the other drawing-rooms of the town, whatever the origin, country or
+religion of the inhabitants might chance to be.
+
+Thus, while Helen, with whose grief all sympathized, wept, keeping her
+face buried in the cushions, and her good grandmother left the window to
+sit beside her and hide her somewhat from view, Councillor Fischer,
+editor of the "Post Zeitung," was writing on a corner of the table, an
+article in which he compared with undisguised antipathy and sympathy,
+the departure of the Prussians to a nocturnal flight, and that of the
+Austrians to a triumphal leave-taking.
+
+In front of the fireplace, the Senator von Bernus, one of the most
+distinguished men in Frankfort, by ability, education, and birth, was
+talking with his colleague, Doctor Speltz, Chief of Police, who, owing
+to the position which he held, was always well informed. A slight
+difference rather than a discussion had arisen between them. Herr Doctor
+Speltz did not completely agree with the opinion of the majority of the
+town's people as to the certain victory of the Austrians. His private
+information, as Chief of Police, was of the kind which may be relied on,
+and which is obtained, not to help the opinions of others, but to form
+one's own, and it represented the Prussian troops as full of enthusiasm,
+admirably armed, and burning with desire for battle. Their two generals,
+Frederick Charles of Prussia and the Crown Prince, were both able to
+command and to execute, and their rapidity and courage no one could
+doubt.
+
+"But," observed Herr von Bernus, "Austria has an excellent army which is
+animated with an equal spirit; it was beaten at Palestro, at Magenta,
+and at Solferino, it is true, but by the French, who also beat the
+Prussians at Jena."
+
+"My dear von Bernus," replied Speltz, "it is a far cry from the
+Prussians of Jena to the Prussians of to-day; the miserable state into
+which the Emperor Napoleon reduced them, by only allowing them to put
+forty thousand men under arms for six years, was the providential cause
+of their strength; for with this reduced army the officers and
+administrators could superintend the smallest details and bring them as
+near as possible to perfection. From this has grown the Landwehr."
+
+"Well," said von Bernus, "if the Prussians have the Landwehr, the
+Austrians have the Landsturm; all the Austrian population will rise in
+arms."
+
+"Yes, if the first battles are unsuccessful; yes, if there is a chance
+that by rising they can repel the Prussians. But three-quarters of the
+Prussian army are armed with needle guns which fire eight or ten shots a
+minute. The time is past when, as said Marshal Saxe, the rifle is only
+the handle of the bayonet; and of whom did he say that? Was it not the
+French, a fiery and warlike nation, not methodical and military like the
+Austrians. You know, mein Gott, victory is an entirely moral question;
+to inspire the enemy with an unaccountable fear is the secret.
+Generally, when two regiments meet, one of them runs without having ever
+come to grips with the enemy. If the new guns, with which the Prussians
+are armed, do their work, I am very much afraid that the terror in
+Austria will be so great that the Landsturm, from Königsgrätz to
+Trieste, from Salzburg to Pest, will not raise a man."
+
+"Psst!... my dear friend, you have named the real stumbling block; if
+the Hungarians were with us, my hope would be a conviction. The
+Hungarians are the nerve of the Austrian army, and one can say of them
+what the ancient Romans said of the Marsi; 'What are we to do, either
+against the Marsi or without the Marsi?' But the Hungarians will not
+fight until they have their separate government, their constitution, and
+their three ministers, and they are right. For one hundred and fifty
+years Hungary has been promised that constitution, it has been given and
+withdrawn again, and now Hungary is angry; but the emperor has only one
+word to say, one signature to write, and the whole nation would rise for
+him. Then the Szozat would be heard, and in three days they would have a
+hundred thousand men under arms."
+
+"What is the Szozat?" asked a big man, who kept a whole window to
+himself, and whose expansive face testified to great commercial
+prosperity. He was, indeed, the first wine merchant of Frankfort,
+Hermann Mumm.
+
+"The Szozat," said Fischer, still writing his article, "is the Hungarian
+Marseillaise by the poet Vœrœsmarti. What the deuce are you doing
+there, Fellner?" he added, lifting his glasses to his forehead and
+looking at the burgomaster, who was playing with his two youngest
+children.
+
+"I am doing something much more important than your article, councillor,
+I am making a village, of which Master Edward is to be the baron, with
+some houses I got in a box from Nuremburg."
+
+"What does baron mean?" asked the child.
+
+"That is a difficult question. To be a baron is much and it is nothing.
+It is much if you are called 'Montmorency.' It is nothing if you are
+called 'Rothschild.'" And he went back seriously to his village.
+
+"It is said," went on von Bernus to Doctor Speltz, taking up the
+conversation where they had left it before Hermann Mumm's interruption,
+"that the Emperor of Austria has named General Benedek as General in
+Chief with all powers."
+
+"The nomination was discussed in the council and signed yesterday."
+
+"Do you know him?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"It seems to me a good choice."
+
+"May God grant it."
+
+"Benedek is a self-made man, he has won every step sword in hand. The
+army will love him better than it would love an archduke made
+field-marshal by right of birth."
+
+"You will laugh at me, von Bernus, and will say I am a bad republican.
+Very well, I would rather have an archduke than this self-made man as
+you call him. Yes, if all our officers were self-made men, it would be
+admirable, because, if none knew how to command, they would at least
+know how to obey: as it is, our officers are nobles, who are officers by
+position or by favour. They will not obey, or will only obey such a
+commander unwillingly. Further, you know, I have the misfortune to be a
+fatalist, and to believe in the influence of the stars. General Benedek
+is a Saturnian. May Austria escape his fatal influence! He may have
+patience in a first loss, resolution against a second perhaps; but in a
+third he will lose his head and be good for nothing.
+
+"Also, do you not see that there cannot be two equally Great Powers in
+Germany. Germany, with Prussia in the north, and Austria in the south,
+has two heads like the Imperial Eagle. Now, he who has two heads has
+not even one. Last winter I was at Vienna on New Year's Day. Always, on
+January 1st a new standard is raised on the fortress. The Standard for
+1866 was displayed at six in the morning. A moment afterwards a furious
+storm, such as I have seldom seen, came from the north, the Standard was
+torn, and the rent cut off the two heads of the Eagle. Austria will lose
+her supremacy both in Italy and Germany."
+
+A profound gloom as of painful foreboding seemed to have spread over the
+company. The only person unaffected was "Baron" Edward, who, while
+anxiously considering as to in which corner of his village he should put
+the belfry, had fallen fast asleep.
+
+Herr Fellner rang three times, and a beautiful peasant from Baden,
+answering the signal, came in and took the child. She was carrying him
+away asleep in her arms, when Herr Fellner, wishing to change the
+subject, motioned to the company.
+
+"Listen!" he said, and putting his hand on the nurse's shoulder.
+"Linda," he said, "sing us that song with which the Baden mothers sing
+their children to sleep." Then, turning to the others he said:
+"Gentlemen, listen to this song, which is still sung low in the Duchy of
+Baden. Perhaps, in a few days, the time may have come to sing it aloud.
+Linda learnt it from her mother, who sang it over her brother's cradle.
+Their father was shot by the Prussians in 1848. Now Linda, sing as your
+mother sang."
+
+Linda put her foot on a chair, holding the child in her arms as if she
+were pressing it to her breast and covering it with her body. Then, with
+anxious eyes, in a low and trembling voice, she sang:
+
+         Sleep soft, my child, without a cry,
+         For hark! the Prussian passeth by.
+     The Prussian slew thy father dear
+     And robbed thy mother of gold and gear
+     The Prussian he will close thine eye.
+
+         Sleep soft, my child, without a cry,
+         For hark! the Prussian passeth by.
+
+     All bloody is the Prussian's hand
+     It closes on our dying land.
+     So must we all lie still and dumb
+     As doth thy father in his tomb.
+
+         Sleep soft, my child, without a cry,
+         For hark! the Prussian passeth by.
+
+     God knows how many a weary day
+     We wait the dawning of that ray
+     Those blessed radiance shall restore
+     Our liberty to us once more.
+
+         Sleep soft, my child, without a cry,
+         For hark! the Prussian passeth by.
+
+     But when that longed for hour shall come,
+     However narrow be his tomb,
+     His foes within that grave so deep
+     Shall share for aye thy father's sleep.
+
+         Then shout, my child, shout loud and high,
+         The Prussian in his grave doth lie.
+
+The nurse had sung this song with such expression, that a shudder passed
+over the hearts of those who listened, and none thought of applauding.
+She went out with the child in a profound silence.
+
+Only Helen murmured in her grandmother's ear: "Alas! alas! Prussia means
+Frederic, and Austria means Karl!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE DECLARATION OF WAR
+
+
+On June 15th, at eleven in the morning, Count Platen of Hallermund,
+presented himself to the King of Hanover. They had conversed for some
+minutes when the king said:
+
+"I must tell this news to the queen. Wait for me here; I will come back
+in a quarter of an hour."
+
+Within the palace King George required no guide. Queen Mary was engaged
+upon a piece of wool work with the young princesses. Seeing her husband
+she went to him and offered him her forehead to kiss. The princesses
+took possession of their father's hands.
+
+"See," said the king, "this is what our cousin the King of Prussia does
+us the honour to communicate through his First Minister." The queen took
+the paper and began to read. "Stay," said the king, "I want to call
+Prince Ernest."
+
+One of the princesses hurried to the door.
+
+"Prince Ernest," she cried to the usher.
+
+Five minutes after the prince came in, embraced his father and sisters,
+and kissed his mother's hand.
+
+"Listen to what your mother is going to read," said the usher to him.
+
+The Minister Bismarck in the name of his master offered to Hanover an
+offensive and defensive alliance, on the condition that Hanover should
+support Prussia to the utmost of its power with men and soldiers and
+should give the command of its army to King William. The dispatch added
+that if this pacific proposal were not immediately accepted the King of
+Prussia would consider himself as in a state of war with Hanover.
+
+"Well?" asked the king of his wife.
+
+"No doubt," she replied, "the king has already decided in his wisdom
+what is best to do; but, if he has not finally decided and such a
+feature as the opinion of a woman is considered to be as a weight in the
+balance, I would say to you, refuse, sire!"
+
+"Oh yes, yes, sire!" cried the young prince, "refuse!"
+
+"I thought it right to consult you both," replied the king, "partly
+because of your upright and loyal natures, partly because your interests
+are one with mine."
+
+"Refuse, father: the prediction must be fulfilled to the end."
+
+"What prediction?" asked the king.
+
+"You forget, sire, that the first word which Benedict said to you was
+this: 'You will be betrayed by your near relation.' You are betrayed by
+your German cousin; why should he be wrong about the rest since he was
+right at the beginning?"
+
+"You know that he has predicted our downfall?"
+
+"Yes, but after a great victory. We are little kings, it is true; but we
+are, on the English side, great princes, let us act greatly."
+
+"That is your opinion, Ernest?"
+
+"That is my prayer, sire," said the young prince, bowing.
+
+The king turned to his wife and interrogated her by a movement of his
+head.
+
+"Go, my dear," said she, "and follow your own thought, which is ours
+also."
+
+"But," said the king, "if we are obliged to leave Hanover, what will
+happen to you and the two princesses?"
+
+"We will stay where we are, sire, in our castle of Herrenhausen. After
+all, the King of Prussia is my cousin, and if our crown is in danger
+through him, our lives are not. Summon your council, sire, and take with
+you the two voices which say to you: 'Not only no treason against
+others, but above all no treason against our honour!'"
+
+The king called a council of his ministers, who unanimously voted for
+refusal.
+
+At midnight Count Platen replied verbally to the Prince of Issemburg,
+who had brought the proposal.
+
+"His Majesty the King of Hanover declines the proposals of His Majesty
+the King of Prussia; as he is constrained to do by the laws of the
+Confederation."
+
+This reply was instantly telegraphed to Berlin.
+
+Immediately upon the receipt of the reply, another telegram from Berlin
+ordered the troops concentrated at Minden to enter Hanover. A
+quarter-of-an-hour later, the Prussian troops set foot over the borders
+of Hanover.
+
+A quarter-of-an-hour had sufficed for Prussia to receive the reply and
+to order the opening of the campaign. Already the Prussian troops from
+Holstein, who had obtained permission from His Majesty the King of
+Hanover to cross his territory in order to get to Minden, had stationed
+themselves at Marbourg, and were thus in occupation, within the kingdom,
+as enemies, even before the king's decision.
+
+Moreover, King George had only held back his answer until the evening in
+order to secure time for taking measures himself. Orders had been given
+to the different regiments of the Hanoverian army to mobilize and
+assemble at Göttingen. The intention of the king was to manœuvre so
+as to obtain the assistance of the Bavarian army.
+
+Towards eleven at night, Prince Ernest had asked permission of Queen
+Mary to take leave of her and at the same time to present to her his
+friend Benedict. The real object of the young prince was to get his
+mother to entrust her hand to the palmist, and to be reassured by him as
+to the dangers which might encompass the queen.
+
+The queen received her son with a kiss, and the Frenchman with a smile.
+Prince Ernest explained his wish to her. She readily granted his request
+and held out her hand. Benedict knelt on one knee and respectfully put
+his lips to the tips of her fingers.
+
+"Sir," she said, "in the circumstances in which we are placed, it is not
+my good- but my ill-fortune that I wish you to tell me."
+
+"If you see misfortunes before you, madam, I may be permitted to seek in
+yourself the powers which Providence has given you to resist them. Let
+us hope that the resistance will be stronger than the strife."
+
+"A woman's hand is feeble, sir, when it has to struggle against that of
+destiny.
+
+"The hand of destiny is brute force, madam; your hand is intelligent
+force. Look, here is a very long first joint to the thumb."
+
+"What does that mean?" asked, the queen.
+
+"Will power, Majesty. Your resolution once taken, reason alone can
+conquer you and make you change--danger, accident, persecution, never."
+
+The queen smiled and nodded approvingly.
+
+"Also, you can bear to hear the truth, madam. Yes, a great misfortune
+menaces you."
+
+The queen started. Benedict went on quickly.
+
+"But, calm yourself, it is neither the death of the king, nor of the
+prince: the line of life is magnificently marked, on their hands. No,
+the danger is entirely political. Look at the line of fate: it is broken
+here, above the line of Mars, which shows from what direction the storm
+will come; then this line of fate, which might dominate again if it
+stopped at the circle of the middle finger, that is, at the circle of
+Saturn, goes on, on the contrary, to the base of the first finger, a
+sign of ill-fortune."
+
+"God tries every one according to the rank he holds. We will endeavour
+to bear our ill-fortune like Christians if we cannot bear it like
+kings."
+
+"Your hand has answered me before you, madam; the Mount of Mars is
+smooth and without lines, the Mount of the Moon is smooth and even; it
+means resignation, madam, the first of all the virtues. With this power
+Diogenes broke his porringer; with this, Socrates smiled at death; with
+this, the poor man is a king, the king is a god! With resignation and
+calm any strong feeling shown in the hand, worthily developed may
+replace the line of Saturn and create a new good fortune. But there will
+be a long struggle first. That struggle presents strange signs. I see in
+your hand, madam, auguries opposed to each other; a prisoner without a
+prison, wealth without riches: an unhappy queen, a happy wife, and a
+happy mother. The Lord will try you, madam, but as a daughter whom He
+loves. For the rest, you will have every kind of resource, madam; first
+music, next painting; the pointed and slim fingers show that; religion,
+poetry, invention, two princesses who love you at your side, a king and
+a prince who love you from a distance. God tempers the wind to the
+freshly shorn lamb."
+
+"Yes, sir, shorn to the quick," murmured the queen, raising her eyes to
+heaven. "After all, perhaps the misfortunes of this world will secure
+the joys of another. In this case, I shall be not only resigned, but
+consoled."
+
+Benedict bowed like a man who, having accomplished what was required of
+him, only awaits his dismissal.
+
+"Have you a sister, sir?" asked the queen of Benedict, as she toyed with
+a string of pearls, fastened by a clasp of diamonds, which evidently
+belonged to one of the young princesses.
+
+"No, madam," replied Benedict, "I am alone in the world."
+
+"Then do me the pleasure to accept this turquoise for yourself. I am not
+making you a present; under that guise it would be worthless. No! it is
+an amulet which I offer you. You know that we people of the north have a
+superstition that turquoises bring good luck. Keep this as a remembrance
+of me."
+
+Benedict bowed, received the turquoise ring and put it on the little
+finger of his left hand. While he did this the queen called Prince
+Ernest to her, and took up a satchel of perfumed leather.
+
+"My son," said she, "we know the place which the exile's first step
+leaves, but not that at which his last will pause. This satchel contains
+500,000 francs worth of pearls and diamonds. If I wished to give them to
+the king, he would refuse to take them."
+
+"Oh! mother!"
+
+"But to you, Ernest, I have the right to say _I wish it_! I wish you,
+dear child, to take this satchel as a last resource, to bribe a gaoler
+if you are made prisoner; to reward devotion--who knows--perhaps for the
+personal needs of the king or yourself. Hang it round your neck, put it
+in your belt; but in all cases, keep it always upon you. I embroidered
+it with my own hands; it bears your own monogram. Hush! here is your
+father!"
+
+At this moment the king came in.
+
+"There is not a minute to spare, we must be off," said, he, "Ten minutes
+ago the Prussians entered Hanover."
+
+The king embraced the queen and his daughters; and Prince Ernest, his
+mother and sisters. Then, clinging together, king, queen, prince,
+princesses, went down the steps before which the horses were waiting.
+There took place the last adieus: there, tears flowed from the eyes of
+the most valiant, as well as from those of the most resigned. The king
+set an example by mounting his horse first.
+
+The prince and Benedict rode two horses exactly alike, which were of the
+beautiful Hanoverian race, crossed with an English strain. An English
+carbine, which would send a pointed bullet four thousand yards, hung at
+the saddle-bow; and a pair of double-barrelled pistols, as true as
+duelling pistols, rested in the holsters.
+
+A last farewell passed between the riders already in the saddle and the
+queen and princesses on the steps. Then the cavalcade, preceded by two
+scouts bearing torches, started at a quick trot.
+
+A quarter-of-an-hour later they were in Hanover. Benedict proceeded to
+the Royal Hotel to settle his account with Mr. Stephen. Every one was
+up, for the news of the invasion of the Prussians and the departure of
+the king had already spread. As for Lenhart, he was invited to join the
+main body of the army with his vehicle. The rendezvous, as we know, was
+at Göttingen. As Lenhart was greatly attached to the dog Frisk, Benedict
+did not hesitate to entrust it to his care.
+
+A deputation of the notabilities of the town, with the burgomaster at
+their head, waited on the king to bid him farewell. The king, his voice
+full of emotion, commended his wife and daughters to their care. There
+was but one voice in assuring him of their devotion. The whole town was
+abroad notwithstanding the hour of the night, and accompanied him,
+shouting 'Long live the king! Long live George V! May he return
+victorious!' Again the king commended the queen and the princesses, not
+now to the deputation, but to the whole population. The king entered the
+royal carriage amid a concert of tears and sobs. One would have said
+that every daughter had just lost a father, every mother a son, every
+sister a brother. Women crowded to the door of his carriage to kiss his
+hand. The locomotive had to whistle five or six times, and the signal
+had five or six times to be repeated, before the crowd could be detached
+from the carriage doors. At last the train had to be put into motion so
+as to shake off gently and almost imperceptibly the clusters of men and
+women who clung to it.
+
+Two hours later Göttingen was reached.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE BATTLE OF LANGENSALZA
+
+
+Two days after, the army, drawn from all parts of the kingdom, was
+assembled round the king.
+
+Among others the regiment of the Queen's Hussars commanded by Colonel
+Hallelt, had remained thirty-six hours on horseback, and had been
+marching for thirty-six hours.
+
+The king was lodged at the Crown Inn. This inn was on the line of march,
+and as each regiment of cavalry or infantry arrived, the king, warned by
+the music, went to the balcony and passed it in review. They filed one
+after another past the inn, flowers on their helmets, and cries of
+enthusiasm on their lips. Göttingen, the town of study, shuddered every
+instant, roused by the cheering warriors.
+
+All the old soldiers on leave, whom there had not been time to recall,
+came of their own accord to rejoin their flag. All of them felt
+joyously, bringing with them from their villages and all along their
+routes a large number of recruits. Lads of fifteen gave their ages as
+sixteen in order to be enlisted.
+
+On the third day they started. During this time the Prussians, on their
+side, had manœuvred. General Manteuffel from Hamburg, General von
+Rabenhorst from Minden, and General Beyer from Wetzlar were approaching
+Göttingen and enclosing the Hanoverian army in a triangle.
+
+The simplest rules of strategy prescribed the union of the Hanoverian
+army, sixteen thousand strong, with the Bavarian, eighty thousand
+strong. The king, in consequence, had sent out couriers to Charles of
+Bavaria, brother of the old King Louis, who ought to have been in the
+valley of the Werra, to warn him, in entering Prussia and crossing
+Mulhausen, that he should proceed towards Eisenach. He added that he was
+followed closely by three or four Prussian regiments, who, united, would
+make twenty or twenty-five thousand men.
+
+They arrived at Eisenach, by way of Verkirchen. Eisenach, defended by
+only two Prussian battalions, was about to be carried at the point of
+the bayonet, when a courier arrived from the Duke of Gotha, on whose
+territory they were, bringing a dispatch from the duke.
+
+The dispatch announced that an armistice was arranged. The duke, in
+consequence, summoned the Hanoverians to retire. Unfortunately, as it
+came from a prince, the message was received without suspicion. The
+vanguard halted and took up its quarters where it was.
+
+Next day, Eisenach was occupied by a regiment of the Prussian army. A
+great deal of time and many men had been lost in taking Eisenach, a
+useless manœuvre: and they resolved to leave Eisenach on the right
+and to proceed to Gotha. In order to put this project into execution,
+the army concentrated on Langensalza.
+
+In the morning the king left, having on his left Major Schweppe, who
+held the sovereign's horse by invisible reins. The Prince Royal was on
+his right, having with him Count Platen, the first minister, and in the
+various uniforms of their regiments or of their calling, Count Wedel,
+Major von Kohlrausch, Herr von Klenck, Captain von Einem, various
+cuirassiers of the Guard, and Herr Meding. The cortège left Langensalza
+very early, and went to Thannesbruck.
+
+Benedict rode near the prince, fulfilling the functions of a staff
+officer.
+
+The army had left its cantonments in order to proceed to Gotha: but at
+ten in the morning, the vanguard, as it arrived on the banks of the
+Unstrut, was attacked by two Prussian regiments, commanded by the
+Generals Flies and Seckendorff. They were able to mount nearly a
+thousand men, both troops of the guard and _landwehr_.
+
+Among these regiments of the guard was that of Queen Augusta, one of the
+élite. The rapidity of the Prussian fire showed at once that they must
+be armed, at least the greater part of them, with quick-firing rifles.
+
+The king put his horse to the gallop in order to arrive as soon as
+possible on the spot where the battle had begun. The little village of
+Merscleben was on a hill to the left: behind the village, on higher
+ground than the Prussian artillery posts, they placed four batteries
+which at once opened fire.
+
+The king desired to be informed of the disposition of the field. In
+front of him, running to the right and left was the Unstrut and its
+marshes; then a great thicket, or rather, a wood called Badenwaeldschen;
+and behind the Unstrut, upon the steep slope of the mountain, the
+Prussian masses advancing, preceded by formidable artillery which fired
+as it came.
+
+"Is there a higher point whence I can direct the battle?" asked the
+king.
+
+"There is a hill half a kilometre from the Unstrut, but it is under the
+fire of the enemy."
+
+"That is the place for me," said the king. "Come, gentlemen."
+
+"Pardon, sire," said the prince, "but half a gun-shot away from the hill
+where Your Majesty wishes to establish your camp, there is a sort of
+wood of alders and aspens stretching to the river. We must search that
+wood."
+
+"Order fifty skirmishers to go down to the river."
+
+"That will be unnecessary, sire," said Benedict, "there is no need for
+more than one man for that."
+
+And he went off at a gallop, crossed the wood in every direction and
+reappeared.
+
+"There is no one there, sire," said he, saluting.
+
+The king put his horse to the gallop and posted himself on the top of
+the little hill. His horse was the only white one, and served as a
+target for bullets and balls. The king wore his uniform as general of
+the forces, blue, turned up with red; the prince his uniform of the
+hussars of the guard.
+
+Battle was joined. The Prussians had driven back the Hanoverian
+outposts, who had recrossed the river, and a hot cannonade was exchanged
+between the Hanoverian artillery before Merscleben, and Prussians on the
+other side of the Unstrut.
+
+"Sire," said Benedict, "don't you fear that the Prussians will send men
+to hold the wood which I searched just now, and will fire on the king as
+at a target from its outskirts, only three hundred metres away?"
+
+"What would you suggest?" asked the prince.
+
+"I propose, monseigneur, to take fifty men and go to guard the wood. Our
+fire will protect you as the enemy approach."
+
+The prince exchanged a few words with the king, who nodded approvingly.
+
+"Go," said Prince Ernest; "but for heaven's sake don't get killed."
+
+Benedict showed the palm of his hand.
+
+"Can a man be killed, who has a double line of life on his hand?"
+
+And he galloped to the infantry of the line.
+
+"Fifty good marksmen for me," said he in German.
+
+A hundred presented themselves.
+
+"Come," said Benedict, "we shall not be too many."
+
+He left his horse with a hussar of the prince's regiment, and threw
+himself into the underwood at the head of his men, who scattered. They
+had scarcely disappeared among the trees, when a terrible fusillade
+burst forth. Two hundred men had just passed the Unstrut; but, as they
+were ignorant of the number of men following Benedict, they retreated
+fighting, supposing him to have superior forces, and leaving a dozen
+dead in the wood. Benedict guarded the bank of the Unstrut, and by a
+well-sustained fire, kept off all approach.
+
+The king had been recognized, the bullets whistled around him and even
+between his horse's legs.
+
+"Sire," said Major Schweppe, "perhaps it would be well to seek a place a
+little further from the field of battle."
+
+"Why so?" asked the king.
+
+"The bullets may reach Your Majesty!"
+
+"What does it matter! Am I not in the hands of the Lord?"
+
+The prince came up to his father.
+
+"Sire," said he, "the Prussians are advancing by great masses towards
+Unstrut, despite our fire."
+
+"What are the infantry doing?"
+
+"They are marching to take the offensive."
+
+"And--they march well?"
+
+"As on parade, sire."
+
+"The Hanoverian troops were once excellent troops; in Spain they held
+the élite of the French troops in check. To-day, when they fight before
+their king they will prove worthy of themselves, I trust."
+
+And, in fact, all the Hanoverian infantry, formed in column, advanced
+with the calm of veterans under the fire of the Prussian batteries.
+After having been a moment astounded at the hail of bullets which the
+muskets rained upon them, they continued their march, crossed the
+marshes of Unstrut, took the thicket of Badenwaeldschen by bayonet and
+struggled hand to hand with the enemy.
+
+For a moment smoke and the unevenness of the ground hid the general
+aspect of the battle. But at that moment a horseman was seen to emerge
+from the smoke and to move towards the hill where the king was
+stationed, riding in hot haste and mounted on the horse of a Prussian
+officer. It was Benedict, who had killed the rider in order to take his
+horse, and who was coming to say that the Prussians had commenced the
+attack.
+
+"Einem! Einem!" cried the king, "haste, order the cavalry to charge."
+
+The captain hastened. He was a giant of over six feet, the most vigorous
+and handsomest man in the army. He put his horse to the gallop, crying,
+"Hurrah!" A minute afterwards, a sound like a hurricane was heard. It
+was the cuirassiers of the guard charging.
+
+It would be impossible to describe the enthusiasm of the men as they
+passed the base of the hill, where stood the heroic king who wished to
+be at the most dangerous post. Cries of "Long live the king! long live
+George V! long live Hanover!" made the air tremble as in a tempest. The
+horses tore up the earth like an earthquake.
+
+Benedict could not restrain himself. He put his spurs to his horse and
+disappeared in the ranks of the cuirassiers. Seeing the storm which was
+bursting upon them, the Prussians formed into squares. The first which
+encountered the Hanoverian cavalry disappeared under their horses' feet;
+then, whilst the infantry fired in their faces, the cuirassiers took the
+Prussian army on the flank, which, after a desperate struggle, tried to
+retreat in order, but, ferociously pursued, found themselves routed.
+
+The prince followed these movements with an excellent pair of field
+glasses and described everything to the king, his father. But soon his
+glasses followed only a group of fifty men, at the head of whom was
+Captain Einem, whom he recognized by his great stature, and of whom
+Benedict, recognizable by his blue uniform among the white cuirassiers,
+was one. The squadron passed on by Nagelstadt and proceeded towards the
+last Prussian battery which still held out. The battery fired on the
+squadron from a distance of thirty yards. Everything vanished in the
+smoke. Twelve or fifteen men alone remained; Captain Einem was lying
+under his horse.
+
+"Oh! poor Einem!" cried the prince.
+
+"What has happened to him?" asked the king.
+
+"I think he is dead," said the young man; "but no, he is not dead. There
+is Benedict helping to drag him from under his horse. He is only
+wounded. He is not even wounded! Oh, father, father! There are only
+seven left out of fifty; only one artilleryman is left; he is aiming at
+Einem, he is firing.... Oh, father! you are losing a brave officer, and
+King William a brave soldier; the artilleryman has killed Einem with a
+shot from his carbine, and Benedict has cut him down at his gun with his
+sabre."
+
+The Prussian army was in full flight, the victory was with the
+Hanoverians!...
+
+The Prussians retired to Gotha. The rapidity of the march to the field
+of battle had so fatigued the Hanoverian cavalry that they could not
+pursue the fugitives. In this respect the advantages of the battle were
+lost.
+
+The results were: eight hundred prisoners, two thousand dead or wounded,
+two cannon taken.
+
+The king rode round the field of battle to complete his task by showing
+himself to the unhappy wounded.
+
+Benedict had become an artist once more, and was dreaming of his
+picture. He was seated on the first piece of cannon which had been
+taken, and was sketching a general view of the battlefield. He saw that
+the prince was searching among the killed and wounded officers of the
+cuirassiers.
+
+"Pardon, monseigneur," said he, "you are looking for the brave Captain
+Einem, are you not?"
+
+"Yes," said the prince.
+
+"There, monseigneur, there, on your left, in the midst of that heap of
+dead."
+
+"Oh," said the prince, "I saw him doing miracles."
+
+"Can you believe that after I had drawn him from under his horse, he
+stabbed six with his sabre? Then he was hit for the first time and fell.
+They thought he was dead, and threw themselves upon him. He raised
+himself on one knee and killed two, who cried to him to surrender. Then
+he stood upright and it was at that moment that the last surviving
+artilleryman sent a ball into his forehead, which killed him. As I was
+not able to save him, being too much occupied myself, I avenged him!"
+
+Then, presenting his sketch to the prince as calmly as if in the studio:
+
+"Do you think that is right?" he asked.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+IN WHICH BENEDICT'S PREDICTION CONTINUES TO BE FULFILLED
+
+
+The visit to the field of battle having been paid, the king followed the
+highway and entered the town of Langensalza. He established his
+headquarters in the sharpshooters' barracks. The major-general had given
+orders that all should remain quiet during the night.
+
+His Majesty's first care was to send by three different routes
+despatches to the queen to tell her of the day's victory and to ask for
+reinforcements, if not for the next day for the day after. And, as it
+turned out, he had nothing to fear from the Prussians: they were too
+thoroughly beaten not to wish for a day's rest.
+
+The night was gay; money had been given to the soldiers, and they were
+told to pay for everything they had. The bands played "God save the
+King," and the soldiers sang in chorus,--a song by a Hanoverian
+volunteer, to the Polish tune:
+
+     "A thousand soldiers swear on bended knee."
+
+The next day was spent in waiting for news of the Bavarian army, and in
+sending out couriers. The first came back with promises which were never
+kept.
+
+A truce until morning had been offered to the Prussians so that the dead
+might be buried. The Prussians refused, and the Hanoverians alone
+proceeded with this pious work. The soldiers dug great trenches 25 feet
+long and 8 feet wide. The dead were placed in these in two rows. Four
+thousand armed men led by the king and prince stood bare-headed while
+Beethoven's funeral march was played. Over each grave a squadron passed
+and fired a salute by way of military mourning. The municipal officers
+who had come to thank the king for his orders to the soldiers, which had
+been strictly carried out, were present at the ceremony.
+
+At eleven in the evening the men who were on guard towards the north
+announced that a large Prussian army was arriving by way of Mulhausen.
+It proved to be General Manteuffel's.
+
+The third day after the battle, the Hanoverian army had received no news
+of the Bavarian army, and was surrounded by 30,000 men.
+
+Towards midday, a lieutenant-colonel came with a flag of truce, from
+General Manteuffel, to propose that the king should surrender.
+
+The king replied that he knew perfectly well that he was hemmed in on
+all sides, but that he, his son, his major-general, his officers, and
+soldiers, from the highest to the lowest, preferred to die, unless an
+honourable capitulation were offered them.
+
+At the same time he called a council of war which declared unanimously
+for a capitulation, as long as it was honourable. There was, indeed, no
+choice. The army had only three hundred shells left, and rations for one
+night and day. The whole court, the king included, had dined on a piece
+of boiled beef and potatoes; the soup was given to the wounded. Every
+man was allowed but one glass of bad beer.
+
+Each article of the capitulation was discussed, so as to spin out the
+delay as long as possible. The speedy arrival of the Bavarians was
+still hoped for.
+
+At length, during the night, the following conditions were drawn up,
+between General Manteuffel for the King of Prussia, and General von
+Arentschild for the King of Hanover.
+
+The Hanoverian army was to be disbanded and the soldiers sent back to
+their homes. All the officers and non-commissioned officers were to go
+free. They were to retain their arms and equipments. The King of Prussia
+was to guarantee their pay. The king, the prince, and their suite were
+to be free to go wherever they wished. The king's private fortune was to
+be intact and inviolable.
+
+The capitulation being signed, General Manteuffel went to the king's
+quarters. Entering his cabinet he said to him:
+
+"I am sorry, sire, to present myself before Your Majesty in such sad
+circumstances. We understand all that Your Majesty suffers, we Prussians
+who have known Jena. I beg Your Majesty to tell me to what place you
+wish to retire, and to give me my orders. It shall be my duty to see
+that you suffer no inconvenience on your journey."
+
+"Sir," replied the king coldly, "I do not know where I shall await the
+finding of the congress which has to decide whether I shall remain king,
+or become once more a simple English prince. Probably with my
+father-in-law, the Duke of Saxe-Altenburg, or with His Majesty the
+Emperor of Austria. In either case I have no need of your protection,
+for which I thank you."
+
+The same day the king's aide-de-camp left for Vienna, to ask permission
+for his master to retire through the Austrian states. As soon as this
+request reached Vienna, one of the emperor's aides-de-camp left to
+serve as guide and escort to the king. This officer was the bearer of
+the Marie-Thérèse medal for the king, and the order of knighthood for
+the prince.
+
+On the same day, the king sent, as messengers to announce his arrival to
+His Majesty the Emperor of Austria; Herr Meding, representing the
+regency, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Herr von Platen, and the
+Minister of War, Herr von Brandis.
+
+The prince asked Benedict to accompany him. As Benedict had never seen
+Vienna, he assented. But upon conditions. His life, as at Hanover, was
+to be entirely independent of the court. He still had to arrange
+Lenhart's business, which, as we know, had been left to Benedict's
+discretion. Benedict had kept Lenhart for seventeen days. He now gave
+him four hundred francs and one hundred more as a gratuity--an
+unexampled generosity to which Lenhart replied by declaring his
+attachment to the House of Hanover to be such that he would never return
+to Brunswick from the moment when Brunswick became Prussian. This
+declaration was worth two hundred francs to him from the King of
+Hanover, and one hundred francs from the prince.
+
+After this Lenhart's resolution was fixed. He sold, or had sold, all the
+carriages and horses which he had at Brunswick and with the proceeds he
+meant to set up a livery stable in Frankfort, a free town, where you
+seldom see any Prussians. At Frankfort, his brother Hans was in service
+with one of the best families in the town, that of Chandroz. Madame
+Chandroz' daughter, the Baroness von Bülow, was the burgomaster's
+goddaughter. With such connections he could be sure of prospering, and
+Benedict promised him his custom in case he returned to Frankfort.
+
+The adieux between Benedict and Lenhart were most affecting, and still
+more so between Lenhart and Frisk, but they were forced to part.
+Lenhart set out for Frankfort. The king, the prince, Benedict, and
+Frisk, on their arrival at Vienna, took up their residence in the little
+château of Frœhliche Wiederkehr, which means Happy Return.
+
+In this way Benedict's prediction to the king was realized--of victory,
+overthrow, exile.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+WHAT PASSED AT FRANKFORT BETWEEN THE BATTLES OF LANGENSALZA AND SADOWA
+
+
+Frankfort followed from afar and with anxiety the struggle which went on
+in the other parts of Germany. But she did not believe that that
+struggle could reach even her. By June 29th Prince Charles of Bavaria
+had been appointed general of the Federated Troops. On the same day
+Frankfort heard the news of the victory of Langensalza. This caused
+great joy throughout the town, though no one dared to show it. On June
+30th Rudolfstadt and the Hanseatic towns declared that they withdrew
+from the Confederation. The Würtemberg and Baden regiments were in the
+town; the soldiers, in groups of four and five, went gaily about the
+streets in hackney carriages. On July 1st, news came of the capitulation
+of the Hanoverian Army. On July 3rd Mecklenburg, Gotha, and the younger
+branch of Reuss declared that they withdrew from the Confederation. On
+July 4th the Prussian papers accused the people of Frankfort of having
+turned all Prussian subjects out of the town, even those who had been
+established there for ten years, and of having illuminated their streets
+on the news of the victory of Langensalza. They had not done so; but the
+falser the charge, the more it frightened the people of Frankfort.
+Evidently the Prussians were trying to pick a quarrel with them. On July
+5th the gloom increased; news came of the defeat of the Austrians
+between Königsgrätz and Josephstadt. On July 8th the first news of the
+battle of Sadowa arrived in Frankfort.
+
+Everything that that fatalist, Dr. Speltz, had said with regard to
+Marshal Benedek came true. After two checks he lost his head; to speak
+in the language of Herr Speltz, Saturn ruled above Mars and Jupiter.
+What he had foreseen in another direction, about the superior equipment
+of the Prussians--in conjunction with their natural courage--also came
+true. In no single encounter had the Austrians the advantage. The only
+victory gained over the Prussians was that when the King of Hanover had
+been in command.
+
+But what particularly terrified Frankfort was the order given by the
+commanding officers of the Allies' Army to make entrenchments in the
+neighbourhood of the town. On this occasion, the Senate awoke from its
+inactivity, it arose and protested to the Diet that Frankfort was an
+unfortified town which was not able, and did not wish to be defended.
+But, in spite of the protestations of the Senate, the troops came to
+Frankfort.
+
+On July 12th a fresh regiment was announced. It was the 8th regiment of
+the Federated Army, under the orders of Prince Alexander of Hesse,
+composed of men from Würtemberg, Baden, and Hesse, and an Austrian
+Brigade commanded by Count Monte Nuovo. They had scarcely entered
+Frankfort, when Count Monte Nuovo enquired for the house of the Chandroz
+family, and got himself billeted upon the widowed Madame von Beling who
+resided there.
+
+Count Monte Nuovo, which title disguised the celebrated name of Neuburg,
+was the son of Marie Louise. He was a handsome, tall, fashionable
+general of forty-eight or fifty, who presented himself to Madame von
+Beling with all the Austrian grace and courtesy, and who, in saluting
+Helen, let fall from his lips the name of Karl von Freyberg.
+
+Helen started. Emma had excused herself, as the wife of a Prussian, from
+doing the honours of her house to a man with whom her husband might be
+fighting on the morrow. This absence gave Count Monte Nuovo the
+opportunity of being alone with Helen. Helen, it is hardly necessary to
+say, awaited this moment with impatience.
+
+"Count," said she, as soon as they were alone, "you mentioned a certain
+name."
+
+"The name of a man who adores you, Fräulein."
+
+"The name of my _fiancé_," said Helen, rising.
+
+Count Monte Nuovo bowed and signed to her to reseat herself.
+
+"I know it, Fräulein," he said; "Count Karl is my friend. He has bidden
+me hand you this letter and to give you news of him with my own lips."
+
+Helen took the letter.
+
+"Thank you, sir," she said, and, eager to read it. "You will allow me,
+won't you?"
+
+"Certainly," said the count bowing, and he appeared to become absorbed
+in a portrait of Herr von Beling in his uniform.
+
+The letter was all vows of love and protestations of tenderness such as
+lovers write to each other. Old phrases always new; flowers plucked on
+the day of creation, and, after six thousand years, as sweet as on the
+first day.
+
+Having finished the letter, as Count Monte Nuovo still looked straight
+at the portrait:
+
+"Sir," said Helen, in a low voice.
+
+"Fräulein?" answered the count, approaching her; "Karl lets me hope that
+you will give me some details yourself," and he adds: 'Before coming to
+grips with the Prussians, he will, or indeed we shall perhaps, have the
+pleasure of seeing you again.'"
+
+"It is possible, Fräulein, especially if we meet the Prussians in three
+or four days."
+
+"Where did you leave him?"
+
+"At Vienna, where he was organizing his volunteer regiment. We arranged
+a meeting-place at Frankfort, my friend Karl von Freyberg having done me
+the honour of wishing to serve under my orders."
+
+"He tells me that he has as his lieutenant a Frenchman whom I know. Do
+you know of whom he is speaking?"
+
+"Yes; he met him at the King of Hanover's, where he went to pay his
+respects; a young Frenchman called Benedict Turpin."
+
+"Ah! yes," said Helen smiling, "he whom my brother-in-law wished me to
+marry in gratitude for the sabre-cut he received from him."
+
+"Fräulein," said Count Monte Nuovo, "these things are riddles to me."
+
+"And a little to me also," said Helen; "I will explain to you." And she
+told him what she knew of Frederic's duel with Benedict. She had
+scarcely finished when some one simultaneously knocked and rang at the
+door. Hans went to open it, and a voice asking for Madame von Beling,
+and reaching her ears through all the closed doors between, made her
+start.
+
+"What is the matter, Fräulein?" asked Count Monte Nuovo. "You are quite
+pale!"
+
+"I recognize that voice!" exclaimed Helen.
+
+At the same moment the door opened, and Hans appeared.
+
+"Fräulein," said he, "it is Count Karl von Freyberg."
+
+"Ah!" cried Helen, "I knew it! Where is he? What is he doing?"
+
+"He is below in the dining-room, where he is asking Madame von Beling's
+permission to pay his respects, to you."
+
+"Do you recognize the gentleman in that?" asked Count Monte Nuovo.
+"Another man would not even have asked for your grandmother, but have
+flown straight to you."
+
+"And I could have pardoned him." Then, in a louder voice. "Karl, dear
+Karl!" she said. "This way!"
+
+Karl came in and threw himself into Helen's arms, who pressed him to her
+breast. Then, looking round him, he saw Count Monte Nuovo, and held out
+his hand to him.
+
+"Excuse me, count," said he, "for not having seen you before; but you
+will readily understand that I had eyes for none but her. Is not Helen
+as beautiful as I told you, count?"
+
+"More beautiful," replied he.
+
+"Oh! dear, dear Helen," cried Karl, falling on his knees and kissing her
+hands.
+
+Count Monte Nuovo began to laugh.
+
+"My dear Karl," said he, "I arrived here an hour ago; I asked to be
+quartered at Madame von Beling's, in order to be able to carry out my
+commission. It was done as you knocked. I have nothing more to do here.
+If I have forgotten anything, here you are, and you can supply it.
+Fräulein, may I have the honour of kissing your hand?"
+
+Helen held out her hand, looking at Karl as if for his permission, which
+he gave with a nod. The count kissed Helen's hand, then that of his
+friend, and went out.
+
+The lovers gave a sigh of relief. Fate gave them, amid all the reverses
+of their political fortunes, one of those rare moments which she grants
+to those whom she favours most.
+
+The news from the north was only too true. But all hope was not lost in
+Vienna. The emperor, the Imperial Family, and the Treasury had retired
+to Pest, and a desperate resistance was being prepared. On the other
+hand, the cession of Venice to Italy gave liberty to a hundred and sixty
+thousand men, as a reinforcement to the army in the north. It only
+remained to revive the spirits of the soldiers by a victory, and it was
+hoped that Count Alexander of Hesse would gain that victory. The battle
+would take place in all probability in the outskirts of Frankfort. This
+is why Karl had chosen to serve in the Prince of Hesse's army, and in
+Count Monte Nuovo's brigade. There at least, he was sure that he should
+see fighting. A second cousin of the Emperor Francis Joseph, brave and
+courageous, he had every interest in risking his life for the House of
+Austria, to which he belonged.
+
+Helen devoured Karl with her eyes. His dress was that which she had seen
+him wear every day when she met him going or returning from the hunt;
+but, without one being able to be precise about it, there was something
+more warlike about him; his expression was--somewhat more severe. One
+felt that he was conscious of danger at hand, and in meeting it like a
+man he met it as one who clung to life, yet who above his life put
+honour.
+
+During this time, Earl's little troop, whose second in command was
+Benedict, bivouacked a hundred paces from the railway station, just
+under the Burgomaster Fellner's windows. Not that they had anything to
+complain of from the authorities. Karl had sold one of his estates, and
+each of his men received a shilling every day for food. Each man was
+armed with a good carbine, rifle-barrelled and able, like a quick-firing
+gun, to fire eight or ten shots a minute. Each man also carried a
+hundred cartridges, and, in consequence, the hundred men could fire ten
+thousand shots. The two leaders carried double-barrelled carbines.
+
+The burgomaster returning to the Hôtel de Ville, found in front of his
+door the little detachment dressed in an unknown uniform. He stopped
+with that naïve bourgeois curiosity which we call _flânerie_. After
+staring at the soldiers he went on to their leader before whom he
+stopped, not only with simple curiosity but astonishment. It seemed to
+him that the face of the leader was not entirely unknown to him.
+
+And in fact, the officer, smiling, asked in excellent German:
+
+"May I enquire after Burgomaster Fellner's health?"
+
+"Ah! heavens and earth!" cried the burgomaster, "I was not mistaken. It
+is M. Benedict Turpin!"
+
+"Bravo! I told you that your memory was unusually well developed. It
+must be so to recognize me in this costume."
+
+"But you have become a soldier?"
+
+"An officer."
+
+"An officer! I beg your pardon."
+
+"Yes, an amateur officer."
+
+"Come up to my house; you must be in need of refreshment, and your men
+are thirsty. Aren't you, my friends?"
+
+The men laughed.
+
+"We are always more or less thirsty," one of them replied.
+
+"Very well, I will send twenty-five bottles of wine and beer down to
+you," said the burgomaster. "Come in, M. Benedict!"
+
+"Remember that my eye is upon you from the window," said Benedict, "and
+be careful."
+
+"Be easy in your mind, captain," replied he who had spoken before.
+
+"Madame Fellner," said the burgomaster on entering, "here is a captain
+of volunteers who is quartered on us. We must give him a worthy
+reception."
+
+Madame Fellner, who was doing worsted work, raised her head and looked
+at her guest. An expression resembling her husband's passed over her
+face.
+
+"Oh! it is surprising, my dear!" she cried, "how like this gentleman is
+to a young French painter...."
+
+"There!" said Fellner, "there is no need to keep your incognito. Pay
+your respects to my wife, my dear Benedict; you are recognized."
+
+Benedict held out his hand to Madame Fellner. As for the burgomaster, a
+slave to his promise, he looked out amongst a bunch of keys that of the
+cellar, and went down to choose the wine in which he wished Benedict's
+men to drink his health. A few minutes after, shouts of "Long live the
+burgomaster!" told that his wine was found to be of good quality.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE FREE MEAL
+
+
+The burgomaster was uneasy, and did not try to hide it. The Prussians
+had marched on Frankfort by way of Vogeberg: a combat was bound to take
+place on the frontiers of Bavaria, and, if the Allies' army was beaten,
+the Prussians would occupy Frankfort on the following day. Orders had
+been given of which no one knew, but which could not be kept from him,
+as burgomaster. On July 14th, that is to say on the third day, the
+Federated Assembly, the Military Commission, and the Chancellor's
+Office, had received orders to go to Augsburg, a proof that Frankfort
+was not sure of being able to preserve her neutrality. The conviction,
+held by every one in Frankfort, that this was the moment of supreme
+crisis, had raised the sympathy of the inhabitants for the defenders of
+the cause dear to all, that is to say the cause of Austria, to the
+highest pitch. So, when the dinner hour came, the great houses of
+Frankfort invited the officers, while the bourgeois and working people
+invited the privates. Some took dinner to them, others laid tables
+before their doors.
+
+Hermann Mumm, the famous wine merchant, had invited a hundred privates,
+corporals, and sergeants, and had laid an immense table before his door,
+where each man had his bottle of wine.
+
+Burgomaster Fellner, his brother-in-law, Doctor Kugler, and the other
+inhabitants of the road abutting on the railway station, took care of
+Karl's hundred men. He himself dined with Madame von Beling and Count
+Monte Nuovo. Benedict, whom good Madame Fellner would not suffer to
+depart, could not refuse her invitation. They had invited Senators von
+Bernus and Speltz, but they had each their own guests, and only M.
+Fischer, the journalist, who lived a bachelor life, could come. Prince
+Alexander of Hesse dined with the Austrian consul.
+
+The diners in the street formed strange contrasts with those inside. The
+soldiers, drinking together, careless of the morrow, looked for nothing
+but death; but death to a soldier is only a _vivandière_ in black, who
+pours him the last glass of brandy at the end of the last day. The
+soldier only fears to lose his life, because in losing his life, he
+loses all with it, and at one blow; while the merchant, the banker, even
+the bourgeois, before losing life, may lose fortune, credit, and
+position. He may see his coffers pillaged, his house ransacked, his wife
+and daughters dishonoured, his children calling him, impotent to help
+them. He may be tortured through his family, his money, his flesh, and
+his honour. It was of these things that the citizens of the free town of
+Frankfort thought, and these things prevented them from being as gay as
+they would have wished with their guests.
+
+As for Karl and Helen, they thought of nothing but their happiness. For
+them, the present was everything. They wished to forget: and, by force
+not of wishing, but of love, they did forget.
+
+But the saddest of these gatherings, despite Benedict's efforts, was
+certainly that which took place at the burgomaster's. Herr Fellner was,
+in his administrative capacity, one of the most intelligent burgomasters
+that Frankfort had ever possessed. Furthermore, he was an excellent
+father to his family, adoring his children, and adored by them. During
+fourteen years of married life not the smallest cloud had passed across
+his union. During the whole dinner, in spite of the weighty political
+preoccupation which absorbed him, he attempted, with the help of his
+brother-in-law the councillor, and his friend Fischer, to throw a little
+gaiety over the solemnity of the conversation. At dessert a servant
+entered and informed Benedict that his travelling companion, Lenhart,
+asked leave to offer him his services again. The burgomaster enquired
+who Lenhart was, and, at the moment when Benedict smilingly asked
+permission to go and shake his hand in the vestibule, the ex-livery
+stable keeper slapped the servant on the shoulder to make him give way,
+and came in saying:
+
+"Don't give yourself the trouble, M. Benedict; I'll come right into his
+worship the burgomaster's dining-room. I am not proud. Good day, your
+worship, and ladies and gentlemen."
+
+"Ah!" said the burgomaster, recognizing the old Saxon accent, "you are
+from Sachsenhausen?"
+
+"Yes, and my name is Lenhart, at your service; I am brother to Hans, who
+is in service with Madame von Beling."
+
+"Well then, my friend," said the burgomaster, "drink a glass of wine to
+the health of M. Benedict, whom you wish to see."
+
+"Two, if you like; he well deserves them! Ah! there's no
+stand-offishness with regard to the Prussians about him. Thunder and
+lightning! how he went at them at the battle of Langensalza!"
+
+"What! you were there?" asked the burgomaster of Lenhart.
+
+"On! yes, that I was, and now mad I was at not getting a slap at those
+cuckoos myself!"
+
+"Why do you call them cuckoos?" asked the journalist.
+
+"Because they take other people's nests to lay their eggs in."
+
+"But how did you know I was here?" asked Benedict, a little embarrassed
+by this unceremonious visit.
+
+"Oh!" said Lenhart, "I was walking peacefully along the road, when a dog
+came and jumped at my neck. 'There,' I said, 'it is Frisk, M. Benedict's
+dog.' Your men looked at me as if I were a curiosity, because I
+mentioned your name. 'Is M. Benedict here?' I asked them. They answered
+me: 'Yes, he is there, he is dining with your burgomaster, Herr Fellner,
+a good man, who has good wine.' 'Herr Fellner's good health,' I said to
+myself: 'Here, it's true! he is my burgomaster, because ever since
+yesterday I've been established in Frankfort, and as he is my
+burgomaster, I can go in And call on him, to say good-morning to M.
+Benedict.'"
+
+"Well now that you have said good-morning to me, my good Lenhart, and
+drunk the health of his worship the burgomaster," said Benedict--
+
+"Yes, but I haven't drunk yours, my young master, my benefactor, my
+idol! for you are my idol, M. Benedict. When I speak of you, when I talk
+about your duel, where you overcame those two men, one with a sabre cut,
+and what a one it was! M. Frederic de ----, you know the one I mean,
+don't you? Another with a pistol shot, that was a journalist, a great
+tall, ungainly fellow, like you, Herr Fischer."
+
+"Thanks, my friend."
+
+"I haven't said any harm, I hope."
+
+"No, but leave these gentlemen in peace," said Benedict.
+
+"They are very peaceful, M. Benedict; look how they are listening."
+
+"Let him go on," said the doctor.
+
+"I'd go on all the same, even if you wouldn't let me. Ah! when I'm on
+the subject of M. Benedict, I never run dry. Don't shrug your shoulders,
+M. Benedict; if you'd wanted to kill the baron, you'd have killed him,
+and if you'd wanted to kill the journalist, you'd only yourself to
+please."
+
+"As a matter of fact," said the burgomaster, "we have seen that story in
+the 'Kreuz Zeitung.' My word! I read it without ever thinking that it
+was to you it happened."
+
+"And the pretty thing is that it was he who told it you!" continued
+Lenhart. "He is as learned as a sorcerer! Only glanced at the poor King
+of Hanover's hand, and he foretold everything that's happened to him.
+First, the victory, then the pill."
+
+At the moment, when they were going from the dining-room to the
+drawing-room, the sound of trumpets and drums was heard; the trumpet
+sounded "to horse," the drum beat "the alert." Madame Fellner waited
+impatiently; but her husband, smiling, signed to her to be patient. For
+the moment, a more lively and more general preoccupation was started by
+the sound of the alarm.
+
+"This tells me, madam," said Benedict, pointing towards the street, "I
+have only time to drink your husband's health, and to the long and happy
+life you and your beautiful family will have with him."
+
+The toast was repeated by all, and even by Lenhart, who thus drank
+twice, as he had said, to the health of the burgomaster. After which,
+grasping the hands of Herr Fellner, his brother-in-law, and the
+journalist, and kissing that of Madame Fellner, Benedict ran downstairs
+and out, crying: "To arms!"
+
+The same warlike sound had surprised Karl and Helen at the end of
+dinner. Karl felt a terrible blow at his heart. Helen grew pale,
+although she did not know the meaning of the beating of the drums nor
+of the sounding of the trumpets; yet she felt it to be sinister. Then,
+at the glance exchanged between Count Monte Nuovo and Karl, she
+understood that the moment of separation had come. The count had pity on
+the two young lovers, and, to give them a minute for their last adieux,
+he took leave of Madame von Beling, and said to his young friend:
+
+"Karl, you have a quarter-of-an-hour."
+
+Karl threw a rapid glance at the clock. It was half-past four.
+
+"Thank you, general," he answered. "I will be at my post at the time you
+mention."
+
+Madame von Beling had gone to see Count Monte Nuovo off, and in order to
+be alone, the young people went into the garden, where a thick arbour of
+vines hid their adieux. One might as well try to write down the
+melancholy song of the nightingale, which burst forth a few paces from
+them, as to describe the dialogue interspersed with sighs and tears,
+with vows, with sobs, with promises of love, with passionate outbursts,
+and with tender cries. What had they said at the end of a
+quarter-of-an-hour? Nothing, and everything. The parting was inevitable.
+
+As on the first occasion, Karl's horse was waiting at the door. He
+dragged himself away, leading Helen with him, encircled by his arms,
+there he covered her face with a rain of kisses.
+
+The door was open. The two Styrians beckoned him. A quarter to five was
+striking. He threw himself upon his horse, driving the spurs into him.
+The two Styrians ran beside him, following the galloping horse. The last
+words which Karl heard were these: "Thine, in this world or in the
+next!" and with the ardour of a lover and the faith of a Christian, he
+replied: "So be it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+THE BATTLE OF ASCHAFFENBURG
+
+
+During his dinner, Prince Alexander of Hesse had received this dispatch:
+
+"The Prussian vanguard has appeared at the end of the Vogelsburg pass!"
+
+This news very much astonished the commander-in-chief, who was expecting
+the enemy to come by the pass through the Thuringian Forest. He had, in
+consequence, immediately sent a telegram to Darmstadt to order a
+detachment of three thousand men to come by rail to Aschaffenburg and
+seize the bridge. Then he had immediately sounded the bugle-call and the
+signal to saddle.
+
+Two steamboats were waiting at Hackenhausen. A hundred railway carriages
+were waiting at the station, capable of holding a hundred men each.
+
+We have already mentioned the effect produced by the double trumpet
+call.
+
+There was a moment of confusion: for a moment every one ran to and fro,
+uniforms were confused, cavalry and infantry were mixed, then as if a
+clever hand had put each man in his place, at the end of five minutes
+the cavalry were mounted and the infantry had their proper weapons.
+Everything was ready for a start.
+
+Again, Frankfort showed its sympathy, not exactly to the Austrians, but
+to the defenders of Austria. Beer was handed round in half-pints and
+wine in jugfuls. Gentlemen of the first houses in the town shook hands
+with the officers. Fashionable ladies spoke cheeringly to the soldiers.
+A hitherto unknown brotherhood, born of the common danger, reigned over
+the free town.
+
+People called from windows: "Courage! victory! long live Austria! long
+live the Allies! long live Prince Alexander of Hesse!"
+
+Marie Louise's son was greeted for his part with cries of "Long live the
+Count of Monte Nuovo!" But it must be said that, as they came for the
+most part from ladies, they were due rather to his fine figure and
+military bearing than to his royal birth.
+
+Karl's Styrian sharpshooters received orders to take their places in the
+first carriages. It was they who were to attack the Prussians. They went
+gaily into the station with no other music than the count's two flute
+players. After them came Count Monte Nuovo's Austrian brigade and lastly
+the Allies of Hesse and Würtemberg. The Italian brigade had left by the
+steamboats, protesting against what they had to do, and declaring they
+would never fire on their friends the Prussians for their enemies the
+Austrians.
+
+The train went off, carrying men, rifles, guns, ammunition, horses, and
+ambulances. An hour and a half afterwards they were at Aschaffenburg.
+Night was beginning to fall. They had not seen the Prussians.
+
+Prince Alexander of Hesse sent a party out to reconnoitre. The party
+came back towards eleven at night, after having fired a few shots at the
+Prussians at two hours' journey from Aschaffenburg.
+
+A peasant who had crossed the pass at the same time as the Prussians,
+said that they were nearly five or six thousand strong, and that they
+had stopped because they were waiting for a body of seven or eight
+thousand men which was late. The numbers promised to be nearly equal.
+
+It was found necessary to defend the passage of the Main and to protect
+Frankfort and Darmstadt by gaining the victory. The Styrian
+sharpshooters were placed on the road. Their mission was to do the
+greatest amount of damage possible to the enemy and retire, leaving the
+infantry and cavalry to work in their turn, and to rally at the head of
+the bridge, the allies only means of retreat, and to defend that bridge
+to the last.
+
+During the night each man took up his position for the next day, and
+supped and slept in the open. A reserve of eight hundred men had been
+lodged in Aschaffenburg to defend the town if it were attacked. The
+night passed without disturbance.
+
+At ten o'clock, Karl, growing impatient, mounted his horse and leaving
+the command of his men to Benedict galloped off towards the Prussians
+who at last were beginning to march.
+
+In the course of his gallop Karl went up to Count Monte Nuovo and
+brought back the guns, which were put in position across the road. Four
+felled trees made a sort of entrenchment for the artillery. Karl got on
+to this entrenchment with his two Styrians, who took their flutes from
+their pockets, as if on parade, and began to play their sweetest and
+most charming airs. Karl could resist no longer. In a minute he took his
+pipe from his waistcoat pocket and sent on the wind a last message to
+his country.
+
+The Prussians were advancing all this time. At half-range the booming of
+the two Austrian guns interrupted our three musicians, who put their
+flutes back into their pockets, and took up their rifles. The two
+volleys were well aimed, they killed or wounded a score of men. Again an
+explosion was heard, and a second messenger of death swept through the
+Prussian ranks.
+
+"They are going to try and carry the guns by assault," said Karl to
+Benedict. "Take fifty men, and I'll take fifty; we will creep through
+the little wood on each side of the road. We have time for two shots
+each. We must kill a hundred men and fifty horses. Let ten of your men
+fire at the horses and the rest at the men."
+
+Benedict took fifty men and crept along the right of the road. Karl did
+the same and crept along the left. The count was not mistaken; cavalry
+advanced from the middle on the first rank, and the gleam of the sabres
+was soon visible in the sunshine. Then was heard the thunder of three
+hundred horses, galloping forward.
+
+Now began a fusillade, on both sides of the road, which would have
+seemed a game, if, at the first two shots, the colonel and the
+lieutenant had not been shot down from their horses, and if at each shot
+that followed those two a man or a horse had not fallen. Soon the road
+was strewn with dead men and horses. The first ranks could not advance.
+The charge stopped a hundred paces from the two guns, which kept up
+their fire and completed the confusion in the column.
+
+Behind them the Prussians had brought forward the artillery, and had
+placed in position six guns to silence the two Austrian guns.
+
+But our sharpshooters had advanced to about three hundred paces from the
+battery, and, when the six artillerymen had raised the match to fire
+with the regularity of a Prussian manœuvre, six shots were fired,
+three to the right and three to the left of the road, and the six
+artillerymen fell dead.
+
+Six others took the burning match and fell beside their comrades.
+Meanwhile the two Austrian guns had fired and demolished one of the
+Prussian guns.
+
+The Prussians did what they ought to have done at first; that is, they
+attacked the Styrian sharpshooters. They sent out five hundred Prussian
+sharpshooters with fixed bayonets.
+
+Then, on both sides of the plain began a terrible fusillade, while along
+the road the infantry advanced in columns, firing on the battery as they
+came. The artillerymen harnessed horses to the guns and retreated. The
+two guns, by retiring, left the Neuberg brigade uncovered.
+
+A hillock a little distance from Aschaffenburg was then crowned by a
+battery of six guns, the fire of which raked the Prussian masses.
+
+The count himself seeing that in spite of the fire along the whole line,
+the Prussians were advancing, put himself at the head of a regiment of
+cuirassiers and charged. Prince Alexander ordered all the Baden army to
+support him. Unfortunately, he placed the Italian regiment on his left
+wing and for the second time the Italians told him that they would
+remain neutral, exposed to the shots of both sides, but would not fire
+themselves.
+
+Whether by chance, or because they had been warned of this neutrality,
+the Prussians brought their principal effort to bear upon this left
+wing, which, by standing still, allowed the enemy to unhorse Count Monte
+Nuovo.
+
+The Styrian sharpshooters had done marvels. They had lost thirty men,
+and had killed more than three hundred of the enemy. Then, according to
+their orders, they had rallied at the head of the Aschaffenburg bridge.
+
+From that spot, Karl and Benedict heard a quick fusillade at the other
+end of the town. It was the Prussian right wing which had overthrown
+Prince Alexander's left wing and was attacking the suburbs of the town.
+
+"Listen," said Karl to Benedict, "the day is lost! Fate has overtaken
+the 'house of Austria.' I am going to kill myself, because it is my
+duty; but you, who are not tied to our fortune; you, who are fighting as
+an amateur; you, who are French when all is said and done, it would be
+folly for you to kill yourself for a cause which is not your own, and
+not even that with which you agree. Right to the last moment; then, when
+you know that all resistance is useless, get back to Frankfort, go to
+Helen; tell her that I am dead, if you have seen me die, or that I am in
+retreat on Darmstadt or Würtzburg with the remains of the army. If I
+live, I will write to her. If I die, I die thinking of her. This is my
+heart's testament, I confide it to you."
+
+Benedict pressed Karl's hand.
+
+"Now," proceeded Karl, "it seems to me that it is a soldier's duty to
+give the most service possible, to the last moment; we have a hundred
+and seventy men left. I am going to take some, I will take half to
+support the defenders of the town. You stay with the others at the
+bridge. Do your best here. I will do my best wherever I am. Do you hear
+the fusillade coming nearer? We have no time to lose. We must say
+farewell."
+
+The two young men threw themselves into each other's arms. Then Karl
+hurried into the streets and disappeared in the smoke. Benedict went to
+a little hill covered with a thicket, where he could defend himself and
+protect the bridge.
+
+He was scarcely there when he saw a cloud of dust rapidly approaching.
+It was the Baden cavalry, which had been driven back by the Prussian
+cuirassiers. The first fugitives crossed the bridge without difficulty;
+but soon the passage was obstructed with men and horses, and the first
+ranks were forced to return upon those who followed them.
+
+At that moment, a volley from Benedict and his men felled fifty men and
+twenty horses. The cuirassiers stopped astonished, and courage returned
+to the Baden infantry. A second volley followed the first, and the click
+of the balls on the cuirasses could be heard like the sound of hail on a
+roof. Thirty men and horses fell. The cuirassiers became disordered, but
+in retiring they encountered a square broken by the lancers, which fled
+before them. The square found itself between the spears of the lancers
+and the sabres of the cuirassiers. Benedict saw them coming mixed
+pell-mell with the lancers and cuirassiers.
+
+"Aim at the officers," cried Benedict, and he himself picked out a
+captain of cuirassiers and fired. The captain fell. The others had each
+chosen officers, but found it more convenient to choose the officers of
+the lancers. Death thus offered a larger target. Almost all the officers
+fell, and the horses bounding riderless joined the squadron. Men were
+still continuing to crowd the bridge.
+
+Suddenly the greater part of the allies' army arrived almost upon the
+heels of the enemy. At the same time, in the street of the burning town,
+Karl was retreating with his usual calm. He killed a man at each shot.
+He was bare-headed. A ball had carried away his Styrian cap. A trickle
+of blood was running down his cheek.
+
+The two young men greeted each other from afar. Frisk, recognizing Karl,
+whom he considered an admirable hunter, ran towards him, all delight at
+seeing him again.
+
+At that moment, a heavy gallop made the earth shake. It was the Prussian
+cuirassiers returning to the charge. Through the dust of the road and
+the smoke of the firing could be seen the glitter of their breastplates,
+helmets, and sword blades. They made a hole in the centre of the Baden
+and Hessian fugitives, and penetrated a third of the way over the
+bridge.
+
+With a last glance, Benedict saw his friend fighting against a captain,
+into whose throat he twice thrust his bayonet. The captain fell, but
+only to be succeeded by two cuirassiers who attacked Karl, sword in
+hand. Two shots from Benedict's rifle killed one and wounded the other.
+
+Then he saw Karl carried away among the fugitives crossing the bridge,
+in spite of his efforts to rally them. Enclosed on all sides, his sole
+path to hope of safety was the bridge. He threw himself upon it with the
+sixty or sixty-five men who were left. It was a terrible struggle; the
+dead were trodden under foot, the cuirassiers, like giants on their
+great horses, stabbed the fugitives with their shortened swords.
+
+"Fire on them!" cried Benedict.
+
+Those of his men who had their rifles loaded fired; seven or eight
+cuirassiers fell; the bullets rattled on the breastplates of the rest.
+
+A fresh charge brought the cuirassiers into the midst of the Styrian
+infantry. Pressed by two horsemen, Benedict killed one with his bayonet,
+the other tried to crush him with his horse against the parapet of the
+bridge. He drew his short hunting knife and thrust it up to the hilt in
+the horse's chest, the horse reared with a scream of dismay. Benedict
+left his knife with its living sheath, ran between the horse's legs,
+leapt over the parapet of the bridge and sprang, armed as he was, into
+the Main. As he fell, he cast a last look at the spot where Karl had
+disappeared, but his gaze sought his friend in vain.
+
+It was about five o'clock in the evening.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE EXECUTOR
+
+
+Benedict had jumped into the Main on the left side of the bridge; the
+current carried him towards the arches. When he came to the surface he
+looked round him and saw a boat moored to one of them. A man was lying
+in the boat. Benedict swam towards him with one hand, holding his rifle
+above the water with the other. The boatman seeing him coming raised his
+oar.
+
+"Prussian or Austrian?" asked he.
+
+"French," answered Benedict. The boatman held out his hand.
+
+Benedict, dripping as he was, jumped into the boat.
+
+"Twenty florins," he said, "if we are in Dettingen in an hour. We have
+the current with us and I will row with you."
+
+"That will be easy," said the boatman, "if you are sure you will keep
+your word."
+
+"Wait a minute," said Benedict; throwing down his Styrian tunic and cap,
+and feeling in his pocket, "here are ten."
+
+"Then, come on," said the boatman.
+
+He took one oar, Benedict took the other: the boat impelled by four
+vigorous arms went rapidly down the river.
+
+The struggle was still continuing; men and horses fell from the bridge
+into the stream. Benedict would have liked to stop and watch the
+spectacle, but time did not allow.
+
+No one paid any attention to the little boat flying down stream. In five
+minutes the oarsmen were out of range and out of danger.
+
+While passing a little wood on the edge of the river, called
+Joli-Buisson, he thought he saw Karl fighting desperately in the middle
+of a group of Prussians. But as the uniform of all the Styrians was
+alike, it might have been one of the infantry. Then Benedict fancied he
+saw a dog like Frisk in the throng, and he remembered that Frisk had
+followed Karl.
+
+At the first bend of the river, they ceased to see anything of the
+battle. Further on, they saw the smoke of the burning houses in
+Aschaffenburg. Then at the little village of Lieder, everything
+disappeared. The boat flew down the river and quickly they passed
+Menaschoft, Stockstadt, Kleim, and Ostheim. After that the banks of the
+Main were deserted down to Mainflig. On the other bank, almost opposite,
+stood Dettingen.
+
+It was a quarter-past six, the boatman had earned his twenty florins.
+Benedict gave them to him; but before parting from him he considered for
+a moment.
+
+"Would you like to earn twenty florins more?" he asked.
+
+"I should just think so!" replied the boatman. Benedict looked at his
+watch.
+
+"The train does not go until a quarter-past seven, we have more than an
+hour before us."
+
+"Besides which the trouble at Aschaffenburg will make the train another
+quarter of an hour late, if it does not stop it altogether."
+
+"The deuce it will!"
+
+"Will what I tell you fly away with my twenty florins?"
+
+"No; but go into Dettingen first of all. You are just my height, go and
+buy me a boatman's dress like yours. Complete, you know. Then come back,
+and I will tell you what remains to be done."
+
+The boatman jumped out of the boat and ran down the road to Dettingen. A
+quarter-of-an-hour later, he came back with the complete costume, which
+had cost ten florins. Benedict gave him that amount.
+
+"And now," asked the boatman, "what is to be done?"
+
+"Can you wait for me here three days with my uniform, my rifle, and my
+pistols? I will give you twenty florins."
+
+"Yes; but if at the end of three days you do not come back?"
+
+"The rifle, the pistols, and the uniform will be yours."
+
+"I will wait here eight days. Gentlemen must have time to settle their
+affairs."
+
+"You are a good fellow. What is your name?"
+
+"Fritz."
+
+"Very well, Fritz, goodbye!"
+
+In a few moments Benedict had put on the coat and trousers and covered
+his head with the boatman's cap. He walked a few steps and then stopped
+suddenly:
+
+"By the way, where will you stay at Dettingen?" he asked.
+
+"A boatman is like a snail, he carries his house on his back. You will
+find me in my boat."
+
+"Night and day?"
+
+"Night and day."
+
+"All is well then."
+
+And in his turn Benedict went towards Dettingen.
+
+Fritz had prophesied truly, the train was half an hour late. Indeed it
+was the last train which went through; hussars were sent to take up the
+rails; lest troops should be sent to Frankfort to help the allies.
+
+Benedict took a third-class ticket, as befitted his humble costume. The
+train only stopped at Manau for a few minutes, and arrived at Frankfort
+at a quarter to nine, scarcely ten minutes late.
+
+The station was full of people who had come to get news. Benedict passed
+through the crowd as quickly as possible, recognized M. Fellner,
+whispered in his ear "beaten," and went off in the direction of the
+Chandroz' house.
+
+He knocked at the door. Hans opened it. Helen was not in the house, but
+he went and asked for Emma. Helen was at the Church of Notre Dame de la
+Croix. Benedict asked the way there, and Hans, who thought he brought
+news of Karl, offered to show him. In five minutes they were there: Hans
+wished to go back, but Benedict kept him, in case there might be some
+order to be given. He left him in the porch and went in. One chapel was
+hit by the trembling light of a lamp. A woman was kneeling before the
+altar, or rather, crouching on the steps. This woman was Helen.
+
+The eleven o'clock train had brought the news that a battle would take
+place that day. At twelve o'clock Helen and her maid had taken a
+carriage, and driven by Hans had gone down the Aschaffenburg road as far
+as the Dornighem wood. There, in the country silence they had heard the
+sound of cannon. It is unnecessary to say that each shot had had an echo
+in her heart. Soon she could listen no longer to the sound which grew
+louder and louder. She went back to Frankfort, and got down at the
+Church of Notre Dame de la Croix, sending back Hans to ease the minds
+of her mother and sister. Hans had not dared to say where Helen was
+without the permission of the baroness.
+
+Helen had been praying since three o'clock. At the sound of Benedict's
+approach she turned. At first sight, and in his disguise, she did not
+recognize the young painter whom Frederic had wished her to marry, and
+took him for a Sachsenhausen fisherman.
+
+"Are you looking for me, my good man?" she said.
+
+"Yes," answered Benedict.
+
+"Then you are bringing me news of Karl?"
+
+"I was his companion in the fight."
+
+"He is dead!" cried Helen, wringing her hands with a sob, and glancing
+reproachfully at the statue of the Madonna. "He is dead! he is dead!"
+
+"I cannot tell you for certain that he is alive and not wounded. But I
+can tell you I do not know that he is dead."
+
+"You don't know?"
+
+"No, on my honour, I don't know."
+
+"Did he give you a message for me before you left him?"
+
+"Yes, these are his very words."
+
+"Oh, speak, speak!" And Helen clasped her hands and sank on a chair in
+front of Benedict as though before a sacred messenger. A message from
+those whom we love is always sacred.
+
+"Listen; he said to me: 'The day is lost. Fate has overtaken the house
+of Austria. I am going to kill myself because it is my duty.'"
+
+Helen groaned.
+
+"And I!" she murmured. "He did not think of me."
+
+"Wait." He went on, "But you who are not tied to our fortune; you, who
+are fighting as an amateur; you, who are French when all is said, and
+done, it would be folly for you to kill yourself for a cause which is
+not your own. Fight to the last moment, then when you know that all
+resistance is vain, get back to Frankfort, go to Helen, tell her that I
+am dead, if you have seen me die, or that I am in retreat for Darmstadt
+or Würtzburg with the remains of the army. If I live, I will write to
+her if I die, I die thinking of her. This is my heart's testament, I
+confide it to you.'"
+
+"Dear Karl! and then...?"
+
+"Twice we saw each other in the fray. On the bridge at Aschaffenburg,
+where he was slightly wounded in the forehead, then a quarter-of-an-hour
+later, between a little wood called Joli-Buisson and the village of
+Lieder."
+
+"And there?"
+
+"There he was surrounded by enemies, but he was still fighting."
+
+"My God!"
+
+"Then I thought of you.... The war is over. We were the last of
+Austria's vital powers, her last hope. Dead or alive, Karl is yours from
+this hour. Shall I go back to the battlefield? I will search until I get
+news of him. If he is dead, I will bring him back."
+
+Helen let a sob escape her.
+
+"If he is wounded, I will bring him back to you, recovered I assure
+you."
+
+Helen had seized Benedict by the arm, and looked fixedly at him.
+
+"You will go on to the battlefield?" she said.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And you will seek for him among the dead?"
+
+"Yes," said he, "until I find him."
+
+"I will go with you," said Helen.
+
+"You?" cried Benedict.
+
+"It is my duty. I recognize you now. You are Benedict Turpin, the French
+painter who fought with Frederic, and who spared his life."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then you are a friend and a man of honour. I can trust in you. Let us
+go."
+
+"Is that settled?"
+
+"It is settled."
+
+"Do you seriously wish it?"
+
+"I do wish it."
+
+"Very well, then, there is not an instant to lose."
+
+"How shall we go?"
+
+"The railways have been destroyed."
+
+"Hans will take us."
+
+"I have a better plan than that. Carriages can be broken, drivers can be
+forced. I have the right man, a man who would break all his carriages
+and lame all his horses for me."
+
+Benedict called, and Hans appeared.
+
+"Run to your brother Lenhart. Tell him to be here within ten minutes
+with his best carriage and horses, and wine and bread. As you pass the
+chemist's tell him to get bandages, lint, and strapping."
+
+"Oh, sir," said Hans, "I must write that down."
+
+"Very well, a carriage, two horses, bread and wine; you mustn't forget
+that. I will see to the rest. Go." Then, turning to Helen, "Will you
+tell your relatives?" asked Benedict.
+
+"Oh no!" she cried. "They would wish to prevent me from going. I am
+under the protection of the Virgin."
+
+"Pray then. I will come back here for you."
+
+Helen threw herself on her knees. Benedict went quickly out of the
+church. Ten minutes later he came back with all the necessary things
+for the dressing of wounds, and four torches.
+
+"Shall we take Hans?" asked Helen.
+
+"No, it must not be known where you are. If we bring back Karl wounded,
+a room must be ready for him, and a surgeon ready. Also, his arrival
+would cause agitation to your sister, scarcely well again, or to your
+grandmother, whose age must be taken into consideration."
+
+"What time shall we get back?"
+
+"I don't know, but we may be expected at four in the morning. You hear,
+Hans? And if they fear for your young mistress--"
+
+"You will answer," said Lenhart, "that they may be easy, because
+Benedict Turpin is with her."
+
+"You hear, dear Helen. I am ready when you are."
+
+"Let us go," she said, "and not lose a minute. My God! when I think that
+he may be there, perhaps lying on the earth under some tree or bush,
+bleeding from two or three wounds, and calling on me with his dying
+voice for help!" and in high agitation she went on: "I am coming, dear
+Karl, I am coming!"
+
+Lenhart whipped up his horses, and the carriage went off as quickly as
+the wind and as noisily as thunder.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+FRISK
+
+
+In less than an hour and a half they were in sight of Dettingen, which
+was the more easy to see because it appeared from afar as the centre of
+a vast fire. As they drew nearer, Benedict said that the light came from
+the camp fires. After the victory, the Prussians had pressed their
+outposts beyond the little town.
+
+Helen feared that they would not be allowed to continue their journey,
+but Benedict reassured her. The pity shown to the wounded, and the
+respect for the dead in all civilized countries, when once the battle is
+over, left him no doubt that Helen would be allowed to seek for her
+_fiancé_, dead or living, and that he would be allowed to aid her.
+
+In fact, the carriage was stopped at the outposts, and the chiefs of the
+watch could not take it upon themselves to let them pass, but said they
+must refer to General Sturm, who commanded the outposts.
+
+General Sturm had his quarters in the little village of Horstein, rather
+further on than Dettingen. Benedict was told where the house was, and
+went off at a gallop to make up for lost time. When he reached the house
+indicated, he found that General Sturm was away and that he would have
+to speak to the major.
+
+He went in, and an impatient voice called out, "wait a minute."
+
+Benedict had heard that voice before.
+
+"Frederic!" he cried.
+
+It was Baron Frederic von Bülow, whom the King of Prussia had made
+Staff-major to General Sturm. This rank was an advancement from
+brigade-general. Benedict explained that he was searching for Karl, who
+was dead or wounded on the field. Frederic would have liked to go with
+him, but he had work that must be done. He gave Benedict a permit to
+search the battlefield, and to take with him two Prussian soldiers as
+guards, and a surgeon.
+
+Benedict promised to send back the surgeon with news of the expedition,
+and went out to the carriage where Helen was waiting impatiently.
+
+"Well?" asked she.
+
+"I have got what we want," answered Benedict. Then in an undertone he
+said to Lenhart, "Go on twenty paces, then stop."
+
+He told Helen what had happened, and that if she wished to see her
+brother-in-law it would be easy to go back.
+
+Helen chafed at the very idea of seeing her brother-in-law. He would be
+sure to keep her from going among the dead and wounded, and the thieves
+who were on the battlefield to rob the dead.
+
+She thanked Benedict, and cried to Lenhart:
+
+"Drive on, please!"
+
+Lenhart whipped up his horses. They got back to Dettingen. Eleven
+o'clock struck as they entered the town. An immense fire was burning in
+the principal square. Benedict got down and went towards it. He went up
+to a captain who was walking up and down.
+
+"Excuse me, captain," he said, "but do you know Baron Frederic von
+Bülow?"
+
+The captain looked him up and down. It must be remembered that Benedict
+was still in his boatman's dress.
+
+"Yes," he answered, "I know him, and what then?"
+
+"Will you do him a great service?"
+
+"Willingly; he is my friend; but how came he to make you his messenger?"
+
+"He is at Horstein, and obliged to stay there by order of General
+Sturm."
+
+"He is very uneasy about a friend of his, who was killed or wounded on
+the field. He sent me and a comrade to search for this friend, the
+_fiancé_ of the lady whom you see in the carriage, and said: 'Take this
+note to the first Prussian officer you see. Tell him to read it, and I
+am sure he will have the kindness to give you what you ask for.'"
+
+The officer went to the fire, and read what follows:
+
+     "Order to the first Prussian officer whom my messenger meets, to
+     put at the disposal of the bearer two soldiers and a surgeon. The
+     two soldiers and the surgeon will follow the bearer wherever he
+     leads them.
+
+     "From the quarters of General Horstein, eleven at night:
+
+                           "By order, General Sturm.
+                              "Principal staff officer,
+                          "BARON FREDERIC VON BÃœLOW."
+
+
+
+Discipline and obedience are the two chief virtues of the Prussian army.
+These are what have made it the first army in Germany. The captain had
+hardly read his superior's order when he dropped the haughty look which
+he had assumed for the poor devil of a boatman.
+
+"Hullo," he called to the soldiers round the fire. "Two volunteers to
+serve the principal staff officer, Frederic von Bülow."
+
+Six men presented themselves.
+
+"That's good, you and you," said the captain, choosing two men.
+
+"Now who is the regiment's surgeon?"
+
+"Herr Ludwig Wiederschall," answered a voice.
+
+"Where is he billeted?"
+
+"Here in the square," answered the same voice.
+
+"Tell him he is to go on an expedition to Aschaffenburg to-night, by
+order of the staff officer."
+
+A soldier got up, went across the square and knocked at the door; a
+moment after he came back with the surgeon-major.
+
+Benedict thanked the captain. He answered that he was very happy to do
+anything for the Baron von Bülow.
+
+The surgeon was in a bad temper, because he had been roused out of his
+first sleep. But when he found himself face to face with a young lady,
+beautiful and in tears, he made his excuses for having kept her waiting,
+and was the first to hasten the departure.
+
+The carriage reached the bank of the river by a gentle slope. Several
+boats were anchored there. Benedict called in a loud voice:
+
+"Fritz!"
+
+At the second call a man stood up in a boat and said:
+
+"Here I am!"
+
+Benedict issued his orders.
+
+Every one took their places in the boat; the two soldiers in the prow,
+Fritz and Benedict at the oars, and the surgeon and Helen in the stern.
+A vigorous stroke sent the boat into the middle of the stream. It was
+less easy travelling now, they had to go against the current; but
+Benedict and Fritz were good and strong rowers. The boat went slowly
+over the surface of the water.
+
+They were far from Dettingen when they heard the clock strike midnight.
+They passed Kleim, Ostheim, Menaschoft, then Lieder, then Aschaffenburg.
+
+Benedict stopped a little below the bridge, it was there that he wished
+to begin his search. The torches were lit and carried by the soldiers.
+
+The battle had not been finished until dark; the wounded alone had been
+carried away, and the bridge was still strewn with dead, against whom
+one stumbled in the dark corners, and who could be seen by their white
+coats in the light ones.
+
+Karl, with his grey tunic, would have been easily recognized, if among
+Prussians and Austrians; but Benedict was too sure of having seen him
+below the bridge to waste time in seeking for him where he was not. They
+went down to the fields, strewn with clumps of trees, and at the end of
+which was the little wood called Joli-Buisson. The night was dark, with
+no moon, there were no stars, one would have said that the dust and
+smoke of battle was hanging between the earth and the sky. From time to
+time silent flashes of lightning lifted the horizon like an immense
+eyelid: a ray of wan light leapt out and lighted up the landscape for a
+second with bluish light. Suddenly all became dark again. Between the
+flashes, the only light which appeared on the left bank of the Main was
+that of the two torches carried by the Prussian soldiers, which made a
+circle of light a dozen paces across.
+
+Helen, white as a ghost, and gliding like a ghost over the unevennesses
+of the ground as if they were non-existent, walked in the middle of the
+circle with arms outstretched, saying. "There, there, there!" wherever
+she thought she saw motionless corpses lying. When they came near they
+found them to be corpses indeed, but recognized Prussians or Austrians
+by their uniforms.
+
+From time to time also, they saw something gliding between the trees,
+and heard steps hastening away; these were of some of the miserable
+robbers of the dead who follow a modern army as wolves used to follow
+ancient armies, and whom they disturbed in their infamous work.
+
+From time to time Benedict stopped the group with a gesture; a profound
+silence fell, and in this silence he cried: "Karl! Karl!"
+
+Helen with staring eyes and holding her breath, seemed like a statue of
+suspense. Nothing replied, and the little troop moved on.
+
+From time to time Helen also stopped, and automatically, under her
+breath, as if she was afraid of her own voice, called in her turn,
+"Karl! Karl! Karl!"
+
+They drew near the little wood and the corpses became fewer. Benedict
+made one of these pauses, followed by silence, and for the fifth or
+sixth time cried:
+
+"Karl!"
+
+This time, a lugubrious and prolonged cry replied, which sent a shudder
+through the heart of the bravest.
+
+"What is that cry?" asked the surgeon.
+
+"It is a dog, howling for some one's death," answered Fritz.
+
+"Can it be?" murmured Benedict. Then he went on, "Over here! over here!"
+directing them towards the voice of the dog.
+
+"My God!" cried Helen, "have you any hope?"
+
+"Perhaps, come, come!" and without waiting for the torches he ran ahead.
+When he came to the edge of the wood, he cried again:
+
+"Karl!"
+
+The same lugubrious, lamentable cry was heard, but nearer.
+
+"Come," said Benedict, "it is here!"
+
+Helen leapt over the ditch, entered the wood, and without thinking of
+her muslin dress which was being torn to rags, she pushed on through the
+bushes and thorns. The torch-bearers had been thoughtful enough to
+follow. There in the wood they heard the sound of the robbers fleeing.
+Benedict signed a halt in order to give them time to escape. Then all
+was silent again he called a third time:
+
+"Karl!"
+
+This time a howl, as lamentable as the two first, answered, but so close
+to them that all hearts beat quickly. The men recoiled a step. The
+boatman pointed.
+
+"A wolf!" said he.
+
+"Where?" asked Benedict.
+
+"There," said Fritz pointing. "Don't you see his eyes shining in the
+dark like two coals?"
+
+At that moment a flash of lightning penetrated the trees, and showed
+distinctly a dog sitting beside a motionless body.
+
+"Here, Frisk!" cried Benedict.
+
+The dog made one bound to his master's neck and licked his face; then
+again, taking his place beside the corpse, he howled more lamentably
+than ever.
+
+"Karl is there!" said Benedict.
+
+Helen sprang forward, for she understood it all.
+
+"But he is dead!" continued Benedict.
+
+Helen cried out and fell on Karl's body.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+THE WOUNDED MAN
+
+
+The torchbearers had come up and a group, picturesque and terrible, was
+formed, by the bright light of the burning resin. Karl had not been
+plundered like the other corpses, the dog had guarded his body and
+prevented this. Helen was stretched upon him, her lips to his, weeping
+and groaning. Benedict was on his knees beside her, with the dog's paws
+on his shoulders. The surgeon stood, his arms folded, like a man
+accustomed to death and its sadness. Fritz had thrust his head through
+the leaves of a thorn-tree. Every one was silent and motionless for a
+moment.
+
+Suddenly Helen cried out, she sprang up, covered with Karl's blood, her
+face haggard and her hair wild. They all looked at her.
+
+"Ah!" she cried. "I am going mad." Then, falling on her knees, "Karl!
+Karl! Karl!" she cried.
+
+"What is it?" asked Benedict.
+
+"Oh! have pity on me," said Helen. "But I thought I felt a breath on my
+face. Did he wait for me, to give his last sigh?"
+
+"Excuse me, madam," said the surgeon, "but if he whom you call Karl is
+not dead, there is no time to be lost in looking to him."
+
+"Oh! come and look, sir," said Helen, moving quickly to one side.
+
+The surgeon knelt down, the soldiers brought the torches near, and
+Karl's pale, but still handsome face was seen. A wound in his head had
+covered his left cheek with blood, and he would have been unrecognizable
+if the dog had not licked the blood away from his face as it flowed.
+
+The surgeon loosened his collar; then he raised him to undo his tunic.
+The wound was terrible, for the back of his tunic was red with blood.
+The surgeon undid his coat, and with the swiftness of habit cut his coat
+up the back; then he called for water.
+
+"Water," repeated Helen in an automatic voice that sounded like an echo.
+
+The river was only fifty paces away, Fritz ran to it and brought back
+the wooden shoe, with which he was accustomed to bail out the boat, full
+of water. Helen gave her handkerchief.
+
+The surgeon dipped into the water and began to wash the wounded man's
+chest, while Benedict supported his body across his knees. It was only
+then that they saw a clot of blood on his arm, this was a third wound.
+That on his head was insignificant. That in his chest seemed the most
+serious at first, but an artery had been cut in his right arm, and the
+great loss of blood had led to a fainting fit during which the blood had
+ceased to flow.
+
+Helen, during this sad examination, had not ceased asking.
+
+"Is he dead? is he dead?"
+
+"We are going to see," said the surgeon. And on examination it proved
+that his blood still flowed. Karl was not dead.
+
+"He lives!" said the surgeon.
+
+Helen cried out and fell on her knees.
+
+"What must we do to bring him to life?" she asked.
+
+"The artery must be tied," said the surgeon, "will you let me take him
+to the ambulance?"
+
+"Oh, no, no!" cried Helen. "I cannot be parted from him. Do you think he
+will bear being taken to Frankfort?"
+
+"By water, yes. And I confess to you that considering the interest you
+take in this young man, I would rather some one else performed this
+operation. Now, if you have any way of taking him quickly by water--"
+
+"I have my boat," said Fritz, "and if this gentleman" (he pointed to
+Benedict) "will give me a helping hand we will be in Frankfort in three
+hours."
+
+"It remains to be seen," said the surgeon, "considering his great loss
+of blood, whether he will live three hours."
+
+"My God, my God!" cried Helen.
+
+"I don't dare to ask you to look, madam, but the earth is soaked with
+his blood!"
+
+Helen gave a cry of dismay, and put her hand before her eyes.
+
+While talking, while reassuring, while frightening Helen with the
+terrible cold-bloodedness of a man used to death, the surgeon was
+binding up the wound in Karl's chest.
+
+"You say you fear that he has lost too much blood? How much blood can
+one lose without dying?" asked Helen.
+
+"It depends, madam."
+
+"What have I to fear or hope for?" asked Helen.
+
+"You have to hope that he will live to reach Frankfort, that he has not
+lost as much blood as I fear he has, and that a clever surgeon will tie
+up the artery. You have to fear that he will have a second hæmorrhage
+to-day, or in eight or ten days, when the wound is healed."
+
+"But we can save him, can't we?"
+
+"Nature has so many resources, that we must always hope, madam."
+
+"Well," said Helen, "do not let us lose an instant."
+
+Benedict and the surgeon took the torches, the two soldiers carried the
+wounded man to the bank. They laid him in the stern of the boat on a
+mattress and blanket fetched from Aschaffenburg.
+
+"May I try to rouse him?" asked Helen, "or ought I to leave him in his
+present state?"
+
+"Do not do anything to bring him back to consciousness, madam it is this
+which stops the hæmorrhage, and if the artery is tied before he wakes,
+all may be well."
+
+They all took their places in the boat, the two Prussians stood holding
+the torches; Helen was kneeling, the surgeon supported the wounded man;
+Benedict and Fritz rowed. Frisk, who did not seem to feel pride in
+having played such a splendid part, was sitting in the prow. This time,
+well ballasted, pulled by four arms, vigorous and accustomed to the
+exercise, the boat sped like a swallow over the surface of the water.
+
+Karl remained unconscious. The doctor had thought that the air, cooler
+on the water than on the land, would rouse him, but it did not. He
+remained motionless, and gave no sign of life.
+
+They arrived at Dettingen. Benedict gave a handsome reward to the two
+Prussian soldiers, and asked the surgeon, whom Helen could only thank by
+pressing his hands, to tell Frederic all the details of the expedition.
+
+Benedict called Lenhart, who was sleeping on the box of his carriage,
+and told him to go to Frankfort as fast as possible, and tell some
+porters to wait with a litter on the banks of the Main at Frankfort. As
+for him, with Helen and Earl, he continued his journey by water, that
+being the smoothest road that one can find for a sick man.
+
+Towards Hanau the sky began to get light; a great band of rosy silver
+stretched itself above the Bavarian mountains.
+
+It seemed to Helen that the wounded man shuddered. She gave a cry that
+made the two rowers turn, then without another movement, Karl opened his
+eyes, murmured the name of Helen, and closed them again. All this was so
+rapid, that if Fritz and Benedict had not seen it with her, she would
+have doubted it. That opened eye, that gently murmured word did not seem
+a return to life, but the dream of a dying man.
+
+The sun in rising sometimes has this effect on the dying, and before
+closing for ever their eyes look for the last time upon the sun. This
+idea came to Helen.
+
+"Oh, Heaven!" she murmured, with sobs. "Is he breathing his last sigh?"
+
+Benedict left the oar for a moment and went to Karl. He took his hand,
+felt his pulse; and found it imperceptible. He listened to his heart; it
+seemed to be still.
+
+At each test Helen murmured: "Oh, Heaven!"
+
+At the last test he shared her doubts. He took out a lancet, which he
+always carried, and pricked the shoulder of the wounded man, who did not
+feel or move; but a feeble drop of blood appeared.
+
+"Be of good courage, he is still alive," he said, and again took up his
+oar.
+
+Helen began to pray.
+
+Since the evening, no one had eaten but Fritz. Benedict broke a piece of
+bread and gave it to Helen. She refused it with a smile.
+
+They reached Offenbach, and could see Frankfort in the distance
+silhouetted against the sky. They were due there at about eight o'clock.
+At eight o'clock, in fact, the boat stopped at the landing-place by the
+bridge. Soon they saw Lenhart and his carriage, and close to him a
+litter. They raised the wounded man with the same precautions as before,
+put him in the litter, and drew the curtains round him.
+
+Benedict wished Helen to go in Lenhart's carriage; the bodice of her
+dress was stained with blood. She wrapped herself in a large shawl and
+walked beside the litter. To save time she asked Benedict to go and seek
+for the same doctor who had attended the Baron von Bülow, Doctor
+Bodemacker. She herself crossed all the town from the Sachsenhausen
+Strasse to her mother's house, following the litter which bore Karl.
+People watched her pass with astonishment, and went to question Fritz
+who walked behind. And when he said it was a _fiancée_ who was following
+the body of her lover, and as every one knew that Fräulein Helen von
+Chandroz was engaged to Count Karl von Freyberg, they recognized the
+beautiful young lady, and stepped back bowing respectfully.
+
+When they reached the house the door was already open. Her grandmother
+and sister were waiting on each side of the door, and as she passed
+Helen took a hand of each.
+
+"To my room!" she said.
+
+The wounded man was taken to her room and laid on her bed. At that
+moment Doctor Bodemacker arrived with Benedict.
+
+The doctor examined Karl, and Benedict looked on with anxiety almost
+equal to Helen's.
+
+"Who saw this man before me?" asked, the doctor. "Who bound his
+wounds?"
+
+"A regimental surgeon," answered Helen.
+
+"Why did he not tie the artery?"
+
+"It was at night, by torchlight, in the open air; he did not dare. He
+told me to get a cleverer man, and I came to you."
+
+The surgeon looked at Karl uneasily. "He has lost a quarter of his
+blood," he murmured.
+
+"Well?" asked Helen.
+
+The doctor bent his head.
+
+"Doctor," cried Helen, "don't tell me there is no hope: it is always
+said that people quickly recover lost blood."
+
+"Yes," replied the doctor, "when he can eat. But never mind, a doctor
+must do all he can. Can you help me?" he asked Benedict.
+
+"Yes," he answered, "I have some idea of surgery."
+
+"You will leave the room, won't you?" the surgeon asked Helen.
+
+"Not for the world!" she cried, "no, no, I will stay to the end."
+
+The operation on the arm was finished with a cleverness which astonished
+Benedict.
+
+"Now," said the doctor, "ice water must be slowly dropped on that arm!"
+
+Some ice was procured and in five minutes was upon the arm.
+
+"Now," said the doctor, "we shall see."
+
+"What shall we see?" asked Helen anxiously.
+
+"We shall see the effect of the ice water."
+
+All three were standing by the bed, and it would be difficult to say
+which was the most interested in its success: the doctor, from
+professional pride; Helen, from her great love of the wounded man; or
+Benedict, from his friendship with Karl and Helen.
+
+At the first drops of ice water which fell on the arm, Karl shuddered
+visibly. Then his eyelids trembled, his eyes opened, and he looked round
+him with surprise until they became fixed on Helen. A faint smile
+appeared on his lips and the corners of his eyes. He tried to speak and
+breathed the name of Helen.
+
+"He must not speak," said the doctor, "until to-morrow at least."
+
+"Enough, my beloved," said Helen. "To-morrow you can tell me you love
+me."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+THE PRUSSIANS AT FRANKFORT
+
+
+In Frankfort all was sorrow and dismay at the news of the defeat. The
+inhabitants were deeply apprehensive of their treatment by the Prussians
+since seeing what had occurred in Hanover. On the evening of the battle,
+as we have said, the news of the disaster had reached Frankfort, and
+from the next day, the 15th, the conviction that its occupation would be
+immediate had cast an aspect of mourning over the town. Not a single
+person was to be seen on the fashionable promenade. The Prussians, so it
+was said, would make their entry on the 16th after midday.
+
+Night came, and with it a strange solitude in the streets, where, if one
+met a wayfarer it was evident from his hurry that he was on urgent
+business, carrying perhaps jewels or valuables for deposit at one of the
+foreign legations. At an early hour the houses had been shut up. Behind
+the bolted doors and windows one guessed that the inmates were silently
+digging holes for the concealment of their treasures.
+
+Morning came and everywhere might be seen affixed placards of the
+Senate, reading as follows:
+
+"The King of Prussia's royal troops will make their entry into Frankfort
+and its suburbs; our relations with them will therefore be materially
+changed from what they were when they were in garrison here. The Senate
+deplores this change which has been brought about in the relations in
+question, but the national sacrifices we have already made will render
+our inevitable pecuniary losses easy in comparison with what we have
+already lost. We all know that the discipline of the King of Prussia's
+troops is admirable. In circumstances of great difficulty the Senate
+exhorts all alike, of whatever rank or position, to give a friendly
+reception to the Prussian troops."
+
+The Frankfort battalion received orders to hold itself ready, with band
+in front, to march out and meet the Prussians and do them honour. From
+ten o'clock in the morning every advantageous spot, all the belfries and
+housetops from which the suburbs, and particularly the road from
+Aschaffenburg could be seen, were crowded with curious spectators.
+Towards noon the Prussians were descried at Hanau. The railway brought
+them by thousands and they were seen occupying as if by magic all the
+strategic points along the line, not without certain precautions which
+indicated their uneasiness as to what might portend.
+
+Nothing occurred, however, until four o'clock. Then successive trains
+left Hanau bearing the victorious army and rolled up to the town gates
+until seven o'clock. It was clear that General Falkenstein now waited
+the submission of the municipality, perhaps believing that the keys of
+the town would be brought him on a silver salver. He waited in vain.
+
+All was silence. None of the inhabitants moved and the Prussian
+soldiers, prominent among whom were the cuirassiers who had charged so
+vigorously in the battle, seemed spectres in their great cloaks and
+steel helmets. In the evening the Zeil is ever a melancholy place. On
+this occasion how sad it looked, despair seemed inextricably
+intermingled with its brooding shadows, in which stood out like a
+squadron of phantoms the Prussian cuirassiers. Now and again the
+trumpets sounded sinister fanfares.
+
+The fact that the Prussians were Germans was completely forgotten; their
+attitude clearly showed that they were enemies.
+
+Suddenly the music of the battalion of Frankfort broke out, coming from
+the further side of the town. It met the Prussians at the top of the
+Zeil, drew up in ranks and presented arms to the beating of the drums.
+
+The Prussians did not appear to notice these friendly advances. Two
+cannons arrived at a gallop. One was trained on the Zeil, the other on
+the Ross-market. The head of the Prussian column was formed on the
+Schiller Square and commanded the Zeil: for a quarter-of-an-hour the
+cavalry remained in line on horseback, then they dismounted and stood
+awaiting orders. This kind of encampment during which expectation grew
+tenser lasted until eleven. Then, all at once as the clocks struck,
+groups of ten, fifteen, or twenty men detached themselves, struck on the
+doors and invaded the houses.
+
+No order had been given in the town for the provision of rations and
+wine. So the Prussians, treating Frankfort as a conquered world, chose
+the most comfortable houses in which to establish themselves.
+
+The battalion remained a quarter-of-an-hour presenting arms; after which
+the commanding officer ordered muskets to be grounded. The band
+continued to play. It was ordered to cease.
+
+After two hours, as no word had been exchanged between the battalion and
+the Prussian army, the former received the order to retire, arms lowered
+as for a funeral. It was the funeral of Frankfort's liberty.
+
+The whole night passed in the same terrors as if the town had been taken
+by assault. If doors opened slowly, they were broken; cries of terror
+were heard in the houses and no one dared to ask what caused them. As
+the house of Hermann Mumm appeared one of the most important, he had to
+lodge and board two hundred soldiers and fifteen officers this first
+night. Another house, that of Madame Luttereth, lodged fifty men, who
+amused themselves with breaking the windows and furniture, on the
+alleged pretext that she had given evening parties and balls without
+inviting the Prussian officers in garrison. Accusations of this kind,
+accusations which served as the pretext for unheard of violence were
+preferred against all classes of society. And the Prussian officers said
+to their men: "You have a right to get all you can from these Frankfort
+rascals, who have lent Austria twenty-five millions without charging
+interest."
+
+It was vain to say that the town had never had twenty-five millions in
+its coffers; that had it had them such a loan could not have been made
+without a decree of the Senate and the Legislature, and that the most
+skilful investigator would fail to find a trace of such a decree. The
+officers persisted, and, as the soldiers had no need to be encouraged in
+a preliminary pillage while waiting the great day of plunder which had
+been promised them, they gave themselves up to the most brutal
+disorders, believing themselves authorized by the hatred of their chiefs
+towards the unhappy town. From this night commenced what was rightly
+called _the Prussian Terror at Frankfort_.
+
+Frederic von Bülow, who knew of the orders to treat Frankfort as a
+hostile city, had had a guard placed at the Chandroz' house to secure
+the safety of the family, his pretext being that it had been reserved
+for General Sturm and his staff.
+
+Daylight dawned and presently, few having slept, all the world was
+abroad, lamenting their misfortune and enquiring about those suffered by
+their friends. Then came the billstickers slowly and unwillingly, like
+men under constraint, fixing up the following notice:
+
+
+     "Authority having been given me over the Duchy of Nassau, the town
+     of Frankfort and its suburbs, as also over that part of Bavaria
+     which is occupied by the Prussian troops and over the Grand-duchy
+     of Hesse, all workmen and functionaries will in future take orders
+     from me. These orders will be duly and formally communicated.
+
+     "Dated at Frankfort, July 16th, 1866,
+
+    "The Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Main,
+           "Falkenstein."
+
+
+
+Two hours later the general addressed a note to the Deputies Fellner and
+Müller, in which he stated that as armies at war could procure what they
+had need of in the enemy's country, the town of Frankfort would furnish
+to the army of the Main:
+
+"1. For each soldier a pair of boots to sample.
+
+"2. Three hundred good horses ready saddled to replace those lost by the
+army.
+
+"3. The pay of the army for a year to be sent instantly to the army
+treasurer."
+
+By way of recompense the town was to be freed from all imposts, except
+cigars, the general engaging furthermore to reduce the burden of the
+military billeting as much as possible.
+
+The total claimed for army pay was 7,747,008 florins.
+
+The two members hastened to General Falkenstein's headquarters, and were
+admitted to him. His first words were:
+
+"Well, sirs, have you brought my money?"
+
+"We beg leave to submit to your Excellency," said Fellner, "that we
+have no authority to decree payment of such a sum, as the government of
+the town having been dissolved, its consent cannot be obtained."
+
+"That does not concern me," said the general, "I have conquered the
+country and I raise an indemnity. It is perfectly regular."
+
+"Will you allow me to say to your Excellency that a town which does not
+defend itself cannot be conquered. Frankfort, a free town, relies for
+its defence on its treaties, and has never thought of opposing your
+army."
+
+"Frankfort has found twenty-four millions for the Austrians," cried the
+general, "and can easily find fifteen or eighteen for us. But if it
+refuses, I myself will find them. Four hours only of pillage and we
+shall see if your street of the Jews and the coffers of your bankers do
+not produce twice as much."
+
+"I doubt, general," said Fellner coldly, "whether Germans can be got to
+treat Germans in such a way."
+
+"Who speaks of Germans? I have a Polish regiment brought expressly."
+
+"We have done no harm to the Poles; we have afforded them a refuge
+against you whenever they required it. The Poles are not our enemies;
+the Poles will not pillage Frankfort."
+
+"That is just what we are going to see," said the general, stamping his
+foot with one of those oaths of which the Prussians enjoy the monopoly.
+"I don't care a damn if I am called a second Duke of Alva, and I warn
+you that if at six o'clock to-day the money is not paid, you will be
+arrested to-morrow and thrown into a dungeon, which you will leave only
+when the last thaler of the 7,747,008 florins is paid."
+
+"We know your first minister's maxim, 'Might is right.' Dispose of us as
+you wish," answered Fellner.
+
+"At five o'clock, the men whom I shall order to receive the seven
+million florins will be at the door of the bank, in readiness to
+transport the money to my headquarters." Then he added so that the
+burgomaster could hear the orders: "Arrest and bring before me, the
+Journalist Fischer, editor in chief of the 'Post Zeitung.' I shall
+commence with him in dealing with the newspaper men and the newspapers."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Two hours later Fischer was arrested in his house where, after a
+communication from Fellner he had remained in expectation of the event,
+and brought to headquarters. General Falkenstein had contrived to keep
+himself at boiling point, so the moment he saw Fischer:
+
+"Let him enter," he said, in the third person, which in Germany is the
+sign of the most profound contempt. And, as Fischer did not enter as
+quickly as the general wished, he cried: "A thousand thunders! if he
+hangs back, shove him in."
+
+"Here I am," said Fischer; "forewarned of your intention I could have
+left Frankfort, but it is my custom to face danger."
+
+"Oh! so you knew that you would be in danger, Mr. Pocket-pen, when you
+reached me."
+
+"An unarmed man is always in danger from a powerful armed enemy."
+
+"You consider me your enemy, then?"
+
+"The indemnity you have exacted from Frankfort and your threats against
+Herr Fellner are not those of a friend, you will allow."
+
+"Oh! you have no need to await my threats and orders to declare yourself
+my enemy. We know your paper, and it is because we know it that you are
+going to sign the following declaration. Sit down there, take a pen, and
+write."
+
+"I take a pen; but, before using it, what are you about to dictate?"
+
+"You want to know? Well, here it is. I, Dr. Fischer Goullet, Councillor
+of State, editor in chief.... But you are not writing."
+
+"Finish your sentence, sir, and if I decide to write I will do so."
+
+"Editor-in-chief of the 'Post Zeitung,' acknowledge myself guilty of
+systematic and calumnious hostility towards the Prussian Government."
+
+Fischer threw down the pen.
+
+"I will never write that, sir," said he; "it is false."
+
+"Tempests and thunders!" cried the general, making a step towards him.
+"You give me the lie."
+
+Fischer took a newspaper from his pocket.
+
+"This will inform you better than I can, sir," he said; "it is the last
+issue of my paper published an hour before your entry here. This is what
+I wrote in it:
+
+     "'The history of the days which are to come is written at the point
+     of the bayonet. It is not for the citizens of Frankfort to change
+     anything. For the population of a small and weak state there is
+     nothing else to do but to succour the combatants, whether friends
+     or enemies: they must dress wounds, nurse the sick, exercise
+     charity towards all. Right behaviour is as much the duty of every
+     one as obedience towards the responsible authority.'"
+
+Then, seeing the general shrugging his shoulders, Fischer in his turn
+took a step forward and holding out his paper:
+
+"Read yourself, if you doubt me," said he.
+
+The general tore it from his hands.
+
+"You wrote that yesterday," he said white with rage, "because yesterday
+you felt us coming, because, yesterday, you were afraid of us." And
+tearing up the newspaper he crushed it into a ball and threw it in the
+Councillor's face, shouting; "You are a coward."
+
+Fischer threw a wild glance around him as if for a weapon with which to
+avenge this insult; then with his hand to his forehead he staggered,
+turned round with a strangled cry and fell in a heap, killed by the
+bursting of a blood vessel in the brain.
+
+The general went to him, pushed him with his foot, and seeing that he
+was dead:
+
+"Throw this rascal into a corner," said he to his soldiers, "until his
+family comes to fetch him."
+
+The soldiers dragged the corpse into a corner of the ante-room.
+
+Meanwhile, Fellner, fearing that harm would befall his friend, had run
+to Hannibal Fischer, the journalist's father, and had told him of the
+general's orders. Hannibal Fischer was an old man of eighty, he went to
+the headquarters and asked for his son. The son had been seen going up
+to the first floor where General Falkenstein held his audiences, but no
+one had seen him leave. The old man went up and asked for the general.
+He had gone to lunch and his door was closed.
+
+"Sit down there," said some one, "he may return."
+
+"Cannot you tell him that it is a father who claims his son?"
+
+"What on?" asked one of the soldiers.
+
+"My son, Councillor Fischer, who was arrested this morning."
+
+"Why, it is the father," said the soldier to his comrade.
+
+"If he wants his son, let him take him," said the other.
+
+"How, take him?" said the old man, bewildered.
+
+"Certainly," answered the soldier. "There he is waiting for you." And
+he pointed to the corpse in the corner.
+
+The father approached the body, knelt on one knee and raised his son's
+head.
+
+"Then they have killed him?" he asked the soldiers.
+
+"No, indeed, he died of his own accord."
+
+The father kissed the corpse on the forehead.
+
+"These are unhappy days," he said, "in which fathers bury their
+children."
+
+Then he went down, called a street porter, sent him for three of his
+mates, mounted again to the ante-chamber and showing them the body:
+
+"Take my son," he said, "and bear him to my house." The men took the
+body on their shoulders and bore him to a barrow. The father walked
+before it bare-headed and pale, his eyes bathed in tears; and to all who
+questioned him about this strange procession, carrying a dead man
+through the town without a priest, replied: "It is my son, Councillor
+Fischer, whom the Prussians have killed." And thus the news spread over
+Frankfort.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+GENERAL MANTEUFFEL'S THREATS
+
+
+At five o'clock in the afternoon of July 17th, as the general had said,
+he sent to the bank a squad of eight men under the command of a
+sergeant-major, accompanied by two men with wheel-barrows for the seven
+million florins. His notion of the weight of the coin, which in gold
+would amount to more than fifty tons, must have been a curious one.
+Seeing his men return without the money, General Falkenstein declared
+that if it were not forthcoming the next day he would permit pillage and
+bombardment. Meanwhile the members Bernus and Speltz were arrested and
+conducted to the guard-room, when, having left them in view behind the
+bars for two hours to convince every one of his power over the town
+authorities, he sent them off to Cologne with four soldiers and a letter
+for the governor.
+
+This act of brutality had its effect. It alarmed a great many
+influential people who went to find the bank manager and urge him to
+advance the seven millions demanded. The directors of the bank gave way
+and the money was paid to the last florin on July 19th.
+
+The same day the city battalion was disbanded in the presence of the
+Prussian Colonel von der Goltz. The soldiers had not expected this, and
+some of the oldest of them shed tears.
+
+At the same time, the Prussians took their fill of the townspeople's
+horses. They requisitioned seven hundred, including two little ponies of
+Madame de Rothschild. The carriages were then seized, and if a lady
+happened to take a cab she was obliged when she met an officer in search
+of one, to get out in the mud and leave him to take her place.
+
+Two orders were circulated. The first enjoined the presentation at the
+police station every morning, before eight o'clock, of a list of all
+travellers who had arrived in the hotels and boarding-houses.
+
+Many societies formed for divers purposes such as gymnastics, education,
+and the like, were called before the commander-in-chief and dissolved.
+Such of them as had for object military exercises were invited to
+deposit their arms. Finally the general addressed to the presidents of
+the societies some kindly words upon the necessity of the measures
+taken, and upon the actual situation in general. You ask me how kindly
+words could be uttered by M. de Falkenstein. Reassure yourself, the
+illustrious general had not altered his habits. Having received his
+millions at two o'clock he had at once left Frankfort. General Wranzel
+acted as his deputy for two or three hours and showed a smiling face
+between two morose ones, for at five o'clock, General Manteuffel
+arrived. He at once issued the following order:
+
+     "To assure the subsistence of the Prussian troops a storehouse will
+     be at once established in this town of Frankfort-on-the-Main, by
+     order of His Excellency the Lieutenant-General Manteuffel,
+     commander-in-chief of the army of the Main. It will be provisioned
+     as follows:
+
+  15.000 loaves of bread of 5 lbs. 9 ozs.
+   1,480 hundredweight of sea biscuits.
+     600      "        of beef.
+     800      "        of smoked bacon.
+     450      "        of rice.
+     450      "        of coffee.
+     100      "        of salt.
+   5,000      "        of hay.
+
+     "A third part of these quantities is to be placed at our disposal
+     in convenient places between now and the morning of the 21st. The
+     second third on the 21st in the evening, and the last third on July
+     22nd at the latest.
+
+     "Frankfort, July 20th, 1866.
+
+     "The Military Superintendent of the army of the Main.
+
+                         "KASUISKIL"
+
+
+
+The unhappy townspeople had believed themselves free from these imposts
+according to General Falkenstein's promise--except, indeed, as regards
+cigars, of which both the Prussian officers and men required nine
+provided each day.
+
+The next day, while at breakfast with his family towards ten o'clock,
+Fellner received a letter from the new commander. It was addressed: "To
+the Very Illustrious Herren Fellner and Müller, proxies of the town of
+Frankfort." He turned it and turned it about between his hands without
+unsealing it. Madame Fellner trembled, Herr Kugler, his brother-in-law,
+grew pale, and seeing the drops of perspiration on their father's
+forehead as he sighed deeply, the children began to cry. At last he
+opened it, but seeing his pallor as he read, all rose to their feet
+awaiting his first words. But he said nothing, he let his head fall on
+his breast and dropped the letter on the floor. His brother-in-law
+picked it up and read:
+
+     "To the Very Illustrious Herren Fellner and Müller, proxies of the
+     government in this town.
+
+     "You are invited by these presents to take the necessary measures
+     for a war indemnity of twenty-five millions of florins to be paid
+     within twenty-four hours to the pay office of the Army of the Main
+     in this town.
+
+     "The Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Main,
+
+                         "MANTEUFFEL"
+
+
+
+"Oh!" murmured Fellner, "my poor Fischer, you are fortunate."
+
+
+Within two hours bills which Messrs. Fellner and Müller had had printed
+were posted all over the town. They consisted of General Manteuffel's
+letter to them with this addition:
+
+"The Burgomasters Fellner and Müller declare that they will die rather
+than assist in the spoliation of their fellow citizens."
+
+The blow to the city was the more terrible because it was entirely
+unexpected. The city had just paid more than six millions of florins,
+had contributed in goods an equivalent sum, and was billeting soldiers
+at a crushing expense. Some had ten, others twenty, thirty, or even
+fifty soldiers. General Falkenstein had prescribed the soldiers' rations
+as for the officers, they were entitled to anything they asked for. A
+soldier's daily rations comprised, coffee and accessories in the
+morning; a pound of meat, vegetables, bread, and half a bottle of wine
+at noon; a collation with a pint of beer in the evening, in addition
+eight cigars. These cigars had to be specially bought from the dealers
+coming with the army. Usually the soldiers demanded and got an extra
+meal at ten in the morning of bread-and-butter and brandy, and after
+lunch they got coffee. The sergeant-majors had to be treated like
+officers, being provided with roast meat and a bottle of wine at dinner,
+with coffee to follow. Havana cigars, eight in number, were insisted on.
+
+The citizens dared not complain, for the soldiers whatever they did were
+always found to be in the right. But when they heard of this new
+exaction of General Manteuffel, used as they were to theft and rapine on
+the part of the Prussians, the Frankfortians, mute with astonishment,
+looked at each other, not being able to grasp the extent of their
+misfortune. As soon as the news was actually billed they rushed in
+crowds to see it with their own eyes. Hours were spent in deploring the
+enemy's greed, but nothing was done towards obeying the order.
+Meanwhile, some of the chief citizens, M. de Rothschild among them, had
+gone to seek General Manteuffel. In reply to their observations he said:
+
+"To-morrow my cannon will be trained upon all the chief points of the
+town, and if in three days I have not half of the contribution, and the
+rest in six, I double it."
+
+"General," answered M. de Rothschild, "you know the range of your
+cannons I do not doubt, but you do not know that of the measures you are
+taking--if you ruin Frankfort, you ruin the neighbouring provinces."
+
+"Very well, gentlemen," answered Manteuffel, "the contribution, or
+pillage and bombardment."
+
+In spite of the intervention of the foreign legations, those of France,
+Russia, England, Spain, and Belgium, on July 23rd, masses of troops were
+put in movement with loaded cannon. These were ranged on the chief
+spaces in the town. At the same time batteries were established on the
+Muhlberger and the Roederberg, as also on the left bank of the Main.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+GENERAL STURM
+
+
+Brigadier-General Roeder, who had replaced General Manteuffel, had
+brought with him General Sturm and his brigade. Baron von Bülow was the
+principal staff officer of this brigade, and, as we have related, on the
+day the Prussians entered Frankfort he had safeguarded the Chandroz
+family, by placing four men and a serjeant-major in their house. The
+serjeant-major bore a letter for Madame von Beling, informing her why
+she was thus garrisoned and urging her to prepare the best rooms on her
+first floor for General Sturm and his suite. Madame von Beling acted on
+these instructions, and the men had better rations and cigars supplied
+to them than if the municipality had catered for them.
+
+After the surgeon's departure Karl lay still unconscious, but his
+breathing gradually became more perceptible. Towards evening he uttered
+a sigh, opened his eyes, and by a slight movement of his left hand
+seemed to beckon Helen. She rushed to him, seized his hand and placed
+her lips upon it. Benedict wished her to retire, promising to watch over
+Karl, but Helen refused, saying that no one but herself should nurse
+him.
+
+Benedict being desirous of ridding himself of the sailor's clothes in
+which he had descended the river before General Sturm arrived, and
+having no other suit, left the house to get a new outfit. Lenhart was at
+the front door with his carriage and, driving to the port, he soon found
+Fritz and his boat. There was his uniform, with his pistols and carbine.
+He took them and put them in the carriage. Frisk, who had spent the day
+incessantly watching for his master, joyfully jumped in. Benedict gave
+Fritz twenty florins and sent him back to Aschaffenburg. Then Lenhart
+took him to a tailor where he had no difficulty in obtaining an outfit.
+Next he took a bath. He had fought during the whole of the 14th and had
+not closed his eyes during thirty-six hours, so he found it refreshing.
+Afterwards he allowed Lenhart to take him to his own house, and there he
+got between the sheets.
+
+When he awoke it was ten o'clock; he had slept for six hours. He rushed
+to the Chandrozes. He found Helen as he had left her kneeling by Karl's
+bed. She raised her head and smiled. She also had not slept for thirty
+hours, but the devotion of women knows no bounds. Nature has intended
+them for sisters of charity. Love is as strong as life itself.
+
+Karl seemed to sleep; it was evident that, as no blood flowed to it, the
+brain was in a state of torpor; but every time a spoonful of syrup of
+digitalis was placed in his mouth he absorbed it better. Benedict's work
+was to renew the ice which dripped upon the arm, washing the wound made
+first by the cuirassier's sabre and then by the doctor's lancet.
+
+Towards eight in the morning Emma came into the room for news of the
+wounded man. She found Helen asking Benedict for more ice. He was an
+entire stranger to Emma, but by a flash of intuition she guessed him to
+be the man who had spared her husband's life. She was thanking him when
+Hans came to announce Fellner. The worthy man was afraid that the
+Prussians would break into the house, and came to offer his services.
+
+While they were talking, Frederic arrived with the news that his general
+was only five minutes behind him.
+
+Nothing can describe Emma's joy and happiness in seeing Frederic. The
+war was nearly over, rumours of peace became stronger, her Frederic was
+then out of danger. Love is egoistic, scarcely had she thought of what
+was happening in the city; the entry of the Prussians, their exactions,
+their imposts, their brutalities, the death of Herr Fischer; all these
+seemed vague--a letter from Frederic had been the important event.
+Frederic: it was he whom she embraced. He was safe and sound, unwounded,
+and no longer in danger. Keenly interested as she was in her sister and
+Karl and their mutual love, she felt how fortunate Frederic was that he
+was not Karl.
+
+Frederic went up to Karl, who recognized him and smiled.
+
+While General Sturm ate a splendid dinner, Frederic, to whom Benedict
+had whispered a few words about the behaviour of the Prussians at
+Frankfort, went out to judge for himself. He was told that the Senate
+was sitting and he went in. The Senate declared that the demand made
+upon it being impossible of fulfilment it submitted itself to the
+general's clemency.
+
+On leaving the Senate, Frederic saw the cannon trained on the town, the
+crowds round all the posted bills. He saw besides, entire families
+driven from their homes by the Prussians, bivouacking on the open
+spaces. The men were swearing, the women were in tears. A mother was
+calling for vengeance, as she tended her child of ten, through whose arm
+a bayonet had been thrust. Without knowing what he did the unfortunate
+child had followed a Prussian, singing the song that the people of
+Sachsenhausen had made on the Prussians:
+
+     Warte, kuckuck, warte
+     Bald kommt Bonaparte
+     Der wird alles wieder holen
+     Was ihr hobt bei uns gestohlen.[1]
+
+The Prussian had used his bayonet on the lad. But instead of consoling
+the mother and calling for vengeance with her, the passers-by had signed
+to her to be quiet, to dry her tears and wipe the blood away; so great
+was the general terror.
+
+The Prussians, however, had not everywhere had a like experience. One of
+them lodging with a man of Sachsenhausen, to frighten him had drawn his
+sabre and placed it on the table. The man without offering any remark
+had gone out and returned within five minutes with an iron trident,
+which he in his turn put on the table. "What does this signify?" the
+Prussian had asked. "Well," was the reply, "you wanted to show me that
+you had a fine knife, and I have wanted to convince you that I have a
+fine fork." The Prussian had taken the joke badly, he had tried to make
+play with his sabre and had been transfixed to the wall with the
+trident.
+
+Passing by Hermann Mumm's house, the baron noticed him sitting at his
+door, his head buried in his hands. He touched him on the shoulder. Mumm
+looked up.
+
+"Is that you?" he said, "and have you pillagers also?"
+
+"Pillagers?" asked Frederic.
+
+"Come and see! Look at my china which my family for three generations
+has collected--all broken. My cellar is empty, and naturally so, for I
+have been lodging two hundred soldiers and fifteen officers. Listen to
+them!" And Frederic heard shouts from within of "wine, more wine! or we
+blow the place to pieces with cannon balls!"
+
+He went into the house. Poor Mumm's fine house looked like a stable. The
+floors were covered with wine, straw, and filth. Not a window remained
+whole, not an article of furniture was unbroken.
+
+"Look at my poor tables," said the unhappy Mumm. "At them have sat for
+over a century the best people of Frankfort; yes, the king, many
+princes, and the members of the Diet have dined at them. Not a year ago
+Frau and Fräulein von Bismarck complimented me on the collation I gave
+them. And now, days of horror and desolation have come, and Frankfort is
+lost."
+
+Frederic was powerless and could only leave the place. He well knew that
+neither General Roeder nor General Sturm would stop the pillaging.
+Roeder was ruthless, Sturm was mad. He was an old style Prussian
+general, who when opposed struck down the obstacle.
+
+Presently he met Baron von Schele, the postmaster-general. Since the
+entry of the Prussians he had received the order to institute a
+censorship, unsealing letters and drawing up reports upon those who
+discovered hostile feelings to the Prussian government. He had refused
+to obey, and, his successor having arrived from Berlin, the censorship
+was in operation. Von Schele, who looked on Frederic as a Frankfortian
+rather than a Prussian, told him all this and invited him and his
+friends to resist.
+
+He reached Fellner's with a broken heart and found all the family in
+despair. Fellner had just received the official intimation of the
+refusal of the chief commercial houses to pay the millions demanded by
+the Prussians and the decree of the Senate in the matter. Although as a
+member of the Senate he knew its contents, he was re-reading it
+mechanically, while his wife and children sobbed around him, for all
+feared what excesses the Prussians might commit on receipt of the
+refusal. While they sat together, Fellner was informed of the decision
+just come to by the Legislative Assembly, that a deputation should be
+sent to the king to obtain the remission of the imposition of
+twenty-five millions of florins exacted by General Manteuffel.
+
+"Ah," said Frederic, "if only I could see the King of Prussia."
+
+"Why not?" said Fellner, catching at a straw.
+
+"Impossible, my dear Fellner, I am only a soldier. When a general
+commands I must obey. But, if the millions are going to be found, my
+family will contribute its share."
+
+Being powerless to assist Fellner, he left him and had walked a few
+steps when a soldier saluted and asked him to proceed to General Sturm
+who was waiting for him.
+
+General Sturm was a biggish, strongly made man of about two and fifty.
+He had a small head, with a high brow. His round face was red and when
+he was angry, which was often, it became crimson. His large eyes were
+almost always injected with blood, and he glared with fixed pupils when,
+as invariably was the case, he wished to be obeyed. All this, with his
+big mouth, thin lips, yellow teeth, menacing eyebrows, aquiline nose,
+and thick, short red neck, made him a formidable looking man. His voice
+was loud and penetrating, his gestures commanding, his movements
+brusque and rapid. He walked with long strides, he despised danger, but
+nevertheless seldom encountered any unless it was worth his while.
+
+He had a passion for plumes, red, waving colours, the smell of powder,
+of gaming; he was as brusque in his words as in his movements; violent
+and full of pride he brooked contradictions ill and readily flew into a
+passion. Then his face grew a crimson-violet, his grey eyes became
+golden and seemed to emit sparks. At such times, he completely forgot
+all the decencies of life, he swore, he insulted, he struck.
+Nevertheless he had some common sense, for knowing that he must from
+time to time have duels to fight, he spent his spare time in sword
+exercise and pistol shooting with the _maître-d'armes_ of the regiment.
+And it must be allowed that he was a first-rate performer with both
+weapons; and, not only so, he had what was called "an unfortunate hand,"
+and where another would have wounded slightly he wounded badly, and
+frequently he killed his adversary. This had happened ten or twelve
+times. His real name was _Ruhig_, which means peaceful, so inappropriate
+to its owner that he received the surname of _Sturm_, meaning storm or
+tempest. By this name he was always known. He had made a reputation for
+ferocity in the war against the Bavarians in 1848-49.
+
+When Frederic presented himself he was relatively calm. Sitting in a
+great chair, and it was rare for him to be seated, he almost smiled.
+
+"Ah, it is you," he said. "I was asking for you. General Roeder was
+here. Where have you been?"
+
+"Excuse me, general," Frederic answered. "I had gone to my mother-in-law
+for news of one of my friends, who was seriously wounded in the battle."
+
+"Ah! yes," said the general, "I heard about him--an Austrian. It is too
+good of you to enquire about such imperial vermin. I should like to see
+twenty-five thousand of them lying on the battlefield, where I would let
+them rot from the first man to the last."
+
+"But, your Excellency, he was a friend--"
+
+"Oh, very well--the matter is not in question. I am satisfied with you,
+baron," said General Sturm, in the same voice in which another man would
+have said "I loathe you!" "and I wish to do something for you."
+
+Frederic bowed.
+
+"General Roeder was asking for a man with whom I am well pleased, to
+carry to His Majesty King William I, whom God preserve, the two Austrian
+and Hessian flags taken by us in the battle of Aschaffenburg. I have
+thought of you, dear baron. Will you accept the mission?"
+
+"Your Excellency," replied Frederic, "nothing could honour or delight me
+more. If you recollect, it was the king who placed me near you; to bring
+me into contact with the king in such circumstances is to do me a favour
+and to do him, I dare hope, a pleasure."
+
+"Well, you must leave within the hour and not come to me with 'my little
+wife,' or 'my grandmother.' An hour suffices for embracing all the
+grandmothers and all the wives in the world, all sisters and children
+into the bargain. The flags are in the ante-room there. Within the hour
+jump on the train on your way to Bohemia, and to-morrow you will be with
+the king at Sadowa. Here is your letter of introduction to His Majesty.
+Take it."
+
+Frederic took the letter and saluted, his heart full of joy; he had not
+had to ask for leave; as if the general had read, had known his dearest
+wish, he had offered it, and with it had done him a favour of which he
+had not dreamt.
+
+In two bounds he had reached Benedict.
+
+"My dear friend," he said, "I leave for Sadowa in an hour, but hesitate
+to say with what object."
+
+"Tell me all the same," said Benedict.
+
+"Well, I am taking the flags captured from the Austrians."
+
+"And you can take them without grieving me; for, if all Prussians were
+like yourself, I should have fought with them and not with the
+Hanoverians and Austrians," said Benedict. "Now go and say your adieux."
+
+He was still embracing his wife and little child, when the same soldier
+who had already been sent to him, called to ask him not to take the
+flags without exchanging a last word with the general.
+
+
+[1]
+
+     Wait, wait a bit, cuckoo,
+     Bonaparte is coming, who
+     Soon will force you
+     to restore
+     All you stole from us before.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+THE BREAKING OF THE STORM
+
+
+The general received Frederic with the same calm and gracious expression
+as before.
+
+"Excuse me for delaying," he said, "after I was so anxious to speed you;
+but I have a little service to ask."
+
+Frederic bowed.
+
+"It is about General Manteuffel's subsidy of twenty-five millions of
+florins. You know about it, don't you?"
+
+"Yes," said Frederic, "and it is a heavy impost for a poor city with
+some 40,000 inhabitants."
+
+"You mean 72,000," said Sturm.
+
+"No, there are only about 40,000 Frankfortians, the remainder of the
+72,000 counted as natives are strangers."
+
+"What does that matter?" said Sturm, becoming impatient. "The statistics
+say 72,000 and General Manteuffel has made his calculation accordingly."
+
+"But if he has made an error, it seems to me that those who are charged
+with the execution of his order should point it out."
+
+"That is not our affair. We are told 72,000 inhabitants, and 72,000
+there therefore are. We are told 25 million florins, and 25 million
+florins there are also. That is all! Just fancy! the senators have
+declared, that we can burn the town, but they will not pay the subsidy."
+
+"I was present," said Frederic quietly, "and the sitting was admirably
+conducted, with much dignity, calm, and sorrow."
+
+"Ta ta ta ta," said Sturm. "General Manteuffel before leaving gave
+General Roeder the order to get in these millions. Roeder has ordered
+the town to pay them. The Senate has chosen to deliberate; that is its
+own affair. Roeder came round to me about it, it is true; but I told him
+that it was nothing to worry about. I said. 'The chief of my staff
+married in Frankfort; he knows the town like his own land, everyone's
+fortune even to shillings and half-pence. He will indicate five and
+twenty millionaires.' There are twenty-five of them here, are there
+not?"
+
+"More than that," answered Frederic.
+
+"Good; we will commence with them, and if there is a balance the others
+shall supply it."
+
+"And have you reckoned on me to give you the names?"
+
+"Certainly. All I require is twenty-five names and five and twenty
+addresses. Sit down there, my dear fellow, and write them out."
+
+Frederic sat down, took a pen and wrote;
+
+     "Honour obliging me to decline to denounce my fellow citizens, I
+     beg the illustrious Generals von Roeder and Sturm to obtain the
+     desired information elsewhere than from myself.
+
+      "Frankfort, July 22nd, 1866.
+           "FREDERIC BARON VON BÃœLOW."
+
+
+
+
+Then, rising and bowing low, he put the paper in the general's hands.
+
+"What is this?" he asked.
+
+"Read, it, general," said Frederic.
+
+The general read it, and gave his chief of the staff a side glance.
+
+"Ah! ah!" he said, "I see how I am answered when I ask a favour; let me
+see how I am answered when I command. Sit there and write--"
+
+"Order me to charge a battery, and I will do it, but do not order me to
+become a tax collector."
+
+"I have promised General Roeder to get him the names and addresses and
+have told him that you will supply them. He will send for the list
+directly. What am I to say to him?"
+
+"You will tell him that I have refused to give it."
+
+Sturm crossed his arms and approached Frederic.
+
+"And do you think that I will allow a man under my orders to refuse me
+anything?"
+
+"I think you will reflect that you gave me not only an unjust but a
+dishonouring order and you will appreciate the reason of my refusal. Let
+me go, general, and call a police officer; he will not refuse you, for
+it will be all in his work."
+
+"Baron," replied Sturm, "I considered I was sending the king a good
+servant for whom I asked a reward. I cannot reward a man of whom I have
+to complain. Give me back His Majesty's letter."
+
+Frederic disdainfully tossed the letter on the table. The general's face
+grew purple, livid marks appeared upon it, his eyes flamed.
+
+"I will write to the king," he cried furiously, "and he will learn how
+his officers serve him."
+
+"Write your account, sir, and I will write mine," answered Frederic,
+"and he will see how his generals dishonour him."
+
+Sturm rushed and seized his horsewhip.
+
+"You have said dishonoured, sir. You will not repeat the word, I
+trust?"
+
+"Dishonoured," said Frederic coldly.
+
+Sturm gave a cry of rage and raised his whip to strike his young
+officer, but observing Frederic's complete calm he let it fall.
+
+"Who threatens strikes, sir," Frederic answered, "and it is as if you
+had struck me."
+
+He turned to the table and wrote a few lines. Then he opened the door of
+the ante-room and calling the officers who were there:
+
+"Gentlemen, he said, I confide this paper to your loyalty. Read what it
+says aloud."
+
+     "I tender my resignation as chief of General Sturm's staff and
+     officer in the Prussian army.
+
+     "Dated at noon July 22nd, 1866.
+
+               "FREDERIC VON BÃœLOW."
+
+
+
+"Which means?" asked Sturm.
+
+"Which means that I am no longer in His Majesty's service nor in yours,
+and that you have insulted me. Gentlemen, this man raised his horsewhip
+over me. And having insulted me, you owe me reparation. Keep my
+resignation, gentlemen, and bear witness that I am free from all
+military duty at the moment I tell this man that he is no longer my
+chief, and consequently that I am not his inferior. Sir, you have
+injured me mortally, and I will kill you, or you will kill me."
+
+Sturm burst out laughing.
+
+"You give your resignation," he said, "well, I do not accept it. Place
+yourself in confinement. Sir," said he, stamping his foot and walking
+towards Frederic, "to prison for fifteen days with you."
+
+"You have no longer the right to give me an order," said Frederic,
+detaching his epaulettes.
+
+Sturm, exasperated, livid, foaming at the mouth, again raised his whip
+upon the chief of his staff, but this time he slashed his cheek and
+shoulder with it. Frederic, who until now had held himself in, uttered a
+cry of rage, made a bound aside and drew his sword.
+
+"Imbecile," shouted Sturm, with a burst of laughter, "you will be shot
+after a court martial."
+
+At this Frederic lost his head completely and threw himself upon the
+general, but he found four officers in his path. One whispered to him:
+"Save yourself; we will calm him."
+
+"And I," said Frederic, "I who have been struck; who will calm me?"
+
+"We give you our word of honour that we have not seen the blow," said
+the officers.
+
+"But _I_ have _felt_ it. And as I have given my word of honour that one
+of us must die, I must act accordingly. Adieu, gentlemen."
+
+Two of the officers trying to follow him:
+
+"Thunders and tempests! gentlemen," called the general after them. "Come
+back; no one leaves this room except this madman who will be arrested by
+the provost marshal."
+
+The officers came back hanging their heads. Frederic burst out of the
+room. The first person he met on the stairs was the old Baroness von
+Beling.
+
+"Gracious heavens! what are you doing with a drawn sword?" she asked.
+
+He put the sword in its scabbard. Then he ran to his wife and embraced
+her and the baby.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Ten minutes later an explosion was heard in Frederic's room. Benedict,
+who was with Karl, rushed to it and burst open the door.
+
+Frederic was lying on the floor dead, his forehead shattered by a
+bullet. He had left this note on the table:
+
+     "Struck in the face by General Sturm, who has refused to give me
+     satisfaction, I could not live dishonoured. My last wish is that my
+     wife in her widow's dress should leave this evening for Berlin, and
+     there beg from Her Majesty the Queen the remission of the subsidy
+     of twenty-five million florins, which the town as I testify is
+     unable to pay.
+
+     My friend, Benedict Turpin, will, I know, avenge me.
+
+                "FREDERIC, BARON VON BÃœLOW."
+
+
+
+Benedict had just time to read this when he turned at a cry behind him.
+It was from the poor widow.
+
+Benedict, leaving Emma in her mother's care, went to his room and wrote
+four notes, each in these terms:
+
+     "Baron Frederic von Bülow has just shot himself in consequence of
+     the insult offered him by General Sturm, who has refused to give
+     him satisfaction. His body lies in the house of the Chandroz
+     family, and his friends are invited to pay their last respects
+     there.
+
+                            "His executor,
+                              "BENEDICT TURPIN.
+
+     "P.S.--You are asked to make the news of his death known as widely
+     and publicly as possible."
+
+Having signed them he sent them by Hans to four of Frederic's most
+intimate friends. Then he went down to General Sturm's rooms and sent in
+his name.
+
+The name, "Benedict Turpin," was entirely unknown to General Sturm; he
+had with him the officers who had witnessed the quarrel with Frederic,
+and at once said: "Ask him to come in." Although he knew nothing of what
+had passed the general's face plainly showed traces of furious passion.
+
+Benedict came in.
+
+"Sir," he said, "probably you are ignorant of the sequel to the
+occurrence between you and my friend, Frederic von Bülow--the incident
+which led to your insult. I have to inform you that my friend, since you
+refused to give him satisfaction, has blown out his brains."
+
+The general started in spite of himself. The officers, dismayed, looked
+at each other.
+
+"My friend's last wishes are recorded on this piece of paper. I will
+read them."
+
+The general, seized with nervous tremor, sat down.
+
+Benedict read, speaking courteously and calmly.
+
+"Struck in the face by General Sturm, who has refused to give me
+satisfaction, I could not live dishonoured."
+
+"You hear me, sir?" Benedict asked.
+
+The general made a sign of assent.
+
+"My last wish is that my wife in her widow's dress should leave this
+evening for Berlin, and there beg from Her Majesty the Queen the
+remission of the subsidy of twenty-five million florins which the town,
+as I testify, is unable to pay."
+
+"I have the honour to inform you, sir," added Benedict, "that I am going
+to conduct Madame von Bülow to Berlin."
+
+General Sturm got up.
+
+"One moment," said Benedict. "There is a final line to read, and you
+will see it is of some importance."
+
+"My friend, Benedict Turpin, will, I know, avenge me."
+
+"Which means, sir?" said, the general, while the officers stood
+breathlessly by.
+
+"Which means, that you shall hear from me immediately respecting the
+time and place and weapons, for I mean to kill you and so avenge
+Frederic von Bülow."
+
+And Benedict, saluting first the general and then the young officers,
+left the room before they had recovered from their surprise.
+
+When he gained the other room, Emma, who had read her husband's last
+words, was already making her preparations for her journey to Berlin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+THE BURGOMASTER
+
+
+Two things had principally struck Sturm in Frederic's short will. First;
+the legacy to Benedict of vengeance; but we must do him the justice to
+say that this was a minor consideration. There is an unfortunate error
+amongst military men that courage is only to be found under a uniform,
+and that one must have seen death at close quarters in order not to fear
+it. Now we know that Benedict in this respect was on a level with the
+bravest soldier. Under whatever aspect he encountered death, whether it
+might be at the point of the bayonet, by the talons of a tiger, the
+trunk of an elephant, or the poisonous fang of a serpent; still it was
+death--the farewell to sunshine, life, love; to all that is glorious and
+all that makes the breast beat high; and in its place, that dark mystery
+which we call the grave. But Sturm did not recognize the threat of
+death, for he was protected by his individual temperament and character
+from perceiving it. He could only recognize an actual menace accompanied
+by shouts, gesticulations, threats, and oaths. And Benedict's extreme
+politeness gave him no idea of serious danger. He supposed, as all
+vulgarians do, that any one who goes duelling with the courtesy of the
+ordinary forms of life is arming at preserving by his politeness a means
+of retreat.
+
+Therefore Frederic's legacy to Benedict troubled him little. But it was
+also prescribed that Madame von Bülow should start for Berlin to beg of
+the queen the remission of the fine imposed upon Frankfort. He decided
+to see General von Roeder without a moment's delay and tell him what had
+occurred.
+
+He found Roeder furious at the Senate's decision. After listening to
+Sturm he determined to have recourse again to his old tactics. He took a
+pen and wrote:
+
+     "To Herren Fellner and Müller, burgomasters of Frankfort and
+     government administrators.
+
+     "I have to request you to supply me by ten o'clock to-morrow
+     morning with a list of the names and addresses of all members of
+     the Senate, of the permanent house of representation, and of the
+     Legislative Assembly, house-property owners being identified as
+     such.
+
+                               "VON ROEDER.
+
+     "P.S.--Scales for weighing gold are waiting at General von Roeder's
+     address. An answer to this despatch is requested."
+
+Then he directed an orderly to deliver the document to Fellner as the
+senior burgomaster. Fellner was not at home. He had just received
+Benedict's sad tidings; and being one of Frederic's most intimate
+friends had hastened to the Chandroz' house, telling the news to all
+whom he met on the way.
+
+In less time than it takes to relate, the fact of Frederic's death burst
+upon the town, and its leading citizens, scarcely able to credit it,
+flocked to the room where his body lay.
+
+Fellner was astonished at not seeing Emma; heard that she had gone to
+Berlin, and was asking the cause of this incomprehensible step when
+Councillor Kugler burst in, General Roeder's letter in his hand.
+Fellner opened it at once, read it, meditated; and approaching the bier
+gazed at his dead friend. After a few seconds of contemplation, he
+stooped, kissed the forehead, and murmured: "It is not only the soldier
+who knows how to die."
+
+Then he slowly left the house, crossed the town with bent head, reached
+the house and shut himself up in his room. Supper time came. Supper is
+an important meal in Germany. It is the cheerful repast, at which, in
+commercial towns especially, the head of the family has time to enjoy
+the society of his wife and children; for dinner at two o'clock is only
+an interval hastily snatched in business hours. But by eight, o'clock
+business people have thrown off their harness; the hour of domestic
+pleasure has come. Before refreshing sleep descends to prepare men for
+another day there is an interval in which to enjoy all that they hold
+dear within the four walls of home.
+
+Nothing of the sort was possible on this evening of July 22nd at the
+Fellners'. The burgomaster showed perhaps even more than his customary
+fondness for his children, but it was touched with melancholy. His wife,
+whose gaze never left him, was unable to speak a word; tears stood in
+her eyes. The elder children observing their mother's sadness sat
+silent; and the little ones' voices like the chirping of birds, drew for
+the first time no smiling response from their parents.
+
+Herr von Kugler was mournful. He was one of those men who act promptly
+and vigorously, without deviating from the straight course of honour. No
+doubt he had already said to himself: "Were I in his place, this is what
+I should do."
+
+Supper dragged on. All seemed reluctant to rise from the table. The
+children had dropped asleep, no summons having come from the nurse. At
+last, Mina, the eldest girl, went to the piano to close it for the night
+and unconsciously touched the keys.
+
+The burgomaster shivered.
+
+"Come Mina," he said, "play Weber's 'Last Thought'; you know it's my
+favourite."
+
+Mina began to play, and the pure melancholy notes poured forth like
+golden beads dropped on a salver of crystal. The burgomaster propped his
+bowed head in his hands as he listened to that sweet poetic melody, the
+final note of which expired like the last sigh of an angel exiled to
+earth.
+
+Fellner rose and kissed the girl. She exclaimed in alarm:
+
+"What is the matter with you, father? you are crying."
+
+"I?" said Fellner quickly. "What nonsense, my child," and he tried to
+smile.
+
+"Oh!" murmured Mina, "you can say what you like, father, but I felt a
+tear; and see," she added, "my cheek is wet."
+
+Fellner put a hand on her mouth. Mina kissed it.
+
+At this the father nearly gave way, but Kugler murmured in his ear:
+
+"Be a man, Fellner!" He grasped his brother-in-law's hand.
+
+Eleven o'clock struck--never except for a dance or evening party had the
+family sat up so late. Fellner kissed his wife and the children.
+
+"But, surely you are not going out?" said Madame Fellner.
+
+"No, my dear."
+
+"Your kiss was like a goodbye."
+
+"Goodbye for a little while," said the burgomaster, trying to smile.
+"Don't be uneasy, I am going to work with your brother, that is all."
+
+Madame Fellner looked at her brother and he gave a sign of assent. Her
+husband took her to her bed-room door:
+
+"Go to sleep, dear one," he said, "we have much work before us that must
+be done before morning." She stood where she was until she had seen him
+enter her brother's room.
+
+Madame Fellner spent the night in prayer. This simple woman, whose only
+eloquence was to say "I love you," found words to implore God for her
+husband. She prayed so long and ardently, that at length sleep came to
+her where she knelt; for great was her need of it.
+
+When she opened her eyes the first light of the dawn was filtering
+through the window blinds. Everything seems strange, fantastic, at such
+an hour. It is neither night nor day and nothing looks as it does at any
+other time. She gazed around. She felt weak and chilly and afraid. She
+glanced at the bed--her husband was not there. She rose, but everything
+danced before her eyes. "Is it possible," she thought, "that sleep
+overtook him also while he worked? I must go to him." And, groping her
+way through the passages, which were darker than her own room, she
+reached his. She knocked on the door. There was no answer. She knocked
+louder, but all was silent. A third time she knocked and called her
+husband's name.
+
+Then, trembling with anguish, under a premonition of the sight that
+awaited her, she pushed open the door. Between her and the window, black
+against the sun's first rays, hung her husband's body suspended above an
+overturned chair.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+QUEEN AUGUSTA
+
+
+All through the night that was so sorrowful for the Fellner family the
+Baroness von Bülow was travelling rapidly to Berlin, where she arrived
+about eight o'clock in the morning.
+
+In any other circumstances she would have written to the queen, asked
+for an audience, and fulfilled all the requirements of etiquette. But
+there was no time to lose; General von Roeder had allowed only
+four-and-twenty hours for the payment of the indemnity. It was due at
+ten o'clock, and in case of refusal the city was threatened with
+immediate pillage and bombardment. Notices at the corners of all the
+streets proclaimed that at ten o'clock on the morrow the general with
+his staff would be waiting in the old Senate Hall to receive the levy.
+There was, indeed, not a moment to lose.
+
+On leaving the train, therefore, Madame von Bülow took a cab and drove
+straight to the Little Palace, where the queen had been living since the
+beginning of the war. There Madame von Bülow asked for the chamberlain,
+Waals, who, as has been said already, was a friend of her husband's; he
+came instantly, and seeing her dressed all in black, cried out:
+
+"Good God! has Frederic been killed?"
+
+"He has not been killed, my dear count, he has killed himself,"
+answered the baroness, "and I want to see the queen without a moment's
+delay."
+
+The chamberlain made no objections. He knew how highly the king valued
+Frederic; he knew, also, that the queen was acquainted with his widow.
+He hastened to go and beg the desired audience. Queen Augusta is known
+throughout Germany for her extreme kindness and her distinguished
+intelligence. No sooner had she heard from her chamberlain that Emma had
+come, dressed in mourning, probably to implore some favour, than she
+exclaimed:
+
+"Bring her in! Bring her in!"
+
+Madame von Bülow was immediately summoned and, as she left the room in
+which she had been waiting, she saw the door of the royal apartments
+open and Queen Augusta waiting for her in the doorway. Without advancing
+another step the baroness bent one knee to the ground. She tried to
+speak, but the only words that escaped her lips were:
+
+"Oh, Your Majesty!"
+
+The queen came to her and raised her up.
+
+"What do you want, my dear baroness?" she asked. "What brings you, and
+why are you in mourning?"
+
+"I am in mourning, Your Majesty, for a man and for a city very dear to
+me, for my husband who is dead, and for my native city which is at
+death's door."
+
+"Your husband is dead! Poor child! Waals told me so, and he added that
+he had killed himself. What can have driven him to such a deed? Some
+injustice must have been done him. Speak, and we will redress it."
+
+"It is not that which brings me, madam; I am not the person to whom my
+husband has left the duty of avenging him; in that respect I need only
+leave God's will and his to take their course; what brings me, madam,
+is the despair of my city upon whose ruin your armies, or rather your
+generals, seem to be resolved."
+
+"Come, my child, and tell me about it," said the queen.
+
+She led Emma into her drawing-room and seated herself beside her; but
+Emma slipped from the sofa and knelt once more before the queen.
+
+"Madam, you know the city of Frankfort."
+
+"I was there last year," said the queen, "and had the kindest possible
+reception."
+
+"May the remembrance of it help my words! General Falkenstein when he
+came to our city began by laying upon it a tax of seven million florins;
+that levy was paid, together with one, about equally heavy, in kind.
+That made fourteen millions already, for a small town of seventy-two
+thousand inhabitants, half of whom were foreigners, and consequently did
+not contribute to the payment."
+
+"And did Frankfort pay it?" asked the queen.
+
+"Frankfort paid it, madam, for that was still possible. But General
+Manteuffel arrived and put on a tax, in his turn, of twenty-five million
+florins. Such a tax, if imposed upon eighteen million subjects, madam,
+would yield more milliards of coin than the whole world contains. Well,
+and at this very hour cannon are planted in the streets and on the
+positions that command the town. If the sum is not paid at ten o'clock
+to-day--and it will not be paid, madam, it is impossible--the city will
+be bombarded and given over to pillage, a neutral unwalled city, which
+has no gates, which has not defended itself and cannot defend itself."
+
+"And how comes it, my child," asked the queen, "that you, a woman, have
+taken upon yourself to ask justice for this city? It has a Council."
+
+"It has one no longer, madam; the Council has been dissolved, and two of
+the councillors arrested."
+
+"And the burgomasters?"
+
+"They do not dare to take any step for fear of being shot. God is my
+witness, madam, that I did not put myself forward to come and plead for
+that unhappy city. It was my dying husband who said to me 'Go!' and I
+came."
+
+"But what can be done?" said the queen.
+
+"Your Majesty needs no adviser but your heart. But, I repeat, if by ten
+o'clock to-day, no counter-order comes from the king, Frankfort is
+lost."
+
+"If only the king were here," said the queen.
+
+"Thanks to the telegraph, Your Majesty knows that there are no distances
+now. A telegram from Your Majesty can receive an answer in half-an-hour,
+and in another half-hour that answer can be sent to Frankfort."
+
+"You are right," said Queen Augusta as she went towards a little bureau
+loaded with papers.
+
+She wrote:
+
+     "To His Majesty the King of Prussia.
+
+                    "BERLIN, _July 23rd_, 1866.
+
+     "Sire, I approach you to entreat humbly and earnestly that the
+     indemnity of twenty-five million florins arbitrarily imposed upon
+     the city of Frankfort, which has already paid fourteen millions in
+     money and in kind, may be withdrawn.
+
+     "Your very humble servant and affectionate wife,
+
+                        "AUGUSTA.
+
+     "P.S. Please reply immediately."
+
+She handed the paper to Emma who read and returned it. Herr von Waals
+was summoned and came instantly.
+
+"Take this telegram to the telegraph office and wait for the answer. And
+you, my child," continued the queen, "let us think about you. You must
+be worn out, you must be starving."
+
+"Oh, madam!"
+
+A second time the queen touched her bell.
+
+"Bring my breakfast here," said she; "the baroness will take some with
+me."
+
+A collation was brought in, which the baroness scarcely touched. At
+every footstep she started, believing it to be that of Herr von Waals.
+At length hurried steps were heard, the door opened and Herr von Waals
+appeared, holding a telegram in his hand.
+
+Emma, forgetful of the queen's presence, rushed towards him, but paused
+half-way, ashamed.
+
+"Oh, madam, forgive me," said she.
+
+"No, no," replied the queen, "take it and read it."
+
+Emma, trembling, opened the despatch, glanced at it and uttered a cry of
+joy. It contained these words:
+
+     "At the request of our beloved consort, the indemnity of
+     twenty-five million florins levied by General Manteuffel is
+     countermanded. WILLIAM."
+
+"Well," said the queen, "to whom should this despatch be sent in order
+that it may arrive in time? You, dear child, are the person who has
+obtained this favour, and the honour of it ought to rest with you. You
+say it is important that the king's decision should be known in
+Frankfort by ten o'clock. Tell me to what person it should be
+addressed."
+
+"Indeed, madam, I do not know how to make any answer to so much
+kindness," said the baroness, kneeling and kissing the queen's hands. "I
+know that the proper person to whom to send it would be the
+burgomaster; but who can tell whether the burgomaster may not have fled
+or be in prison? I think the safest way--excuse my egoism, madam--but if
+you do me the honour of consulting me, I would beg that it may be
+addressed to Madame von Beling, my grandmother; she, very certainly,
+will not lose a moment in putting it into the proper hands."
+
+"What you wish shall be done, my dear child," said the queen, and she
+added to the despatch:
+
+     "This favour has been granted to Queen Augusta by her gracious
+     consort, King William; but it was asked of the queen by her
+     faithful friend, Baroness Frederic von Bülow, her principal
+     lady-in-waiting."
+
+                                  "AUGUSTA."
+
+
+
+The queen raised Emma from her knees, kissed her, unfastened from her
+own shoulder the Order of Queen Louisa and fastened it on the baroness's
+shoulder.
+
+"As for you," she said, "you need some hours' rest, and you shall not go
+until you have taken them."
+
+"I beg Your Majesty's pardon," replied the baroness, "but two persons
+are waiting for me, my husband and my child."
+
+Nevertheless, as no train left until one in the afternoon, and as the
+hour could neither be hastened nor retarded, Emma resigned herself to
+waiting.
+
+The queen gave orders that she should receive the same attentions as
+though she were already a lady-in-waiting, made her take a bath and some
+hours' rest, and engaged a carriage for her in the train for Frankfort.
+
+That city, meanwhile, was in consternation. General Roeder, with his
+staff, was waiting in the Council Hall for the payment required; scales
+were ready for the weighing. At nine o'clock the gunners, match alight
+and in hand, came to take their places at the batteries.
+
+The deepest terror prevailed throughout the town. From the arrangements
+which they saw being made, the Frankforters judged that no mercy was to
+be expected from the Prussian generals. The whole population was shut up
+indoors waiting anxiously for the stroke of ten o'clock to announce the
+town's doom.
+
+All at once a terrible rumour began to circulate, that the burgomaster,
+rather than denounce his fellow-citizens, had ended his life--had hanged
+himself. At a few minutes before ten, a man dressed in black came out of
+Herr Fellner's house; it was his brother-in-law, Herr von Kugler, and he
+held in his hand a rope. He walked straight on, without speaking to
+anybody, or stopping till he reached the Roemer, pushed aside with his
+arm the sentinels who attempted to prevent his passing, and, entering
+the hall in which General von Roeder was presiding, he advanced to the
+scales and threw into one of them the rope that he had been carrying.
+
+"There," said he, "is the ransom of the city of Frankfort."
+
+"What does this mean?" asked General von Roeder.
+
+"This means that, rather than obey you, Burgomaster Fellner hanged
+himself with this rope. May his death fall upon the heads of those who
+caused it."
+
+"But," returned General von Roeder brutally, while he continued to smoke
+his cigar, "the indemnity must be paid all the same."
+
+"Unless," quietly said Benedict Turpin, who had just come in, "King
+William should withdraw it from the city of Frankfort."
+
+And, unfolding the despatch that Madame von Beling had just received,
+he read the whole of it in a loud voice to General von Roeder.
+
+"Sir," said he, "I advise you to put the twenty-five million florins
+into your profit and loss account. I have the honour to leave you the
+despatch as a voucher."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+THE TWO PROCESSIONS
+
+
+Two very different pieces of news, one terrible, one joyful, ran
+simultaneously through Frankfort. The terrible news was that the
+burgomaster, who had filled two of the highest positions in the little
+republic now extinct, who was the father of six children and a model of
+the household virtues, had just hanged himself rather than yield to a
+greedy and brutal soldier the secrets of private wealth. The joyful news
+was that, thanks to Madame von Bülow's intervention and to the appeal
+made by the queen to her husband, the city of Frankfort had been
+relieved from the tax of twenty-five million florins.
+
+It will easily be understood that nobody in the town talked of any other
+subject. Astonishment and curiosity were even more aroused owing to the
+occurrence of two mysterious deaths at the same time. People wondered
+how it happened that Frederic von Bülow, after having been insulted by
+his superior officer, should before he shot himself have charged his
+wife with her pious errand to Berlin, seeing that he was no citizen of
+Frankfort, but belonged, body and soul, to the Prussian army. Had he
+hoped to redeem the terrible deeds of violence committed by his
+countrymen? Moreover, the young officers who had been present at the
+quarrel between Frederic and the general had not observed entire silence
+about that quarrel. Many of them were hurt in their pride at being
+employed to execute a vengeance of which the cause lay far back amid the
+obscure resentments of a minister who had once been an ambassador. Those
+who felt this said among themselves that they were acting the part not
+of soldiers but of bailiffs and men-in-possession. They had repeated
+some words of the dispute that had taken place before them and had left
+the rest to be guessed.
+
+Orders had been given prohibiting the printing of any placard without
+the authorization of the officer in command; but every printer in
+Frankfort was ready to contravene the order, and at the very moment when
+Councillor Kugler threw the burgomaster's rope into the scale, a
+thousand unseen and unknown hands were pasting upon the walls of
+Frankfort the following notice.
+
+"At three o'clock our worthy burgomaster Fellner hanged himself and
+became the martyr of his devotion to the city of Frankfort. Citizens,
+pray for him."
+
+Benedict, on his part, had visited the printer of the "Journal des
+Postes" who engaged to furnish, within two hours, two hundred copies of
+the telegrams interchanged by the king and queen. He further undertook,
+on condition that the notices were not unduly large, to get them posted
+by his usual billstickers, who were ready to take the risk of officially
+announcing the good news to their neighbours. Accordingly, two hours
+later, two hundred bills were stuck beside the former ones. They
+contained the following words:
+
+     "Yesterday, at two in the afternoon, as is already known, Baron von
+     Bülow blew out his brains, in consequence of a quarrel with General
+     Sturm, in the course of which the general had insulted him. The
+     causes of this quarrel will remain a secret for such people only as
+     do not care to solve it.
+
+     "One clause of the baron's will instructed Madame von Bülow to go
+     to Berlin, and to beg of Her Majesty Queen Augusta that the levy of
+     twenty-five million florins, imposed by General Manteuffel, might
+     be withdrawn. The baroness paused only long enough to put on
+     mourning garments before setting out.
+
+     "We are happy to be able to communicate to our fellow-citizens the
+     two royal despatches which she sent to us."
+
+The crowds that collected before these notices can be imagined. For one
+moment the stir that passed through the whole population assumed the
+aspect of a riot; drums beat, patrols were organized, and the citizens
+received an order to stay at home.
+
+The streets became deserted. The gunners, whose matches, as we have said
+already, had been lighted at ten in the morning, once more stood by
+their cannon with their lighted matches in hand. This sort of threat
+continued for thirty hours. However, as at the end of that time the
+crowds were no longer collecting, as no conflicts took place, and no
+shot was fired, all these hostile demonstrations ceased between the 25th
+and the 26th.
+
+Next morning fresh placards had been stuck up. They contained the
+following notice:
+
+     "To-morrow, July 26th, at two in the afternoon the funerals will
+     take place of the late burgomaster, Herr Fellner, and of the late
+     chief staff officer, Frederic von Bülow.
+
+     "Each party will start from the house of mourning and the two will
+     unite at the cathedral, where a service will be held for the two
+     martyrs.
+
+     "The families believe that no invitation beyond the present notice
+     will be necessary, and that the citizens of Frankfort will not fail
+     in their duty.
+
+     "The funeral arrangements for the burgomaster will be in the hands
+     of his brother-in-law, Councillor Kugler, and those of Major
+     Frederic von Bülow in the hands of M. Benedict Turpin, his
+     executor."
+
+We will not endeavour to depict the homes of the two bereaved families.
+Madame von Bülow arrived about one o'clock on the morning of the 24th.
+Everybody in the house was up, and all were praying round the deathbed.
+Some of the principal ladies of the town had come and were awaiting her
+return; she was received like an angel bearing the mercies of heaven.
+
+But after a few minutes the pious duty that had brought her so swiftly
+to her husband's side was remembered. Everybody withdrew, and she was
+left alone. Helen, in her turn, was watching by Karl. Twice in the
+course of the day she had gone downstairs, knelt by Frederic's bedside,
+uttered a prayer, kissed his forehead, and gone up again.
+
+Karl was better; he had not yet returned to life, but he was returning.
+His eyes reopened and were, able to fix themselves upon Helen's; his
+mouth murmured words of love, and his hand responded to the hand that
+pressed it. The surgeon, only, still remained anxious, and, while
+encouraging the wounded man, would give Helen no reply; but, when he was
+alone with her, would only repeat in answer to all her questions:
+
+"We must wait! I can say nothing before the eighth or ninth day."
+
+The house of Herr Fellner was equally full of mourning. Everybody who
+had filled any post in the old republic, senators, members of the
+Legislative Assembly, etc., came to salute this dead and just man, and
+to lay on his bed wreaths of oak, of laurel, and _immortelles_.
+
+From early in the morning of the 26th, as soon as the cannon were
+perceived to have disappeared and the town to be no longer threatened
+with slaughter at any unexpected moment, all the inhabitants congregated
+about the two doors that were hung with black. At ten o'clock all the
+trade guilds met together in the Zeil with their banners, as if for some
+popular festivity of the free town. All the dissolved societies of the
+city came with flags flying--although they had been forbidden to display
+these ensigns--determined to live again for one more day. There was the
+Society of Carabineers, the Gymnastic Society, the National Defence
+Society, the new Citizens' Society, the young Militia Society, the
+Sachsenhausen Citizens' Society, and the Society for the Education of
+the Workers. Black flags had been hung out at a great number of houses,
+among others at the casino in the street of Saint Gall, which belonged
+to the principal inhabitants of Frankfort; at the club of the new
+Citizens' Union, situated in the Corn Market, at that of the old
+Citizens' Union in Eschenheim Street, and, finally, at the Sachsenhausen
+Club--a club of the people, if there ever was one--belonging to the
+inhabitants of that often mentioned suburb.
+
+A gathering, almost as considerable, was collecting at the corner of the
+Horse Market, near to the High Street. Here, it may be remembered, the
+house was situated which was generally known in the town as the Chandroz
+house, although nobody of that name now existed in it except Helen,
+whose maiden name had not yet been changed for that of a husband. But in
+the street that led to the burgomaster's house, the middle and
+working-classes were assembled, while opposite to the Chandroz house the
+crowd was made up mainly of that aristocracy of birth to which the house
+belonged.
+
+The strangest feature of this second crowd was the number of Prussian
+officers who had assembled to render the last honour to their comrade at
+the risk of displeasing their superiors, Generals Roeder and Sturm.
+These latter had had the good sense to leave Frankfort without making
+any attempt whatever to suppress the display of public feeling.
+
+When Councillor Kugler emerged from the burgomaster's house, following
+the coffin and holding the dead man's two sons by the hand, cries of
+"Hurrah for Madame Fellner! Hurrah for Madame Fellner and her children!"
+rang out, in expression to her of the gratitude felt to her husband. She
+understood this outburst rising to her from so many hearts at once, and
+when she appeared, dressed in black, upon the balcony with her four
+daughters, dressed likewise in black, sobs broke forth and tears flowed
+from every eye.
+
+The same thing happened as Frederic's coffin began its journey; it was
+to Frederic's widow that Frankfort owed its escape from ruin. The cry of
+"Hurrah for Madame von Bülow!" rose from hundreds of throats, and was
+repeated until the fair young widow, wrapped in her draperies of black
+crape, came forward to accept the expression of gratitude offered her by
+the whole town.
+
+Although the officers had received no order to attend Frederic's
+funeral, although neither the drummers who usually precede the coffin of
+a superior officer, nor the soldiers who usually follow it, had been
+commanded to do so, yet, either from their military training or their
+sympathy for the dead man, the drummers were present and so was the
+escort of soldiers when the procession started, and it advanced towards
+the cathedral to the sound of muffled drums. At the agreed point the two
+processions united and went forward side by side, occupying the whole
+width of the street. Only, like two rivers which run parallel, but of
+which the waters do not mingle, the leaders of the two parties walked
+forward. Behind the burgomaster's hearse followed the burghers and the
+populace; behind that of Baron von Bülow the aristocracy and the
+military. For the moment peace appeared to have been made between these
+two populations, one of which weighed so cruelly upon the other that
+only the death of a man universally esteemed could hold them together
+for a few instants, leaving them to fall asunder immediately afterwards
+into mutual hostility.
+
+At the great door of the cathedral the coffins were lifted from the
+hearses and laid side by side. Thence they were borne into the choir,
+but the church had been so filled since early morning by a crowd, eager,
+as the dwellers in large towns always are, for a spectacle, that there
+was scarcely room for the two coffins to pass to the nave. The military
+escort, the drums, and the company of soldiers followed them, but when
+the crowd that accompanied the coffins tried to enter and find a place
+in the building, it was impossible to do so, and more than three
+thousand persons were left in the porch and in the street.
+
+The ceremony began, solemn and lugubrious, accompanied by the occasional
+roll of drums and the sound of gun stocks touching the ground; no one
+could have said to which of the dead these military honours were being
+paid, so that the unfortunate burgomaster had his share in the funeral
+honours bestowed by the very body of men who had caused his death. It is
+true that from time to time the Choral Society sang funeral hymns and
+that the voices of the congregation, rising like a wave, stifled these
+other sounds.
+
+The service was long, and, although it lacked the impressive Roman
+Catholic pomp, it did not fail to produce an immense effect upon those
+who were present. Then the two processions set out for the cemetery, the
+burgomaster attended by funeral chants, the officer by martial music.
+
+The vault of the Chandroz family and that of the burgomaster were at a
+distance from each other, so that the two parties separated. At the
+grave of the civilian there were hymns, speeches, and wreaths of
+_immortelles_, at that of the officer, firing and wreaths of laurel. The
+double ceremonies were not entirely concluded until the evening, nor did
+the gloomy and silent crowd return until then into its usual channels,
+while the drummers, privates, and officers went to their quarters, if
+not like a hostile troop, at least like a body altogether apart from the
+inhabitants.
+
+Benedict had had in his mind throughout the ceremony the idea of
+presenting himself on the morrow to General Sturm in the character of
+Frederic's executor, and, as such, demanding satisfaction for the insult
+offered to his friend. But when he returned to the house he found Emma
+so overcome, Karl so weak, and the old Baroness von Beling so exhausted
+by age and woe together, as to make him think that the unhappy Chandroz
+family still needed him. Now in such a duel as that which he meant to
+propose to General Sturm, one of the results must inevitably ensue;
+either he would kill the general or the general would kill him. If he
+killed the general, he would clearly have to leave Frankfort that very
+moment, in order to escape the vengeance of the Prussians. If he were
+killed he would become completely useless to the family which seemed in
+need even more of his moral protection than of his material support. He
+determined, therefore, to wait for some days, but promised himself, to
+send his card daily to General Sturm--and he kept his word. General
+Sturm could thus be sure, every morning, that though he might forget
+Benedict, Benedict did not forget him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+THE TRANSFUSION OF BLOOD.
+
+
+Three days had elapsed since the events just narrated. The first bursts
+of grief in the two bereaved households were appeased, and though there
+were still tears there were no longer sobs.
+
+Karl grew better and better; for two days past he had raised himself in
+his bed and had been able to give signs of consciousness, not only by
+broken utterances, tender exclamations, and endearing words, but by
+taking part in conversation. His brain, which like the rest of his body
+had been greatly enfeebled, was gradually recovering the supremacy which
+it exercises over the rest of the body in health.
+
+Helen, who beheld this resurrection, and was at the age when youth gives
+one hand to love and one to hope, rejoiced in this visible recovery as
+though heaven itself had promised that no accident should come to
+disturb it. Twice a day the surgeon visited the wounded man, and without
+destroying Helen's hopes he persisted in withholding any assurance of
+complete safety. Karl saw her hope; but he remarked, too, the reserve
+with which the surgeon received all her joyful schemes for the future.
+He, also, was making schemes, but of a sadder kind.
+
+"Helen," said he, "I know all you have done for me. Benedict has told me
+of your tears, your despair, your weariness. I love you with so selfish
+a love, Helen, that I wish, before I die--"
+
+And as Helen made a movement, he added:
+
+"If I die, I wish first to call you my wife, so that in case there
+exists--as they tell us, and as our own pride leads us to believe--a
+world beyond this, I may find my wife there as here. Promise me, then,
+my sweet nurse, that if any one of those accidents that trouble the
+doctor's mind should occur, promise me that you will instantly send for
+a priest, and with your hand in mine say: 'Give us your blessing,
+father, Karl von Freyberg is my husband.' And I swear to you, Helen,
+that my death will be as easy and calm then as it would be full of
+despair if I could not say: 'Farewell, my beloved wife.'"
+
+Helen listened with that smile of hope upon her lips with which she made
+answer to all Karl's words, whether sad or happy. From time to time,
+when she saw her patient becoming excited, she would sign to him to be
+still, and taking down from her bookshelves Uhland, or Goethe, or
+Schiller, would read aloud to him, and almost always Karl would close
+his eyes and presently fall asleep to the sound of her melodious, liquid
+voice. His need of sleep, after so great a loss of blood, was enormous;
+and then, as though she could see the sleep-bringing shadows thickening
+over his brain, she would let her voice grow dim, little by little, and
+with her eyes half upon the sick man and half upon her page would cease
+to speak at the very moment when he began to sleep.
+
+At night she allowed Benedict to take her place by Karl for two or three
+hours, because Karl entreated it, but she did not go out of the room. A
+curtain was drawn across the recess in which her bed--now brought into
+the middle of the room for the patient, previously stood, and behind the
+curtain she slept on a couch, slept so lightly that at the least
+movement in the room, or the first word uttered, the curtain would be
+lifted and her voice would ask anxiously:
+
+"What is it?"
+
+Helen was a sister of those delightful creations that are to be found on
+every page of Germany's popular poetry. We attribute great merit to
+those poetic dreamers who perceive Loreleis in the mist of the Rhine and
+Mignons in the foliage of thickets, and do not remind ourselves that
+there is, after all, no such great merit in finding these charming
+images, because they are not the visions of genius, but actual copies,
+whose originals the misty nature of England and of Germany sets before
+them as models weeping or smiling, but always poetical. Observe, too,
+that on the shores of the Rhine, the Main, or the Danube, it is not
+necessary to seek these types--rare, if not unknown among ourselves--in
+the ranks of the aristocracy, but they may be seen at the citizen's
+window or the peasant's doorway, where Schüler found his Louisa, and
+Goethe his Margaret. Thus Helen accomplished deeds that seem to us the
+height of devotion with the most entire simplicity, and never knew that
+her loving toil deserved a glance of approval from man, or even from
+God.
+
+On the nights when Helen sat up, Benedict rested in Frederic's room,
+throwing himself fully dressed upon the bed, so as to be ready at the
+first call to run to Helen's assistance or to go for the surgeon. We
+have already said that a carriage ready harnessed was always at the
+door, and, oddly enough, the further recovery progressed, the more the
+doctor insisted that this precaution should not be neglected.
+
+July 30th had been reached, when, after having watched by Karl during a
+part of the night, Benedict had yielded his post to Helen, had returned
+to Frederic's room and flung himself upon the bed, when, all at once he
+thought he heard himself loudly called. Almost at the same moment his
+door opened, and Helen, pale, dishevelled, and covered with blood,
+appeared in the doorway making inarticulate sounds that seemed to stand
+for "Help!"
+
+Benedict guessed what had happened. The doctor, less reserved towards
+him than towards the young girl, had told him what possibilities he
+feared, and evidently one of these possibilities had come to pass.
+
+He rushed to Karl's room; the ligature of the artery had burst and blood
+was flowing in waves and in jets. Karl had fainted.
+
+Benedict did not lose an instant; twisting his handkerchief into a rope
+he tied it round Karl's upper arm, broke the bar of a chair with a kick,
+slipped the bar into the knot of the handkerchief, and turning the stick
+upon its axis, made what is known in medical language as a _tourniquet_.
+The blood stopped instantly.
+
+Helen flung herself distractedly upon the bed, she seemed to have gone
+mad. She did not hear Benedict calling to her: "The doctor! the doctor!"
+
+With his free hand--the other was pressing upon Karl's arm--Benedict
+pulled the bell so violently that Hans, guessing something unusual to be
+the matter, arrived quite scared.
+
+"Take the carriage and fetch the doctor," cried Benedict. Hans
+understood everything, for in one glance he had seen all. He flung
+himself downstairs and into the carriage, calling out in his turn: "To
+the doctor's!"
+
+As it was scarcely six o'clock in the morning, the doctor was at home,
+and within ten minutes walked into the room.
+
+Seeing the blood streaming over the floor, Helen, half fainting, and,
+above all, Benedict compressing the wounded man's arm, he understood
+what had happened, the rather that he had dreaded this.
+
+"Ah, I foresaw this!" he exclaimed, "a secondary hæmorrhage, the artery
+has given way."
+
+At his voice Helen sprang up and flung her arms about him.
+
+"He will not die! he will not die!" she cried, "you will not let him
+die, will you?"
+
+The doctor disengaged himself from her grasp, and approached the bed.
+Karl had not lost nearly so much blood as last time, but to judge from
+the pool that was spreading across the room he must have lost over
+twenty-eight ounces, which in his present state of weakness was
+exorbitant.
+
+However, the doctor did not lose courage; the arm was still bare; he
+made a fresh incision and sought with his forceps for the artery, which,
+fortunately, having been compressed by Benedict, had moved only a few
+centimetres. In a second the artery was tied, but the wounded man was
+completely unconscious. Helen, who had watched the first operation with
+anxiety, followed this one with terror. She had then seen Karl lying
+mute, motionless, and cold, with the appearance of death, but she had
+not seem him pass, as he had just done, from life to death. His lips
+were white, his eyes closed, his cheeks waxen; clearly Karl had gone
+nearer to the grave than even on the former occasion. Helen wrung her
+hands.
+
+"Oh, his wish! his wish!" she cried, "he will not have the joy of seeing
+it fulfilled. Sir," she said to the doctor, "will he not reopen his
+eyes? Will he not speak again before he dies? I do not ask for his
+life--only a miracle could grant that. But, make him open his eyes,
+doctor. Doctor! make him speak to me! Let a priest join our hands! Let
+us be united in this world, so that we may not be separated in the
+next."
+
+The doctor, despite his usual calm, could not remain cold in the
+presence of such sorrow; though he had done all that was in the power of
+his art and felt that he could do no more, he tried to reassure Helen
+with those commonplaces that physicians keep in reserve for the last
+extremities.
+
+But Benedict, going up to him, and taking him by the hand, said:
+
+"Doctor, you hear what she asks; she does not ask for her lover's life,
+she asks for a few moments' revival, long enough for the priest to utter
+a few words and place a ring upon her finger."
+
+"Yes, yes!" cried Helen, "only that! Senseless that I was not to have
+yielded when he asked and sent at once for the priest. Let him open his
+eyes, let him say 'Yes,' so that his wish may be accomplished and I may
+keep my promise to him."
+
+"Doctor," said Benedict, pressing the hand which he had retained in his,
+"how, if we asked from science the miracle that Heaven seems to deny?
+How if we were to try transfusion of blood?"
+
+"What is that?" asked Helen.
+
+The doctor considered for a second and looked at the patient: then he
+said:
+
+"There is no hope; we risk nothing."
+
+"I asked you," said Helen, "what is transfusion of blood?"
+
+"It consists," replied the doctor, "in passing into the exhausted veins
+of a sick man enough warm, living blood to give him back, if only for a
+moment, life, speech, and consciousness. I have never performed the
+operation, but have seen it once or twice in hospitals."
+
+"So have I," said Benedict, "I have always been interested in strange
+things, so I attended Majendie's lectures, and I have always seen the
+experiment succeed when the blood infused belonged to an animal of the
+same species."
+
+"Well," said the doctor, "I will go and try to find a man willing to
+sell us some twenty or thirty ounces of his blood."
+
+"Doctor," said Benedict, throwing off his coat, "I do not sell my blood
+to my friends, but I give it. Your man is here."
+
+At these words Helen uttered a cry, flung herself violently between
+Benedict and the doctor, and proudly holding out her bare arm to the
+surgeon, said to Benedict:
+
+"You have done enough for him already. If human blood is to pass from
+another into the veins of my beloved Karl it shall be mine; it is my
+right."
+
+Benedict fell on his knees before her and kissed the hem of her skirt.
+The less impressionable doctor merely said:
+
+"Very well! We will try. Give the patient a spoonful of some cordial. I
+will go home and get the instruments."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+THE MARRIAGE _IN EXTREMIS_
+
+
+The doctor rushed from the room as rapidly as his professional dignity
+would allow.
+
+During his absence Helen slipped a spoonful of a cordial between Karl's
+lips while Benedict rang the bell. Hans appeared.
+
+"Go and fetch a priest," said Helen.
+
+"Is it for extreme unction?" Hans ventured to ask.
+
+"For a marriage," answered Helen.
+
+Five minutes later the doctor returned with his apparatus, and asked
+Benedict to ring for a servant.
+
+A maid came.
+
+"Some warm water in a deep vessel," said the doctor, "and a thermometer
+if there is one in the house."
+
+She came back with the required articles.
+
+The doctor took a bandage from his pocket and rolled it round the
+wounded man's left arm, the right arm being injured. After a few moments
+the vein swelled, proving thereby that the blood was not all exhausted,
+and that circulation still continued, although feebly. The doctor then
+turned to Helen.
+
+"Are you ready?" he enquired.
+
+"Yes," said Helen, "but make haste. Oh, God, if he should die!"
+
+The doctor compressed her arm with a bandage, placed the apparatus upon
+the bed so as to bring it close to the patient, and put it into water
+heated to 35 degrees centigrade, so that the blood should not have time
+to cool in passing from one arm to the other. He placed one end of the
+syringe against Karl's arm and almost simultaneously pricked Helen's so
+that her blood spurted into the vessel. When he judged that there were
+some 120 to 130 grammes he signed to Benedict to staunch Helen's
+bleeding with his thumb, and making a longitudinal cut in the vein of
+Karl's arm he slipped in the point of the syringe, taking great care
+that no air-bubble should get in with the blood. While the operation,
+which lasted about ten minutes, was going on, a slight sound was heard
+at the door. It was the priest coming in, accompanied by Emma, Madame
+von Beling, and all the servants. Helen turned, saw them at the door,
+and signed to them to come in. At the same moment Benedict pressed her
+arm; Karl had just quivered, a sort of shudder ran through his whole
+body.
+
+"Ah!" sighed Helen, folding her hands, "thank God! It is my blood
+reaching his heart!"
+
+Benedict had ready a piece of court-plaster, which he pressed upon the
+open vein and held it closed.
+
+The priest approached; he was a Roman Catholic who had been Helen's
+director from her childhood up.
+
+"You sent for me, my child?" he asked.
+
+"Yes," answered Helen; "I desire, if my grandmother and elder sister
+will allow, to marry this gentleman, who, with God's help, will soon
+open his eyes and recover his senses. Only, there is no time to lose,
+for the swoon may return."
+
+And, as though Karl had but awaited this moment to revive, he opened his
+eyes, looked tenderly at Helen and said, in a weak, but intelligible
+voice:
+
+"In the depth of my swoon, I heard everything; you are an angel, Helen,
+and I join with you in asking permission of your mother and sister that
+I may leave you my name."
+
+Benedict and the doctor looked at each other amazed at the
+over-excitement which for the moment restored sight to the dying man's
+eyes and speech to his lips. The priest drew near to him.
+
+"Louis Karl von Freyberg, do you declare, acknowledge, and swear, before
+God and in the face of the holy Church, that you now take as your wife
+and lawful spouse, Helen de Chandroz, here present?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You promise and vow to be true to her in all things as a faithful
+husband should to his wife according to the commandments of God?"
+
+Karl smiled sadly at this admonition of the Church; meant for people who
+expect to live long and to have time for breaking their solemn vow.
+
+"Yes," said he, "and in witness of it, here is my mother's wedding-ring,
+which, sacred already, will become the more sacred by passing through
+your hands."
+
+"And you, Helen de Chandroz, do you consent, acknowledge, and swear,
+before God and the holy Church, that you take for your husband and
+lawful spouse, Louis Karl von Freyberg, here present?"
+
+"Oh, yes, yes, father," exclaimed the girl.
+
+In place of Karl, who was too weak to speak, the priest added:
+
+"Take this token of the marriage vows exchanged between you."
+
+As he spoke he placed upon Helen's finger the ring given him by Karl.
+
+"I give you this ring as a sign of the marriage that you have
+contracted."
+
+The priest made the sign of the cross upon the bride's hand, saying in a
+low voice:
+
+"In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen!"
+
+Stretching out his right hand towards the pair, he added, aloud:
+
+"May the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob join you together and
+bestow His blessing upon you. I unite you in the name of the Father, the
+Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen!"
+
+"Father," said Karl to the priest, "if you will now add to the prayers
+that you have just uttered for the husband the absolution for the dying,
+I shall have nothing more to ask of you."
+
+The priest, raising his hand, pronounced the consecrated words, as if
+Karl's soul had delayed until this solemn moment to depart from the
+body. Helen, who had raised him in her arms, felt herself drawn to him
+by an irresistible power. Her lips clung to those of her lover, and
+between them escaped the words:
+
+"Farewell, my darling wife; your blood is my blood. Farewell."
+
+His body fell back upon the pillow. Karl had breathed his last breath
+upon Helen's mouth. One sob only was heard from the poor girl, and the
+complete prostration with which she fell back upon his body showed
+everybody that he was dead. The spectators rose from their knees. Emma
+threw herself into Helen's arms, exclaiming:
+
+"Now we are doubly sisters, by birth and by affliction." Then, feeling
+that this sorrow required solitude, one after another slipped away,
+slowly, gently, and on tiptoe, leaving Helen alone with her husband's
+body.
+
+At the end of a couple of hours, Benedict, growing uneasy, ventured to
+go to her and knocked slowly at the door, saying.
+
+"It is I, sister."
+
+Helen, who had locked herself in, came to open the door. With amazement
+he beheld her dressed completely in bridal attire. She had put on a
+wreath of white roses, diamond earrings hung from her ears, and the
+costliest of necklaces surrounded her neck. Her fingers were loaded with
+valuable rings. Her arm from which the blood had been drawn to perform
+the miracle of resurrection was covered with bracelets. A magnificent
+lace shawl was thrown over her shoulders and covered a satin gown
+fastened with knots of pearls.
+
+"You see, my friend," she said to Benedict, "that I have tried to fulfil
+his wishes completely. I am dressed not as his betrothed but as his
+wife."
+
+Benedict looked at her sadly--the rather that she did not weep--on the
+contrary, she smiled. It seemed as though she had given all her tears to
+the living Karl and had none left for the dead. Benedict saw with
+profound surprise that she went to and fro in the room, busied with a
+number of little matters relating to Karl's burial and every moment
+showed him some fresh article.
+
+"Look!" she would say, "he liked this; he noticed that; we will put it
+beside him in his coffin. By the way," she added suddenly, "I was just
+forgetting my hair which he liked so much."
+
+She unfastened her wreath, took hold of her hair, which hung below her
+knees, cut it off, and made a plait which she knotted round Karl's bare
+neck.
+
+Evening came. She talked at length with Benedict of the hour at which
+the funeral should take place on the morrow. As it was now but six in
+the evening, she begged him to see to all the details that would be so
+painful to the family, and indeed, almost as painful to him who had
+loved Frederic and Karl like two brothers. He was to order a wide oak
+coffin, himself:
+
+"Why a wide one?" Benedict asked.
+
+Helen only answered:
+
+"Do as I ask you, dear friend, and blessings will be upon you."
+
+She gave orders herself for the body of her husband to be placed in its
+shroud at six the next morning.
+
+Benedict obeyed her in everything. He spent his whole evening over these
+funeral preparations and did not return to the house until eleven
+o'clock. He found Helen's room transformed, a double row of candles
+burning around the bed. Helen was sitting on the bed and looking at
+Karl.
+
+Even as she no longer wept she now no longer prayed. What had she left
+to ask of Heaven now that Karl was dead? Towards midnight her mother and
+sister, who had been praying, and who understood her calmness no more
+than Benedict did, went to their own rooms. Helen embraced them sadly
+but without tears and asked that the little child might be brought, so
+that she might kiss him too. She held him some time in her arms and then
+gave him back to his mother. When she was left alone with Benedict she
+said to him:
+
+"Pray take some hours' rest, either here or at home; do not be uneasy
+about me. I will be down, dressed, and sleep beside him."
+
+"Sleep!" said Benedict, more and more amazed.
+
+"Yes," said Helen simply, "I feel tired. While he was alive, I could not
+sleep. Now--" She did not finish the sentence.
+
+"When shall I come back?" asked Benedict.
+
+"When you please," said Helen. "Let it be about eight in the morning."
+
+Then, looking through the open casement towards the sky, she said:
+
+"I think there will be a storm to-night."
+
+Benedict pressed her hand and was going, but she called him back.
+
+"Excuse me, dear friend," said she, "have you been told that they are
+coming at six in the morning to wrap him in his shroud?"
+
+"Yes," said Benedict, his voice choked with tears.
+
+Helen guessed at his feelings.
+
+"You do not mean to kiss me then, my friend?" she observed.
+
+Benedict pressed her to his heart and broke into sobs.
+
+"How weak you are!" said she. "Look how calm _he_ is; so calm that one
+would think he was happy." And as Benedict was about to answer, she
+added: "Go, go; to-morrow at eight."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As Helen had foretold, the night was stormy; with morning a terrible
+tempest broke out; rain fell in torrents, accompanied by such flashes of
+lightning as are only seen in storms that announce or cause great
+misfortunes.
+
+At six o'clock the women who were to perform the last offices for Karl
+arrived. Helen had looked out the finest sheets she could find, and had
+spent a part of the night in embroidering them with Karl's monogram and
+her own. Then, when her pious task was completed she did as she had
+said, lay down beside Karl on his bed and encircled by the double row of
+lighted candles, slept with as sound a sleep as though she were already
+in her grave. The two women, knocking at the door, awoke her. Seeing
+them come in, the material aspect of death was forcibly presented to
+her, and she could not abstain from shedding tears. Stolid as these
+poor creatures who live by the services that they render to the dead
+generally are, when they saw the young girl so beautiful, so adorned, so
+pale, they could not help feeling an emotion unknown to them until then.
+They trembled as they took the sheets from Helen's hands and asked her
+to withdraw while they fulfilled their funeral office.
+
+Helen uncovered Karl's face, over which the two Ministers of Fate had
+already thrown the shroud, kissed his lips, murmured into his ear some
+words that the women did not hear, then, addressing one of them, said:
+
+"I am going to pray for my husband in the Church of Notre Dame de la
+Croix. If between now and eight o'clock a young man named Benedict comes
+here, please give him this note."
+
+She drew from her bosom a paper already folded, sealed, and addressed to
+Benedict, and went away. The storm was roaring in all its violence. At
+the door she found Lenhart's carriage and Lenhart himself. He was
+astonished to see her coming out so early, dressed in so elegant a
+costume; but when she had directed him to the church of Notre Dame de la
+Croix, to which he had driven her two or three times before, he
+understood that she was going to pray at her usual shrine.
+
+Helen entered the church. The day was so dark that it would have been
+impossible to find one's way if the flashes of lightning had not shot
+their snakes of fire through the coloured panes.
+
+Helen went straight to her accustomed chapel. The statue of the Virgin
+stood in its place, silent, smiling, decked with gold lace and jewels,
+and crowned with diamonds. At her feet Helen recognized the wreath of
+white roses that she had hung there on the day when she had come with
+Karl and sworn to him to love him always and to die with him. The day
+to keep her vow had come, and she was here to tell the Virgin of her
+readiness to keep her promise, as though that promise were not an
+impiety. Then, as if that were all that she had to do, she made a short
+prayer, kissed the Holy Mother's feet, and went out again to the porch
+of the church.
+
+The weather had cleared a little. For the moment rain had ceased to
+fall, and a gleam of blue shone between two clouds. The air was full of
+electricity. The thunder was roaring in noisy outbursts and the flashes
+threw their blue light almost uninterruptedly upon the pavement and the
+houses. Helen left the church. Lenhart hurried forward with his carriage
+for her to get in.
+
+"I feel stifled," said she, "let me walk a little."
+
+"I will follow you, madam," said Lenhart.
+
+"As you please," she answered.
+
+Eight o'clock was chiming from the cathedral.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the same hour Benedict was just entering Helen's room where Karl lay
+in his shroud. The two women, who had been entrusted with that pious
+duty, were praying by the bed, but Helen was absent. Benedict began by
+looking in every direction, expecting to see her praying in some corner,
+but not perceiving her in any, he enquired where she could be.
+
+One of the women replied:
+
+"She went out an hour ago, saying that she would go to the Church of
+Notre Dame de la Croix."
+
+"How was she dressed?" asked Benedict. "And," he added, with an uneasy
+presentiment, "did she not say anything or leave any message for me?"
+
+"Are you the gentleman called M. Benedict?" returned the woman who had
+answered his previous questions.
+
+"Yes," said he.
+
+"Then here is a letter for you."
+
+She handed him the note that Helen had left. He opened it hastily. It
+contained only these few lines:
+
+     "MY BELOVED BROTHER,
+
+     "I promised Karl, before Notre Dame de la Croix, not to outlive
+     him; Karl is dead, and I am about to die.
+
+     "If my body is recovered, see, my dear Benedict, that it is placed
+     in my husband's coffin; this was the reason why I asked you to have
+     it made wide. I hope that God will permit me to sleep in it by
+     Karl's side throughout eternity.
+
+     "I bequeath a thousand florins to the person who finds my body, if
+     it should be some boatman or fisherman, or poor man with a family.
+     If it should be some person who cannot or will not accept the
+     money, I leave him my last blessing.
+
+     "The morrow of Karl's death is the day of mine.
+
+     "My farewells to all who love me."
+
+                                 "HELEN."
+
+
+
+Benedict was finishing the reading of this letter when Lenhart appeared
+in the doorway, pale and dripping with water, and calling out:
+
+"Oh, how shall I tell you, M. Benedict! Madame Helen has just thrown
+herself into the river. Come, come at once!"
+
+Benedict looked round, seized a handkerchief that was lying on the bier,
+still perfumed and damp with the poor girl's tears, and rushed from the
+room. The carriage was at the door; he sprang into it.
+
+"To your house," he called sharply to Lenhart. The latter, accustomed to
+obey Benedict without asking why, put his horses to the gallop;
+moreover, his house was on the way to the river. The house being
+reached, he leaped from the carriage, took the staircase in three
+strides, and opening the door, called:
+
+"Here! Frisk!"
+
+The dog rushed out after his master and was in the carriage as soon as
+he.
+
+"To the river!" cried Benedict.
+
+Lenhart began to understand; he whipped up his horses and they galloped
+on as quickly as before. As they drove, Benedict divested himself of his
+coat, waistcoat, and shirt, retaining only his trousers. When they
+arrived at the river bank, he saw some sailors with boathooks who were
+raking the water for Helen's body.
+
+"Did you see her throw herself into the water?" he enquired of Lenhart.
+
+"Yes, your honour," he answered.
+
+"Where was it?"
+
+Lenhart showed him the spot.
+
+"Twenty florins for a boat!" shouted Benedict.
+
+A boatman brought one. Benedict, followed by Frisk, sprang into it.
+Then, having steered it into the line along which Helen's body had
+disappeared, he followed the current, holding Frisk by the collar, and
+making him smell the handkerchief that he had taken up from Karl's bed.
+
+They came to a place in the river where the dog gave a melancholy howl.
+Benedict let him loose, he sprang out and disappeared at once. An
+instant later he came to the surface and swam about above the same place
+howling dismally.
+
+"Yes," said Benedict, "yes, she is there."
+
+Then he, in his turn, dived, and soon reappeared bearing Helen's body on
+his shoulder.
+
+As Helen had wished, her body was, by Benedict's care, laid in the same
+coffin as Karl's. Her bridal garments were allowed to dry upon her and
+she had no other shroud.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+"WAIT AND SEE"
+
+
+When Karl and Helen had been laid in their place of eternal rest,
+Benedict considered that the time had now arrived when, having no more
+services to perform for the family to which he had devoted himself, he
+might remind Sturm that he was Frederic von Bülow's executor.
+
+Always obedient to convention he dressed himself with the greatest care,
+hung the Cross of the Legion of Honour and the Guelphic Order to his
+buttonhole by a line gold chain and sent in his name to General Sturm.
+The general was in his study. He ordered Benedict to be shown in at
+once, and as he entered rose from his seat, showed him a chair, and sat
+down again. Benedict indicated that he preferred to stand.
+
+"Sir," said he, "the succession of misfortunes which has befallen the
+Chandroz family leaves me free, earlier than I expected, to come and
+remind you that Frederic, when he was dying, bequeathed to me a sacred
+duty--that of vengeance."
+
+The general bowed and Benedict returned his bow.
+
+"Nothing now keeps me in Frankfort but my wish to fulfil my friend's
+last injunction. You know what that injunction was, for I have told you;
+from this moment I shall have the honour of holding myself at your
+disposal."
+
+"That is to say, sir," said General Sturm, striking his fist upon the
+writing-table before him, "that you come here to challenge me?"
+
+"Yes, sir," answered Benedict. "A dying man's wishes are sacred, and
+Frederic von Bülow's wish was that one of us--either you or I--should
+disappear from this world. I deliver it to you the more readily because
+I know you, sir, to be brave, skilful in all bodily exercises, and a
+first-rate swordsman and shot. I am not an officer in the Prussian army;
+you are in no sense my chief. I am a Frenchman, you are a Prussian; we
+have Jena behind us and you have Leipzig; we are therefore enemies. All
+this makes me hope that you will place no difficulty in my way, and will
+consent to send me two seconds to-morrow, who will find mine at my house
+between seven and eight in the morning, and will do me the pleasure of
+announcing to them the hour, place, and weapons that you have chosen.
+Everything will be acceptable to me; make what conditions you like in
+the best way you can. I hope that you are satisfied."
+
+General Sturm had shown frequent signs of impatience during Benedict's
+speech; but had controlled himself like a well-bred man.
+
+"Sir," said he, "I promise you that you shall hear from me by the hour
+you name, and perhaps earlier."
+
+This was all that Benedict wanted. He bowed and withdrew, delighted that
+everything had passed off so properly. He was already at the door when
+he remembered that he had omitted to give the general his new address,
+at Lenhart's. He went to a table and wrote the street and number below
+his name on his card.
+
+"Excuse me," said he, "I must not fail to let your Excellency know where
+I am to be found."
+
+"Are you not my neighbour?" asked the general.
+
+"No," said Benedict. "I have left this house since the day before
+yesterday."
+
+On the same evening, since he expected to leave Frankfort immediately
+after next day's duel--unless, indeed, some wound should detain
+him--Benedict left cards of farewell at all the houses where he had
+visited, withdrew his money from the bank, and, his banker having
+detained him, remained at his house until eleven o'clock, and then took
+leave to return to Lenhart's. But, as he was crossing the corner of the
+Ross Market an officer accosted him and, saying that he had a
+communication to make on behalf of the officer in command of the town,
+begged Benedict to accompany him. The latter made no difficulty about
+entering the market place where military were quartered, and there, at a
+sign from the officer, soldiers surrounded him.
+
+"Sir," said the officer, "will you kindly read this paper, which
+concerns you."
+
+Benedict took the paper and read it:
+
+     "By order of the colonel in command of the town and as a measure of
+     public safety, M. Benedict Turpin is instructed to leave Frankfort
+     instantly upon receipt of the present order. Should he refuse to
+     obey willingly, force is to be employed. Six privates and an
+     officer will accompany him to the station, enter the same carriage
+     in the Cologne train and only leave him at the frontier of the
+     Prussian territory.
+
+     "This order to be carried out before midnight.
+
+                        "Signed ***."
+
+
+
+Benedict looked round; he had no possible means of resistance.
+
+"Sir," said he, "if I had any way of escaping from the order that I have
+just read, I declare to you that I would do anything in the world to get
+out of your hands. The great man who is your minister, and whom I
+admire although I do not like him, has said 'Might is right.' I am ready
+to yield to force. But I should be greatly obliged if one of you would
+go to 17, Beckenheim Street, to a man who lets out carriages, named
+Lenhart, and kindly ask him to bring me my dog, of which I am very fond.
+I will take occasion to give him some orders in your presence that are
+of no particular consequence, but rather important to a man who has been
+living in a town for three months and is leaving when he had no
+expectation of doing so."
+
+The officer ordered a soldier to fulfil Benedict's wish.
+
+"Sir," said he, "I know that you were intimate with a man to whom we
+were all attached, Herr Frederic von Bülow; although I have not the
+honour of your personal acquaintance, I should be sorry that you should
+carry away a bad impression of me. I was ordered to arrest you in the
+manner that I have done. I hope you will pardon an action entirely
+outside my own wishes, and which I have tried to perform with as much
+courtesy as possible."
+
+Benedict held out his hand.
+
+"I have been a soldier, sir; and therefore I am obliged to you for an
+explanation that you might easily have refrained from making."
+
+A minute or so later Lenhart arrived with Frisk.
+
+"My dear Lenhart," said Benedict, "I am leaving Frankfort unexpectedly;
+be so kind as to collect any things belonging to me that you may have
+and send them to me, in two or three days, unless you prefer to bring
+them yourself to Paris, which you do not know and where I would try to
+make you spend a pleasant fortnight. I do not offer any terms; you know
+that you may safely leave such matters in my hands."
+
+"Oh, I will go, sir, I will go," said. Lenhart. "You may be sure of
+that."
+
+"And now," said Benedict, "I think it must be time for the train; no
+doubt you have a carriage waiting; let us go if you have nothing more to
+wait for, and if you have not a travelling companion to give me."
+
+The soldiers lined up and Benedict passed between them to the carriage
+that was waiting. Frisk, always delighted to go from one place to
+another, leapt in first, as if to invite his master to follow. Benedict
+stepped in, the officer followed him; four privates followed the
+officer, a fifth seated himself beside the driver, a sixth jumped up
+behind, and the conveyance set out for the station.
+
+The engine was just ready to start as the prisoner arrived; he had not
+even the trouble of waiting a few minutes. At the carriage door Frisk
+was, as usual, the first to jump in, and although it is not customary,
+especially in Prussia, for dogs to travel first-class, Benedict obtained
+for him the favour of remaining with them. Next morning they were at
+Cologne.
+
+"Sir," said Benedict to the officer, "I am accustomed, every time that I
+pass through this town, to provide myself with Farina's eau-de-Cologne
+for my dressing-table. If you are not pressed for time I would propose
+two things to you: in the first place my word of honour to play fair and
+not give you the slip before reaching the frontier; in the second place,
+a good breakfast for these gentlemen and you, all breakfasting together
+at the same table without any distinction of rank, like brothers. Then
+we will take the midday train, unless you prefer to trust my word that I
+will go straight to Paris."
+
+The officer smiled.
+
+"Sir," said he, "we will do what you please. I should like you to carry
+away the impression that we are only uncivil and tormentors when we are
+ordered to be. You want to stay; then let us stay! You offer me your
+word; I accept it. You wish to have us all breakfast with you; although
+it does not conform either to Prussian habits or Prussian discipline, I
+accept. The only precaution we will take--and that rather to do you
+honour than because we doubt your word--will be to see you off at the
+station. Where do you wish us to meet you again?"
+
+"At the Rhine Hotel, if you please, gentlemen, in an hour's time."
+
+"I need not say," added the officer, speaking in French that the
+soldiers should not understand him, "that after the way I have behaved
+to you I ought to be cashiered."
+
+Benedict bowed with an air that seemed to say "You need be under no
+uneasiness, sir."
+
+Benedict went away to the cathedral square, where Jean Marie Parina's
+shop is situated, and the officer took off his men in another direction.
+
+Benedict supplied himself with eau-de-Cologne, which he could the more
+easily do because, having no other luggage, he could carry his purchase
+with him, and then proceeded to the Rhine Hotel, where he was accustomed
+to stay. He ordered the best breakfast that the proprietor could promise
+him, and awaited his guests, who appeared at the agreed time.
+
+The breakfast was a thoroughly cheerful one; the prosperity of France
+and the prosperity of Prussia were toasted, the Prussians courteously
+setting the example; and after breakfast Benedict was escorted to the
+station, and, by military order, had a carriage to himself, instead of
+sharing one with six private soldiers and an officer.
+
+At the moment of the train's starting the officer put into Benedict's
+hand a letter, which the traveller opened as soon as the train had
+passed out of the station. He gave a glance at the signature. It came,
+as he expected, from General Sturm and contained these words:
+
+     "MY DEAR SIR,
+
+     "You will understand that it does not become a superior officer to
+     set a bad example by accepting a challenge of which the object is
+     to avenge an officer who was punished for disobedience to his
+     chief. If I were to fight you for a reason so contrary to all
+     military discipline I should be setting a fatal example to the
+     army. I refuse, therefore, for the present, to meet you, and in
+     order to avoid a scandal, I employ one of the most courteous
+     measures at my disposal. You, yourself, were so good as to
+     acknowledge that I had a reputation for courage, and you added that
+     you knew me to be a first-rate shot and swordsman. You cannot,
+     therefore, attribute my refusal to any fear of facing you. A
+     proverb, common to all countries, says: 'Mountains do not meet, but
+     men do.' If we meet anywhere else than in Prussia, and if you are
+     still desirous of killing me, we will see about settling this
+     little matter; but I warn you that the result is by no means a
+     foregone conclusion, and that you will have more trouble than you
+     expect in keeping your promise to your friend Frederic."
+
+Benedict refolded the letter with the utmost care, placed it in his
+pocket-book and slipped his pocket-book into his pocket, arranged
+himself as comfortably as he could in a corner, and closing his eyes for
+sleep, murmured: "Well, well, we will wait and see!"
+
+
+
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+
+The presence of the Prussians in Frankfort and the terror that they
+caused there did not end with the events which have just been related,
+and to which the present narrative ought to confine itself. A few lines
+only must be added that our work may close as it opened, by a page of
+politics.
+
+Towards the end of September 1866 it was announced that the city of
+Frankfort, losing its nationality, its title of a free town, its
+privilege of having the Diet held there, and finally its rights as a
+member of the Confederation, was to be united on October 8th to the
+kingdom of Prussia.
+
+The morrow was gloomy and rainy; no house had hung out the
+black-and-white flag; no citizen, sad or cheerful, was in the streets,
+every window was shuttered, every door closed. It seemed a city of the
+dead. The flag flew only over the barracks, the Exchange, and the post
+office.
+
+But in the Roemer Square there was an assemblage of some three or four
+hundred men, all belonging to the suburb of Sachsenhausen. It was a
+curious thing that each of these men had a dog of some description with
+him: a bulldog, mastiff, spaniel, hound, griffon, greyhound, or poodle.
+Amidst these bipeds and quadrupeds, Lenhart went up and down relating
+what fine things he had seen in Paris, and holding everybody's
+attention. He it was who had devised this meeting of his fellow
+inhabitants of Sachsenhausen, and who, by whispered instructions, had
+invited them to bring their dogs. Men and dogs alike gazed towards the
+window from which the proclamation was to be made. They had been waiting
+there since nine in the morning.
+
+At eleven the members of the Senate, the Christian and Jewish clergy,
+the professors, the chief officials, and Major-General Boyer, with the
+officers of the garrison, were gathered together in the Hall of the
+Emperors in the Roemer, to witness the taking possession of the formerly
+free town of Frankfort by His Gracious Majesty, the King of Prussia.
+
+The civil governor, Baron Patow, and the civil Commissioner, Herr von
+Madaï, came from the Senate Hall (once the hall in which the Emperors of
+Germany were elected) into the great hall. After some little preamble on
+Baron Patow's part he read to the persons present the patent by which
+the former free town of Frankfort was taken into possession, and then
+the royal proclamation which announced that the town had been added to
+the Prussian dominions.
+
+The same documents were now to be read to the people of Frankfort. The
+window was opened to an accompaniment of joyful murmurs and mocking
+acclamation from the men of Sachsenhausen and the yawns of their dogs.
+The square was occupied, we forgot to mention, not only by the men from
+Sachsenhausen but by a company of the 34th regiment of the line and its
+band.
+
+Herr von Madaï read aloud the following proclamation:
+
+"The very high and very powerful proclamation of His Majesty the King
+of Prussia to the inhabitants of the former free town of Frankfort."
+
+Either because the voice of Herr von Madaï was particularly disagreeable
+to his hearers or because the words "former free town of Frankfort"
+aroused their sensibility, several dogs howled dismally. Herr von Madaï
+paused until silence was restored, and continued, still in the king's
+name:
+
+"By the patent that I cause to be published to-day I unite you,
+inhabitants of the city of Frankfort-on-the-Main and its suburbs, to my
+subjects, your German neighbours and brothers."
+
+Five or six howls protested against this union. Herr von Madaï seemed to
+give no heed to them and proceeded.
+
+"By the decision of the war and the reorganization of our common German
+Fatherland, you are deprived of the independence which you have hitherto
+enjoyed, and now enter the union of a great country, whose population is
+sympathetic to you by language, customs, and identity of interests."
+
+This news did not appear agreeable to the prejudices of some hearers;
+there were complaints, growls, and a certain number of lamentations.
+Herr von Madaï seemed to understand these sad protestations.
+
+"If," said he, "it is not without pain that you resign former
+connections that were dear to you, I respect such feelings and esteem
+them as a guarantee that you and your children will be faithfully
+attached to me and my house."
+
+An enormous bulldog replied by a single bark, which appeared, however,
+to speak the opinion of the two or three hundred companions around him.
+The interruption did not disturb Herr von Madaï, and he went on:
+
+"You will recognize the force of accomplished facts; if the fruits of an
+obstinate war and of bloody victories are not to be lost to Germany, the
+duty of self-preservation and care for national interests imperatively
+demand that the town of Frankfort shall be joined to Prussia, solidly
+and for ever."
+
+At this moment a dog broke its chain and despite shouts of "Arrest the
+rebel! Arrest the rebel!" and the pursuit of some five or six
+Sachsenhausen urchins, disappeared into the Jewry.
+
+"And, as my father of blessed memory declared," resumed Herr von Madaï,
+"it is solely for the profit of Germany that Prussia has enlarged its
+boundaries. I offer this for your serious reflection, and I confide in
+your upright German good sense to swear allegiance to me with the same
+sincerity as my own people. May God grant it!"
+
+                                  "WILLIAM"
+
+"Given at my castle of Babelsberg, October 3rd, 1866."
+
+
+And raising his voice, Herr von Madaï added, by way of peroration:
+
+"Hurrah for King William! Hurrah for the King of Prussia!"
+
+At the same instant the black-and-white flag was hoisted on the topmost
+gable of the Roemer. No shout replied to Herr von Madaï's, only the
+voice of Lenhart was heard like that of a drill sergeant:
+
+"And now, my little doggies, as you have the honour to be Prussian dogs,
+shout 'Hurrah for the King of Prussia!'"
+
+Then every man pressed his toe upon the tail, the ear, or the paw of his
+dog, and there arose such frightful uproar, including the deepest and
+the shrillest notes, as could only be covered by the band of the 34th
+Prussian Regiment playing "_Heil dir im Siegeskranze_," which means
+"Hail to thee in the crown of victory."
+
+Thus was the former free town of Frankfort united to the kingdom of
+Prussia. But many people say that it is not stitched, but only tacked
+on.
+
+
+
+
+EPILOGUE
+
+
+On June 5th, in the year 1867, a young man of some twenty-five to
+twenty-seven years of age, elegantly dressed, and wearing at his
+buttonhole a ribbon half red and half blue-and-white, had just finished
+his cup of chocolate at the Café Prévôt, which was at the corner of the
+Boulevard and the Rue Poissonière. He asked for the "Étandard"
+newspaper.
+
+He had to repeat the name twice to the waiter, who, not having the paper
+on the premises, went out to the Boulevard for a copy and brought it to
+his customer. The latter cast his eyes rapidly over it, looking
+evidently for some article that he knew to be there. His glance settled
+at last upon the following lines:
+
+     "To-day, Wednesday, June 6th, the King of Prussia will enter Paris.
+     We give a complete list of the persons who will accompany His
+     Majesty:
+
+     "M. de Bismarck.
+
+     "General de Moltke.
+
+     "Count Puckler, Lord Marshal.
+
+     "General de Treskow.
+
+     "Count de Goltz, Brigadier-General.
+
+     "Count Lehendorff, Aide-de-Camp to the king.
+
+     "General Achilles Sturm--"
+
+Doubtless the young man had seen all that he wanted to see, for he
+carried no further his investigations into the persons accompanying His
+Majesty.
+
+But he tried, to discover at what hour King William was to arrive, and
+found that he was expected at a quarter-past four at the Gare du Nord.
+
+He immediately took a carriage and placed himself upon the road which
+the king would have to follow in going to the Tuileries.
+
+The king and his escort were some minutes behind their time. Our young
+man was waiting at the corner of the Boulevard de Magenta; he placed
+himself at the end of the procession, and accompanied it to the
+Tuileries, keeping his eyes particularly, as he did so, upon the
+carriage which contained General von Treskow, Count von Goltz, and
+General Achilles Sturm. That carriage entered the courtyard of the
+palace with the King of Prussia's, but came out again, almost
+immediately, with the three generals who occupied it, in order to go to
+the Hôtel du Louvre.
+
+There the three generals alighted; they were clearly intending to lodge
+in the neighbourhood of the Tuileries where their sovereign was staying.
+Our young man, who also had alighted, saw a waiter lead them to their
+several rooms. He waited a moment, but none of them came out again. He
+got into his carriage again and disappeared round the corner of the Rue
+des Pyramides. He knew all that he wanted to know.
+
+Next morning, about eleven o'clock, the same young man was walking in
+front of the café belonging to the hotel, and smoking a cigarette. At
+the end of ten minutes his expectation was satisfied. General Sturm came
+from the Hôtel du Louvre into the restaurant, sat down at one of the
+marble tables arranged just inside the windows and asked for a cup of
+coffee and a glass of brandy. This was just opposite the Zouave
+Barracks.
+
+Benedict entered the barracks and came out a minute later, with two
+officers. He led them in front of the window and showed them General
+Sturm.
+
+"Gentlemen," said he, "that is a Prussian general with whom I have so
+serious a quarrel that one of us must be left upon the field. I have
+applied to you to do me the favour of acting as my seconds, because you
+are officers, because you do not know me, and do not know my adversary,
+and consequently, will not have any of those little delicate
+considerations for us that fashionable people have towards those for
+whom they act as seconds. We will go in and sit down at the same table
+with him. I will reproach him with what I have to reproach him with, and
+you will see whether the matter is serious enough for a duel to the
+death. If you judge it to be so, you will do me the honour of being my
+seconds. I am a soldier like yourselves; I went through the Chinese war
+with the rank of lieutenant, I fought at the battle of Langensalza as
+orderly to Prince Ernest of Hanover, and, finally, I fired one of the
+last shots at the battle of Aschaffenburg. My name is Benedict Turpin,
+and I am a knight of the Legion of Honour and of the Guelphic Order."
+
+The two officers stepped back a pace, exchanged a few words in a low
+voice, and returned to Benedict's side, to tell him that they were at
+his command.
+
+All three then entered the café and went to seat themselves at the
+general's table. The latter looked up and found himself face to face
+with Benedict, whom he recognized at the first glance.
+
+"Ah, it is you, sir," said he, growing rather pale.
+
+"Yes, sir," answered Benedict. "And here are these gentlemen who are
+still unacquainted with the explanation that I am about to have with you
+and are here to hear what I say, and will be kind enough to assist me in
+our combat. Will you allow me to explain to these gentlemen, in your
+presence, the cause of our meeting, and afterwards will you give them
+details of our antecedents as we go together to the place decided upon?
+You remember, sir, that, nearly a year ago you did me the honour of
+writing to me that mountains did not meet, but that men did, and that
+whenever I had the honour of meeting you outside the kingdom of His
+Majesty, King William, you would put no difficulty in the way of giving
+me satisfaction."
+
+The general rose.
+
+"It is useless," said he, "to prolong an explanation in a café where
+everybody can hear what we say; you can give any explanations to these
+gentlemen of the grounds of complaint which you consider yourself to
+have against me, and which I am not in any degree bound to disclaim to
+you. I wrote to you that I was ready to give you satisfaction; I am.
+Give me time to go into the hotel and fetch two friends. That is all I
+ask of you."
+
+"Do so, sir," said Benedict, bowing.
+
+Sturm left the café. Benedict and the two officers followed him. He went
+into the Hôtel du Louvre. The three gentlemen waited at the door.
+
+In the ten minutes during which they waited Benedict told them the whole
+story, and was just concluding it as the general reappeared with his
+seconds--two officers of the king's retinue. All three came towards
+Benedict and bowed to him. Benedict introduced his own seconds to those
+of the general by a wave of the hand. All four drew apart a little.
+Presently Benedict's seconds came back to him.
+
+"You have left the choice of weapons to the general?" said he.
+
+"Yes, sir, and he has chosen the sword; we are to go to a sword cutler
+and choose a couple of blades that neither of you will have seen
+before; then we are to go to the nearest convenient spot for the
+meeting. We suggested the fortifications, and these gentlemen have
+agreed; they are to take an open carriage, we are to take another; and,
+as they do not know the way and we do, we shall guide them along the
+boulevard, and at the first sword-cutler's we will buy the swords."
+
+Everything was arranged accordingly. Two waiters were sent for two
+carriages. The seconds suggested that the surgeon-major of the Zouaves
+should accompany the party, and the suggestion being accepted, one of
+the officers went to fetch him. He joined Benedict and the two
+Frenchmen, while General Sturm and his seconds followed at some
+distance.
+
+At the sword-cutler's--which was Claudin's, Benedict said in an aside to
+the shopman, whom he knew:
+
+"The swords are to be charged to me; let the gentlemen who are in the
+second carriage choose them."
+
+Three different swords were shown to General Sturm, who selected the one
+that best suited his hand, and asked its price; he was told that they
+were paid for. The two carriages went as far as the Étoile turnpike by
+way of the Maillot gate. Thence they followed the line of the
+fortifications for a short distance, then, when they had reached a
+tolerably deserted spot, the two Zouave officers alighted from their
+chaise, looked up and down the fosse, and finding it empty beckoned
+their adversaries to join them. In another minute the whole party was
+standing at the base of the walls. The ground was level and offered
+every facility for a combat of the kind that was now to take place.
+
+The general's seconds presented the two swords to Benedict who had not
+previously seen them; he cast a quick glance at them and saw that they
+were _montées en quarte_, a circumstance which suited his designs
+admirably. Apparently it suited General Sturm's, also, since he had
+chosen the swords.
+
+"When is the fight to stop?" asked the seconds.
+
+"When one of us is killed," answered the two antagonists together.
+
+"Coats off, gentlemen!" said the seconds.
+
+Benedict threw aside his jacket and waistcoat, displaying his shirt.
+
+"Are you ready, gentlemen?" asked the seconds.
+
+"Yes," replied both at the same time.
+
+One of the Zouave officers took one sword and put it into Benedict's
+hands; one of the Prussian officers took the other and put it into
+General Sturm's hands.
+
+The seconds crossed the two swords at a distance of three inches from
+the points, and, moving aside to leave the combatants face to face,
+said:
+
+"Now, gentlemen!"
+
+The words were scarcely uttered when the general swiftly made himself
+master of his opponent's sword by a double engagement, making as he did
+so a stride forward with all the usual impetuosity of a man who knows
+himself an adept in fencing.
+
+Benedict leapt back; then, looking at the general's guard:
+
+"Ah, ah!" he murmured, "a quick fellow on his feet. Attention!"
+
+He exchanged a quick glance with his seconds, to tell them not to be
+uneasy.
+
+But at the same moment, and without any interval, the general, while
+entangling the sword by a skilful pressure advanced in a crouching
+attitude, and lunged with so rapid a _dégagement_ that it needed all
+Benedict's close handling to parry by a _counter quarte_, which, quick
+though it was, could not save his shoulder from a graze. The shirt tore
+upon the sword's point and became slightly tinged with blood.
+
+The return thrust came so swiftly that the Prussian by luck or by
+instinct had not time to resort to a circular parry and mechanically
+employed the _parade de quarte_ and was now on the defensive. The thrust
+was parried, but it had been given with such energy that General Sturm
+staggered on his legs and could not deliver his counter thrust.
+
+"He is a pretty fencer, after all," thought Benedict. "He gives one
+something to do."
+
+Sturm stepped back and lowered his point.
+
+"You are wounded," said he.
+
+"Come, come," returned the young man, "no nonsense! Here's a fuss about
+a scratch. You know very well, general, that I have got to kill you. One
+must keep one's word, even to a dead man." He put himself in position
+again.
+
+"You? Kill me! Upstart!" exclaimed the general.
+
+"Yes, I, greenhorn as you think me," replied Benedict. "Your blood for
+his, although all yours is not equal to one drop of his."
+
+"Cursed rascal!" swore Sturm, growing crimson. And, rushing upon
+Benedict, he made as he came, two successive _coups de seconde_, so
+hasty and so furious that Benedict had barely time to parry them, by
+twice retiring, and then a _parade de seconde_ delivered with such
+precision and energy that the loose shirt was torn above the waistband,
+and Benedict felt the cold steel. Another stain of blood appeared.
+
+"What! Are you trying to tear off my shirt?" said Benedict, sending his
+enemy a high _thrust de quarte_, which would have run him through, but
+that, feeling himself in danger, he flung himself forward in such a
+manner that the hilts touched, and the two adversaries stood with their
+swords up face to face.
+
+"Here!" cried Benedict, "this will teach you to steal my thrust."
+
+And before the seconds could interpose their swords to separate them,
+Benedict, freeing his arm like a spring, drove the two hilts like the
+blow of a fist in his adversary's face, who staggered back, his face
+lacerated and bruised by the blow.
+
+Then followed a scene which made those who beheld it shudder.
+
+Sturm drew back for an instant, his mouth half-open and foaming, his
+teeth clenched and bleeding, his lips turned back, his eyes gleaming,
+bloodshot and almost starting from their sockets, his whole countenance
+reddish purple.
+
+"Blackguard! Dog!" he yelled, waving his stiff-held sword and crouching
+back for his guard like a jaguar ready to spring.
+
+Benedict stood calm, cold, contemptuous. He extended his sword towards
+him.
+
+"You belong to me, now," he said in a solemn voice. "You are about to
+die."
+
+He fell back to his guard, exaggerating the pose as a sort of challenge.
+He had not to wait long.
+
+Sturm was too good a fencer to throw himself unprotected upon his enemy.
+He advanced sharply one pace, making _un double engagement_, of which
+Benedict turned aside the second by a _dégagement fait comme on les
+passe au mur_.
+
+Anger had disturbed Sturm's guard, he was lunging with his head down--an
+attitude which, for this once at least, saved him. The _dégagement_
+merely grazed his shoulder by the neck. Blood appeared.
+
+"A sleeve for a sleeve," retorted Benedict, falling back quickly to his
+guard, and leaving a great distance between the general and himself.
+"Now for it!"
+
+The general found himself too far off, took a step forward, gathered all
+his powers, made a frenzied beating with his sword and struck straight,
+lunging at the full stretch of his body. All his soul, that is to say,
+all his hope, was in that blow.
+
+This time Benedict, planted firmly on his feet, did not yield an inch;
+he caught the sword _par un demi cercle_, executed in due form, with his
+nails held upwards as though he were in a fencing school, and standing
+over the point of his sword inclined towards his feet:
+
+"Now then," he said, delivering his thrust.
+
+The sword entered the upper part of the chest and disappeared completely
+in the general's body where Benedict left it, as he sprang back--as a
+bull fighter leaves his dagger in the breast of the bull. Then, folding
+his arms, he waited.
+
+The general remained standing for a second, staggered, tried to speak;
+his mouth became full of blood, he made a movement with his sword and
+the sword fell from his hand; then he, himself, like an uprooted tree,
+fell full length upon the turf.
+
+The surgeon rushed to the body of Sturm; but he was already dead.
+
+The point of the sword had gone in below the right shoulder blade, and
+come out on the left hip, after passing through the heart.
+
+"_Sapristi!_" muttered the surgeon, "that's a man well killed."
+
+Such was Sturm's funeral oration.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Prussian Terror, by Alexandre Dumas
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Prussian Terror, by Alexandre Dumas
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Prussian Terror
+
+Author: Alexandre Dumas
+
+Translator: R.S. Garnett
+
+Release Date: May 2, 2011 [EBook #36016]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRUSSIAN TERROR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Andrea Ball & Marc D'Hooghe at
+http://www/freeliterature.org (From images generously made
+available by the Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+THE PRUSSIAN TERROR
+
+BY
+
+ALEXANDRE DUMAS
+
+
+A FIRST TRANSLATION FROM THE FRENCH
+
+BY
+
+R.S. GARNETT
+
+
+WITH AN INTRODUCTION
+
+
+LONDON: STANLEY PAUL & CO
+
+PHILADELPHIA: DAVID MCKAY COMPANY
+
+1916
+
+
+[Illustration: ALEXANDRE DUMAS.]
+
+
+
+
+"L'ennemi, c'est le Prussien"
+
+GAMBETTA.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION
+
+CHAPTER I. BERLIN
+        II. THE HOUSE OF HOHENZOLLERN
+        III. COUNT VON BISMARCK
+        IV. IN WHICH BISMARCK EMERGES FROM AN IMPOSSIBLE POSITION
+        V. A SPORTSMAN AND A SPANIEL
+        VI. BENEDICT TURPIN
+        VII. KAULBACH'S STUDIO
+        VIII. THE CHALLENGE
+        IX. THE TWO DUELS
+        X. WHAT WAS WRITTEN IN A KING'S HAND
+        XI. BARON FREDERIC VON BÜLOW
+        XII. HELEN
+        XIII. COUNT KARL VON FREYBERG
+        XIV. THE GRANDMOTHER
+        XV. FRANKFORT-ON-MAIN
+        XVI. THE DEPARTURE
+        XVII. AUSTRIANS AND PRUSSIANS
+        XVIII. THE DECLARATION OF WAR
+        XIX. THE BATTLE OF LANGENSALZA
+        XX. IN WHICH BENEDICT'S PREDICTION CONTINUES TO BE FULFILLED
+        XXI. WHAT PASSED AT FRANKFURT BETWEEN THE BATTLES OF LANGENSALZA
+               AND SADOWA
+        XXII. THE FREE MEAL
+        XXIII. THE BATTLE OF ASCHAFFENBURG
+        XXIV. THE EXECUTOR
+        XXV. FRISK
+        XXVI. THE WOUNDED MAN
+        XXVII. THE PRUSSIANS AT FRANKFORT
+        XXVIII. GENERAL MANTEUFFEL'S THREATS
+        XXIX. GENERAL STURM
+        XXX. THE BREAKING OF THE STORM
+        XXXI. THE BURGOMASTER
+        XXXII. QUEEN AUGUSTA
+        XXXIII. THE TWO PROCESSIONS
+        XXXIV. THE TRANSFUSION OF BLOOD
+        XXXV. THE MARRIAGE _IN EXTREMIS_
+        XXXVI. "WAIT AND SEE"
+               CONCLUSION
+               EPILOGUE
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+"The enemy passed beneath our window and then out of view. A moment
+afterwards we heard the sound as it were of a hurricane; the house
+trembled to the gallop of horses. At the end of the street the enemy had
+been charged by our cavalry; and, not knowing our small numbers, they
+were returning at full speed hotly pursued by our men. Pell-mell they
+all passed by--a whirlwind of smoke and noise. Our soldiers fired and
+slashed away, the enemy on their side fired as they fled. Two or three
+bullets struck the house, one of them shattering a bar of the
+window-shutter through which I was looking on. The spectacle was at once
+magnificent and terrible. Pursued too closely the enemy had decided to
+face about, and there, twenty paces from us, was going on a combat life
+for life. I saw five or six of the enemy fall, and two or three of our
+men. Then, defeated after a ten minutes' struggle, the enemy trusted
+themselves again to the swiftness of their horses, and cleared off at
+full gallop. The pursuit recommenced, the whirlwind resumed its course,
+leaving, before it disappeared, three or four men strewn on the
+pavement. Suddenly we heard the drum beating to the charge. It was our
+hundred infantry soldiers who were coming up in their turn. They marched
+with fixed bayonets and disappeared at the bend of the road. Five
+minutes later we heard a sharp platoon firing. Then we saw our hussars
+reappearing, driven by five or six hundred cavalry; they reappeared the
+pursued, as they had started the pursuers. Amid this second tempest of
+men it was impossible to see or distinguish anything; only, when it was
+past, three or four dead bodies more lay stretched on the ground."
+
+The boy who saw these scenes, to record them in his Memoirs many years
+later, was living with his mother at Villers-Cotterets, on the Soissons
+road in the Aisne, where fierce fighting between our little army and our
+allies the French on the one hand, and the Germans on the other, is
+taking place as these lines are being written. The time was 1814.
+Napoleon had retreated from Moscow and had lost the battle of Leipzig,
+and the Russians, Prussians, and Austrians in alliance were gradually
+closing in on France. All confidence in Napoleon's star had disappeared.
+Every hour was bringing the roar of cannon nearer to Paris: in a few
+days the Allies were to enter it and Napoleon to sign the decree of
+abdication and leave for Elba.
+
+The name of the boy was Alexandre Dumas. His mother had filled her
+cellar with furniture, bedding, and household goods, and had then had a
+new plank floor made for the room above, so that treasure seekers might
+look in vain, and had buried her little store of money in a box in the
+middle of the garden. She was as much in terror of Napoleon as she was
+of the Prussian and Russian troops. If her own countrymen, the French,
+were beaten, she and her son might be killed, but if Napoleon was
+victorious he would want her son as a soldier. Now Alexandre was twelve
+and conscription began at sixteen.
+
+The boy's father, General Alexandre Dumas, was dead, and as on account
+of his republican principles the First Consul had disgraced, exiled, and
+ruined him, so by the Emperor the widow and her son were disowned,
+forgotten and left to starve. In spite of this Madame Dumas's neighbours
+called her a Bonapartist, her husband having fought under Bonaparte, and
+the term Bonapartist was one which was presently to amount to an
+accusation as Louis XVIII neared the throne.
+
+The enemy seen by the boy fighting in the street were
+Prussians--Prussians long expected by his mother, who had made three
+successive enormous dishes of haricot mutton for their pacification.
+Although young Alexandre had partaken of the mutton and thought very
+little of the threatened danger before it occurred, he never forgot the
+sudden Prussian inroad and the dead men left outside this door. And he
+often said that the Valley of the Aisne might see the Prussians again.
+
+In 1848, when a candidate for the Chamber of Deputies, Dumas lost many
+votes by making a speech in the course of which, when passing the state
+of Europe in review, he said. "Geographically, Prussia has the shape of
+a serpent, and like a serpent it seems always to sleep and prepare to
+swallow everything around it--Denmark, Holland, and Belgium; and when it
+has engulfed them all you will see that Austria will pass in its turn
+and perhaps, alas! France also."
+
+In June 1866 Prussia's rapid campaign against Austria startled Europe.
+Every thoughtful man was calculating the consequences of the
+preponderance of Prussia in Germany, and Dumas was one of those
+Frenchmen who were seized with sad presentiments of the future for their
+own country. Particularly does he appear to have been struck with the
+barbarous conduct of the Prussians in the free city of Frankfort[1]
+which the newspapers were daily reporting. Unable to remain at home
+while such events were occurring, he travelled to Frankfort and observed
+them for himself. Then he went to Gotha, Hanover, and Berlin; he visited
+the battlefields of Langensalza and Sadowa and returned to Paris with
+his notebooks crammed with precious details, his pockets bulging with
+unpublished documents.
+
+Then M. Hollander, the owner of the political journal "The Situation,"
+came running to the author of "The Three Musketeers," "Queen Margot,"
+and of so many other famous historical romances to ask for one to be
+called "The Prussian Terror." Dumas, who like M. Hollander was anxious
+to do all he could to arouse France, fast crumbling under the Second
+Empire, to a sense of her danger from Prussia, gladly complied. Such is
+the genesis of this book in which on every page the author seems to
+say--"Awake! the danger is at hand."
+
+To render it more easily intelligible to readers of the present day who
+appear to us to know very little of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, let
+us glance at the important events which the newspaper proprietor and the
+historical romancer had in mind.
+
+The death of the King of Denmark occurred in 1863[2] and North Germany
+buzzed like a swarm of angry bees over the Duchies of Schleswig,
+Holstein, and Luxemburg. By the treaty of London (1852), which fixed the
+succession to the Danish Crown, Austria and Prussia, although
+signatories to it, denied the right of the new king to those duchies and
+claimed them as part of Germany. In February 1864 Austrian and Prussian
+troops crossed the Danish border. The Danes fought well, but were forced
+to submit and eventually the duchies were made over to their enemies.
+
+Then Prussia, which had long looked with jealousy on the power of
+Austria and considered a war with her inevitable sooner or later,
+opposed her desire to form the duchies into a separate state under the
+Duke of Augustenburg. Austria referred the matter to the Frankfort Diet,
+which decided in favour of the duke, but Bismarck, as Prussia's Prime
+Minister, to secure the complete control of North Germany, required
+that, not only the duchies but the whole of Hanover, Hesse Cassel, Hesse
+Nassau, and the city of Frankfort should be absorbed in Prussia. Both
+Prussia and Austria prepared for war, Prussia entering into an alliance
+with Victor Emanuel. On June 7th Prussian troops entered Holstein.
+
+On June 14th, in regard to the decisive question whether the federal
+army should be mobilized, Hanover voted in the Diet with Austria, and by
+so doing irrevocably declared on which side she would range herself in
+the approaching struggle. Prussia at once issued an ultimatum to
+Hanover, requesting her to maintain neutrality and to accept her scheme
+for the reformation of the Confederation. Hanover immediately rejected
+these demands and Prussian troops at once crossed the frontier. The
+resulting battles are known as those of Langensalza and Aschaffenburg.
+The Austrians were disastrously defeated in the terrific battle of
+Sadowa or Königsrätz, and Bismarck was thus nearer to the formation of
+German Unity under Prussia.
+
+After Sadowa, the first act of the Prussians was to enter the "free"
+city of Frankfort, which did not attempt any defence, relying as it did
+on its treaties, and terrorise its inhabitants. It was these "acts of
+terror," then, of which M. Hollander and Dumas were particularly
+thinking, hoping that the recital of them in a popular romance would do
+something to awaken France.
+
+It has been repeatedly stated that before the Franco-German War of 1870
+the German soldiers were guiltless of acts of atrocity. This story
+proves the contrary, and it is not a little curious that no work in the
+English language, save books of reference, covering the ground traversed
+by "The Prussian Terror," appears to be now accessible. For this reason
+alone Dumas's book, which, though in story form, is an authoritative
+contribution to history, deserves attention at the present time. Apart
+from this, it is so spirited and interesting that it is quite surprising
+that at so late a date--forty-seven years after its original issue--I
+should be the first to offer a version[3] to the British public.
+
+Dumas was still living in Paris when, in the summer of 1869, war was
+declared with Germany. His health was now bad, and his son, the author
+of "La Dame aux Camélias," did not wish him to remain during the siege.
+In the autumn he took his father with him to Puys near Dieppe, where he
+had a villa. There Dumas died on December 5th, 1870.
+
+He did not know it--news being kept from him--but during his last days
+his worst prognostications had been verified. A detachment of the
+Prussian army was actually taking possession of Dieppe as he breathed
+his last. While the soldiers marched along the streets, their bands
+playing German airs and the inhabitants hid in their houses behind
+shuttered windows, the news flew round the town that the country had
+lost Alexandre Dumas, the most typically French writer who has ever
+existed. The coffin was borne to the grave at Neuville, where the
+German soldiers were in occupation, before a Prussian patrol. In 1872
+the body was exhumed, and buried in the family tomb at Villers-Cotterets.
+Hard by, where as a boy of twelve Dumas heard the Prussian cannon, three
+nations are now fighting.
+
+R.S. GARNETT.
+
+
+[1] Dumas knew Frankfort well, having lived there for some time in 1838
+with Gérard de Nerval, the author of "Les Filles de Feu."
+
+[2] These facts are taken from the "Encyclopædia Britannica."
+
+[3] It should be stated that M. Hollander, who wished the brilliant name
+of Dumas to shine on as many issues of his newspaper as possible,
+stipulated for not less than sixty _feuilletons_. Dumas complied, but
+was forced to include some hunting stories which he puts into the mouth
+of his hero, Benedict Turpin. These stories will not be found in the
+present volume.
+
+
+
+
+THE PRUSSIAN TERROR
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+BERLIN
+
+
+The architect of Berlin appears to have carefully designed his plan
+according to line and rule in order to produce a capital of dullness as
+far removed from the picturesque as his ingenuity could accomplish. Seen
+from the cathedral, which is the loftiest point attainable, the place
+suggests an enormous chess-board on which the Royal Palace, the Museum,
+Cathedral, and other important buildings fairly represent kings, queens,
+and castles. And, much as Paris is intersected by the Seine, so is
+Berlin divided by the Spree, except that instead of surrounding one
+island, as does the former river, two artificial canals branch out right
+and left like the handles of a vase, and form two islands of unequal
+size in the centre of the town. Berlin being the capital of Privilege,
+one of these islands is distinguished by possessing the Royal Palace,
+the Cathedral, the Museum, the Bourse, most other public buildings, and
+a score of houses which in Turin, the Berlin of Italy, would certainly
+be called palaces; the other contains nothing remarkable, corresponding
+to the Parisian Rue Saint-Jacques and the quarter Saint-André-des-Arts.
+
+The aristocratic, the smart Berlin lies to the right and left of the
+Friedrich Strasse, which extends from the Place de La Belle Alliance by
+which one enters Berlin to that of Oranienburg by which one leaves it,
+and which is crossed nearly in the middle by the Unter den Linden. This
+famous promenade traverses the fashionable quarter and extends from the
+Royal Palace to the Place d'Armes. It owes its name to two rows of
+magnificent lime trees which form a charming promenade on each side of
+the broad carriage-way. Both sides abound in cafés and restaurants,
+whose crowds of customers, overflowing in summer on to the public road,
+cause a considerable amount of lively motion. This, however, never rises
+into noisy horse-play or clamour, for the Prussian prefers to amuse
+himself _sub rosa_, and keeps his gaiety within doors.
+
+But on June 7th, 1866, as beautiful a day as Prussia can produce, Unter
+den Linden, at about six in the evening, presented a scene of most
+unusual commotion. The excitement was caused in the first place by the
+increasingly hostile attitude assumed by Prussia towards Austria, in
+refusing to allow the States of Holstein to proceed to the election of
+the Duke of Augustenburg, also by the general arming on all sides, by
+reports concerning the immediate calling up of the Landwehr and the
+dissolution of the Chamber, and finally by rumours of telegrams from
+France containing threats against Prussia, said to have been made by
+Louis Napoleon himself.
+
+It is necessary to travel in Prussia before one can in the least
+comprehend the sort of hatred therein cherished against the French. It
+is a species of monomania which distorts even the very clearest vision.
+No minister can be popular, no orator will gain a hearing unless the one
+lets it be supposed his policy is for war, and the other can produce
+some brilliant epigram or clever _sous-entendu_ levelled against France.
+Nor will the title of poet be allowed, unless the claimant can qualify
+by being the author of some popular rhyme, entitled "The Rhine,"
+"Leipzig," or "Waterloo."
+
+Whence comes this hatred for France--a deep, inveterate, indestructible
+hatred which seems to pervade the very earth and air? It is impossible
+to say. Can it date from the time when a legion from Gaul, the advanced
+guard of the Roman army, first entered Germany? Abandoning this idea we
+come down to the battle of Rosbach as a possible cause, in which case
+the German national character must be an uncommonly bad one, seeing they
+beat us there. Still later, it might possibly be explained by the
+military inferiority shown by the pupils of Frederic the Great ever
+since the Duke of Brunswick's famous manifesto threatening that not one
+stone of Paris should be left on another! One battle, that of Valmy,
+expelled the Prussians from France in 1792; and another, that of Jena,
+opened the gates of Berlin to us in 1806. Still, to these dates, our
+enemies--no, our rivals--can oppose the names of Leipzig and of
+Waterloo. Of Leipzig, however, they cannot claim more than a quarter,
+seeing their army was combined with those of Russia, Austria, and
+Sweden, to say nothing of that of Saxony, which also deserves to be
+remembered. Nor is more than one-half of Waterloo to their credit, for
+Napoleon, who till then had the advantage, was already exhausted by a
+six hours' struggle with the English when they arrived.
+
+Consequently, remembering this heritage of hate, which, indeed, they
+have always shown quite openly--one could not be surprised at the
+popular emotion caused by a rumour, non-official but widely spread, that
+France would throw down the gauntlet and join in the impending conflict.
+Many, however, doubted the news, as not a word of it had appeared in the
+"Staat's Anzeiger" that morning. Berlin, like Paris, has its faithful
+adherents to the Government and the "Moniteur," who believe that the
+latter cannot lie, and that a paternal Government would never, never
+keep back news interesting to its affectionate subjects. These were
+joined by the readers of the "Tages Telegraphe" ("Daily Telegraphic
+News"), certain that their special organ would have known whatever was
+to be known, and also by those of the ministerial and aristocratic
+"Kreuz Zeitung," who equally declined to believe anything not contained
+in its usually well-informed columns. And besides these one heard the
+names of a dozen other daily or weekly issues bandied from side to side
+in the excited crowd, until suddenly a harsh cry of "French news! French
+news! Telegraphic News" "One kreutzer," succeeded in dominating the din.
+
+The effect produced on the crowd may be imagined. Despite the proverbial
+Prussian economy, every hand sought its pocket and drawing forth a
+kreutzer, proceeded to exchange it for the square bit of paper
+containing the long-desired news. And indeed the importance of the
+contents made amends for the delay in obtaining it. The dispatch ran as
+follows:
+
+"June 6th, 1866. His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon III, having gone to
+Auxerre, in order to be present at the provincial assembly, was met at
+the gates of the town by the mayor, who presented an address, offering
+the respectful homage of himself and the inhabitants. His Majesty
+replied in the following terms, which do not require to be explained to
+our countrymen. Their meaning must be sufficiently clear to all.
+
+"I see with much pleasure that Auxerre still remembers the First Empire.
+Let me assure you that I, on my side, have inherited the feelings of
+affection entertained by the Chief of our family for the patriotic and
+energetic communities which supported him alike through good and evil.
+And I myself owe a debt of gratitude to the department of the Yonne as
+being one of the first to declare for me in 1848. It knew, as indeed the
+greater part of the nation knew, that its interests and mine were
+identical and that we both equally detested those treaties of 1815,
+which are used to-day as a means of controlling our external policy."
+
+Here the dispatch broke off, the sender evidently not considering the
+remainder of the emperor's discourse worth transcribing. Certainly his
+meaning was sufficiently clear without it. Nevertheless some minutes
+elapsed before the sense of the communication was understood by the
+readers, and evoked the display of hatred which naturally followed.
+
+When at last they began to comprehend and to see the hand of the nephew
+of Napoleon the Great overshadowing their beloved Rhine, there arose
+from one end of Unter den Linden to the other such a tempest of threats,
+howls, and hurrahs, that, to borrow Schiller's lively expression, one
+would have thought the encircling hoops of the heavenly concave must all
+be burst asunder. Threatening toasts were called, curses shouted, and
+fists shaken against offending France. A Göttingen student springing on
+a table began to recite with due emphasis Rückert's ferocious poem
+entitled "The Return," in which a Prussian soldier, having returned home
+in consequence of peace being declared, bitterly regrets the various
+outrages he is in consequence debarred from committing. Needless to say,
+this recital was enthusiastically applauded. Shouts of "Bravo!" and
+"Hurrah!" mixed with cries of "Long live King William!" "Hurrah for
+Prussia!" "Down with France!" formed an accompaniment which would
+doubtless have been continued to the next piece, the reciter proposing
+to give a lyric by Theodor Körner. The announcement was received with
+loud applause.
+
+It was, however, by no means the only safety valve at which the passion
+of the surging crowd, now at white heat, sought and found a vent. A
+little lower down, at the corner of the Friedrich Strasse, a well-known
+singer happened to be returning from rehearsal, and as he chanced on one
+occasion to have made a hit by singing "The German Rhine" some one who
+remembered this raised a cry of "The German Rhine! the German Rhine!
+Heinrich! sing 'The German Rhine!'" The crowd instantly recognized and
+surrounded the artist, who, owning a fine voice, and being familiar with
+the piece demanded, did not wait to be asked twice, but gratified his
+audience by singing his very best, thereby far surpassing the Return in
+the tremendous reception he obtained.
+
+But all at once a loud and furious hiss which might have issued from the
+throttle of a steam engine was heard above all the wild applause, and
+produced the effect of a blow in the face bestowed on the singer. A bomb
+suddenly exploding in the crowd could hardly have been more effective;
+the hiss was answered by a dull roar something like that which precedes
+a hurricane and every eye was turned towards the quarter whence it
+proceeded.
+
+Standing by a solitary table was a handsome young man, apparently about
+five-and-twenty, fair-haired, fair-skinned, rather slightly built, and
+in face, moustache and costume somewhat resembling the portrait of
+Vandyke. He had just opened a bottle of champagne and held a foaming
+glass aloft. Undisturbed by angry looks and threatening gestures he drew
+himself up, placed one foot on his chair, and raising his glass above
+his head cried loudly, "Vive la France!" then swallowed the contents at
+one draught.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE HOUSE OF HOHENZOLLERN
+
+
+The immense crowd surrounding the young Frenchman remained for a moment
+dumb with stupefaction. Many, not understanding French, failed to
+comprehend his meaning, and others who did understand, appreciating his
+courage in thug braving a furious crowd, surveyed him with more
+astonishment than anger. Others again, who realized that a dire insult
+had been offered them, would nevertheless with typical German
+deliberation have allowed him time to escape had he wished. But the
+young man's demeanour showed that, whatever the consequences of his
+bravado, he intended to face them. Presently a threatening murmur of
+"Franzose, Franzose," arose from the crowd.
+
+"Yes," said he, in as good German as might be heard anywhere between
+Thionville and Memel. "Yes, I am French. My name is Benedict Turpin. I
+have studied at Heidelberg and might pass for a German since I can speak
+your language as well as most of those here, and better than some. Also
+I can use a rapier, pistol, sword, sabre, single-stick, boxing gloves,
+or any other weapon you like to choose. Any one wishing for satisfaction
+may find me at the Black Eagle."
+
+The young man had hardly finished his audacious defiance when four men
+of the lower class advanced upon him. The crowd kept silence, and the
+contemptuous words, "What! four to one? Leipzig again! Come on! I am
+ready!" were distinctly heard. Then, not waiting to be attacked, the
+young Frenchman sprang at the nearest and broke the bottle of champagne
+over his head, blinding him with foam. The second he tripped up,
+throwing him a good ten paces off, and disposed of the third with a
+vigorous blow in the ribs which hurled him against a chair. Then,
+seizing the fourth by the collar and grasping his waist he actually held
+him aloft in the air for a moment, then flinging him on the ground he
+placed a foot on his chest.
+
+"Is not Leipzig avenged?" said he.
+
+Then at last the tempest burst. A rush was made for the Frenchman, but
+he, still keeping a foot on his fallen enemy, seized a chair and whirled
+it round him so vigorously that for a moment the crowd was held at bay
+and only ventured on threats. But the circle drew closer, some one
+grasped the chair and succeeded in stopping it. A few moments more and
+the audacious Frenchman would probably have been torn to pieces had not
+two or three Prussian officers intervened. They forced their way through
+the crowd and formed a guard around the young man, one of them addressed
+the crowd thus:
+
+"Come, come, my friends, don't murder a brave young man because he does
+not forget he is a Frenchman and has cried 'Vive la France!' He will now
+cry 'Vive Guillaume IV!' and we will let him off." Then, whispering to
+Benedict, "Cry 'Vive Guillaume IV!' or I can't answer for your life."
+
+"Yes!" bawled the crowd, "let him cry 'Vive Guillaume IV!--Vive la
+Prusse!' and we will let him go."
+
+"Very well," said Benedict, "but I prefer to do so freely, and without
+compulsion. Leave me alone and let me speak from a table."
+
+"Stand aside and let him pass," said the officers, releasing Benedict
+and leaving him free. "He wishes to address you."
+
+"Let him speak! let him speak!" cried the crowd.
+
+"Gentlemen!" said Benedict, mounting the table nearest to the open
+windows of the café, "oblige me by listening. I cannot cry 'Vive la
+Prusse,' because at this very moment my country may be at war with
+yours, in which case a Frenchman would disgrace himself if he cried
+anything except 'Vive la France.' Nor can I very well cry 'Vive le roi
+Guillaume,' because, not being my king, it does not matter to me whether
+he lives or dies. But I will recite some charming verses in answer to
+your 'German Rhine!'"
+
+The audience heard him impatiently, not knowing what he meant to recite.
+They had another disappointment in discovering that the lines in
+question were not German but French. However, they listened with all the
+more attention. In enumerating his accomplishments Benedict had omitted
+those of amateur actor and elocutionist. The lines were those written by
+de Musset in response to the "German Rhine," and they lost nothing in
+his impassioned delivery. Those among his hearers able to follow the
+reciter soon perceived that they had been tricked into listening to
+truths they had no desire to hear. Once this was understood, the storm,
+momentarily lulled, burst forth with redoubled violence.
+
+Knowing that there would be no further chance of protection, Benedict
+was carefully considering the distance between his table and the nearest
+window, when suddenly the attention of the crowd was diverted by the
+report of several pistol-shots rapidly fired in the immediate vicinity.
+Turning towards the sound they perceived a well-dressed young civilian,
+struggling desperately with a much older man in colonel's uniform. The
+young man fired again, with the only result of further exasperating his
+adversary, who seized him with a grasp of iron, and, disdaining to call
+for help, shook him as a terrier shakes a rat. Then, throwing him down,
+he knelt upon the would-be murderer's chest, tore the now useless
+revolver from his hand, and placed the barrel against his forehead.
+"Yes, fire, fire!" gasped the young man. But the colonel, in whom the
+bystanders now recognized the powerful minister, Count von Bismarck,
+changed his mind. He pocketed the revolver, and beckoning to two
+officers, "Gentlemen," said he, "this young man is probably mad, or at
+any rate he is a clumsy fool. He attacked me without the slightest
+provocation and has fired five times without hitting me. You had better
+consign him to the nearest prison whilst I acquaint the king with what
+has happened. I think I need hardly mention my name--Count von
+Bismarck."
+
+Then, wrapping his handkerchief round his hand which had been slightly
+scratched in the conflict, the count retraced his steps towards the
+royal palace hardly a hundred yards distant, while the two officers
+handed the assassin over to the police. One of them accompanied him to
+the prison, where he was at once incarcerated. The crowd having now time
+to remember Benedict Turpin found that he had vanished. However, this
+did not trouble them much, for the excitement of the more recent event
+had changed the course of their ideas. Let us profit by the interval and
+glance at the characters who are destined to appear in our recital. But,
+first let us examine the stage on which they will play their several
+parts.
+
+Least German of all Germanic states, Prussia is inhabited by a mixture
+of races. Besides Germans proper, numbers of Slavonians are found there.
+There are also descendants of the Wends, Letts, Lithuanians, Poles, and
+other early tribes, and a mixture of Frankish refugees. The prosperity,
+though not perhaps the grandeur of the House of Hohenzollern, began with
+Duke Frederic, the greatest usurer of his day. It is as impossible to
+calculate the enormous sums wrung from the Jews as to narrate the means
+by which they were extorted. At first a vassal of the Emperor
+Wenceslaus, when that monarch's impending fall became evident Frederic
+deserted his camp for that of his rival Otho, and when Otho's crown
+began to totter, he passed over to Sigismund, brother of Wenceslaus.
+
+In 1400 A.D., the same year in which Charles VI ennobled the goldsmith
+Raoul, as a reward for financial help, Sigismund, equally embarrassed,
+borrowed 100,000 florins from Frederic, giving him the Margravate of
+Brandenburg as security. Fifteen years later, Sigismund having had to
+provide for the extravagance of the Council of Constance, found himself
+in debt to Frederic for 400,000 florins. Utterly unable to pay, he sold,
+or granted in compensation, both the Marches of Brandenburg and the
+dignity of Elector. In 1701 the electorate rose into a kingdom and the
+Duke Frederic III became the King Frederic I of Prussia.
+
+The Hohenzollerns display the faults and the characteristics of their
+race. Their exchequer is admirably managed, but the moral balance-sheet
+of their administration can rarely be compared with the financial one.
+They have advanced on the lines of Duke Frederic, with more or less
+hypocrisy, but with ever-increasing rapacity. Thus in 1525, Albert of
+Hohenzollern, Grand Master of the Teutonic knights, then lords of
+Prussia, forsook his faith and became a Lutheran, receiving in return
+the rank of Hereditary Duke of Prussia, under the over-lordship of
+Poland. And in 1613, the Elector John Sigismund, wishing to obtain the
+duchy of Cleves, followed Albert's example and became a Calvinist.
+
+The policy of the Great Elector has been summed up by Leibnitz in a
+single phrase: "I side with him who pays best." To him is due the
+formation of the European permanent standing army, and it was his second
+wife, the famous Dorothea, who started shops and taverns in Berlin for
+the disposal of her beer and dairy produce. The military genius of the
+Great Frederic is beyond dispute, but it was he who, in order to curry
+favour with the Russian Court, offered to "supply" the Grand Dukes with
+German princesses "at the lowest reasonable rate!" One lady thus
+"supplied" a princess of Anhalt, is known as "Catherine the Great." We
+may remark incidentally that he also is chiefly responsible for the
+partition of Poland, a crime which has weighted the Prussian crown with
+the malediction of nations, and which he celebrated by this scandalously
+impious summons to his brother Henry, "Come, let us receive the
+Eucharist of the body of Poland!" To Frederic also, we owe the
+economical maxim, "He dines best who eats at another's table!"
+
+Frederic died childless, a fact for which, oddly enough, historians have
+seen fit to blame him. His nephew and successor, William II, invaded
+France in 1792. His entry, preceded by the famous manifesto of the Duke
+of Brunswick, was ostentatious to a degree, but his departure,
+accompanied by Danton and Dumouriez, was accomplished without sound of
+trumpet or drum.
+
+He was succeeded by the "Man of Jena," Frederic William III. Among the
+numerous stupid, and servile letters received by the Emperor Napoleon in
+the days of his prosperity, must be counted those of William III.
+
+Frederic William IV--we are rapidly approaching our own times--came to
+the throne in June 1840. According to the Hohenzollern custom his first
+ministry was a liberal one and on his accession he remarked to Alexander
+von Humboldt:
+
+"As a noble I am the first gentleman in the kingdom; as a king I am only
+the first citizen."
+
+Charles X had said much the same on succeeding to the crown of France,
+or, rather, M. de Martignac had said it for him.
+
+The first proof the king gave of his liberalism was an attempt to drill
+properly the intellectual forces of the kingdom, which duty he entrusted
+to the Minister Eichhorn. The name--it means "squirrel"--was quite
+prophetic. At the end of ten years the project had not advanced a step,
+although the minister himself had done wonders of perpetual revolution.
+On the other hand reaction had progressed. The press was persecuted,
+promotion and rewards were obtained only by hypocrites and informers.
+High office could only be acquired by becoming a servile instrument of
+the pietistic party, which was headed by the king.
+
+Frederic William and King Louis of Bavaria were the two most literary of
+contemporary sovereigns. But Louis encouraged Art under whatever form it
+appeared, whereas Frederic William wished it to be drilled into a sort
+of auxiliary to despotism. Feeling himself constrained, like our great
+satirist Boileau, to give an example of good manners to both court and
+city, he began a correspondence with Louis, in the course of which he
+sent the latter a quatrain commenting on the scandal caused by his
+intimacy with Lola Montes. The King of Bavaria replied in another which
+made the round of all the courts of Europe.
+
+     "Contempteur de l'amour, dont adore l'ivresse,
+      Frère, tu dis que, roi sans pudeur, sans vertu,
+      Je garde à tort Lola, ma fille enchanteresse.
+      Je te l'enverrai bien.--Oui; mais qu'en ferais-tu?"
+
+And, by general consent of the wits, the laugh remained on the side of
+the versatile King Louis.
+
+After six years of domiciliary visits, suppressions, and summary
+expulsions of offending journalists, the Prussian Diet at length
+assembled at Berlin. In his opening speech the king addressed the
+deputies thus:
+
+"Recollect, gentlemen, that you are here to represent the interests of
+the people, but _not_ their _sentiments_."
+
+A little later in the year, Frederic William inaugurated his Divine
+Right by observing as he tore up the Constitution:
+
+"I shall not allow a scrap of paper to stand between my people and their
+God!" meaning, though he did not dare to say it, "between my people and
+me."
+
+Then the revolution of 1848 burst forth, and did not spare Berlin, which
+was soon in full revolt. The king lost his head completely. In leaving
+the town he had to drive past the dead bodies of rioters killed in the
+struggle. There was a shout of "Hats off!" and the king was obliged to
+remain uncovered while the people sang the famous hymn composed by the
+Great Electress.
+
+     "Jesus, my Redeemer lives."
+
+Every one knows how Absolutism succeeded in dominating the National
+Assembly, and how presently reaction brought the following leaders into
+power:
+
+Manteuffel, whose policy led to the unfortunate Austrian triumph at
+Olmutz.
+
+Westphalen, who revived provincial councils, and brought the king to the
+famous Warsaw interview.
+
+Statel, a converted Jew and Protestant Jesuit, a Grand Inquisitor who
+had missed his vocation.
+
+And, lastly, the two Gerlachs, intriguers of the first water, whose
+history belongs to that of the two spies, Ladunberg and Techen.
+
+Although the Constitution, establishing two Chambers, was sworn to by
+William IV, February 6th, 1850, it was not until his successor, William
+Louis, was on the throne that both Upper and Lower Chambers began to
+legislate.
+
+A league was now formed by the bureaucracy, the orthodox clergy, the
+provincial squirearchy, and some of the proletariat. This was the origin
+of the famous association inappropriately designated the _Patriotic_
+Association, which had for its aim the annihilation of the Constitution.
+
+There now appeared as First President of the Association at Königsberg,
+the Count von Bismarck, who has played so great a part in Prussian
+history. We cannot do less for him than we have done for the
+Hohenzollerns, that is to say, we must devote an entire chapter to him
+and to the Prussia of to-day. For is not the Count von Bismarck a much
+greater monarch than the King of Prussia himself?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+COUNT VON BISMARCK
+
+
+Many have sought, and some profess to have found, the reasons for the
+remarkable royal favour enjoyed by Count Bismarck, but the chief, and to
+our thinking the only one, is the extraordinary genius which even his
+enemies dare not dispute, notwithstanding the fact that genius is
+usually anything but a passport to the favour of kings.
+
+We will relate one or two little anecdotes concerning the Prime
+Minister, beginning with one which does not refer to him personally, but
+may serve as a sort of preface to another. Every one knows the absurd
+point to which military etiquette is carried in Prussia.
+
+A Pomeranian general--Pomerania may be called the Prussian
+Boeotia--being in garrison at Darmstadt and being bored even to the
+fullest possibility of Darmstadt boredom, was standing at his window,
+wishing for a conflagration, a revolution, an earthquake--anything--when
+he beheld an officer in the distance--an officer minus his sword! An
+awful breach of discipline! "Ah!" thought the delighted general, "here
+is a lieutenant to make a scapegoat of. Ten minutes' lecture and a
+fortnight's arrest! What luck!"
+
+The unsuspecting officer drew nearer, and when within hail: "Lieutenant
+Rupert," shouted the general. The officer looked up, saw the general,
+and immediately remembering his missing sword, understood his terrible
+position. The general had seen him; he could not go back, and he felt he
+must brave the storm. The general beamed and rubbed his hands cheerfully
+at the prospect of some amusement at last. The lieutenant plucked up
+courage, entered the house, and arriving at the ante-room, beheld a
+regulation sword hanging on the wall. "What a mercy!" he murmured,
+unhooking the sword and quickly buckling it on. Then looking as innocent
+as possible, he entered the room, and standing at attention by the door,
+
+"The general did me the honour to call," he said.
+
+"Yes," said the general with severity, "I have to enquire--" he stopped
+suddenly, observing that the culprit's sword was at his side. His
+expression changed, and he said smiling:
+
+"Yes, I wanted to ask, I wanted to ask--What on earth was it? Ah, yes. I
+wanted to ask after your family, Lieutenant Rupert. I particularly
+wished to enquire after your father."
+
+"If my father could hear of your kind feeling towards him, general, he
+would be greatly gratified. Unhappily, he died twenty years ago."
+
+The general looked considerably taken aback.
+
+The young officer continued: "Have you any further commands, sir?"
+
+"Why, no," said the general. "Only this. Never be seen without your
+sword. Had you been without it to-day, I should have given you a
+fortnight's arrest."
+
+"I will take the greatest care, sir! You see?" answered the lieutenant,
+boldly indicating the sword which hung at his side.
+
+"Yes, yes, I see. It is all right. You can go now."
+
+The young man lost no time in profiting by the permission; he saluted,
+left the room, and carefully hung up the sword as he went through the
+ante-room. As he left the house the general, being again at the window,
+again saw that he had no sword. He summoned his wife:
+
+"Look here," he said, "do you see that officer?"
+
+"Certainly I do," she replied.
+
+"Has he a sword or not?"
+
+"He has not."
+
+"Well then, you are mistaken; he looks as if he hadn't one, but he has."
+
+The lady made no remark, being accustomed to accept whatever her husband
+said. The young officer escaped with the fright, and took good care not
+to forget his sword a second time.
+
+Well, a similar misfortune--more, a real humiliation of this kind very
+nearly happened to the King of Prussia, when he was only the Prince
+Royal. Von Bismarck was then merely an attaché at the Frankfort Legation
+without any handle to his name. When the prince stopped at Frankfort on
+his way to a review at Mayence von Bismarck had the honour of being told
+off to accompany him.
+
+It was a hot day in August and the railway carriages were stifling.
+Etiquette notwithstanding, every one from the prince downward,
+unbuttoned his coat. On arriving at Mayence, where the troops were drawn
+up at the station to receive him, the prince refastened his coat but
+left one button undone. He was just leaving the carriage, when, luckily,
+von Bismarck noticed the oversight.
+
+"Good heavens, prince!" he exclaimed, "what are you about?"
+
+And, for once forgetting etiquette, which forbids the royal person to be
+contaminated by profane fingers, he sprang forward and fastened the
+offending button. Hence, according to some, came the royal favour, for
+the king, greatly embarrassed by the events of '58, reflected that the
+man who had saved his credit at Mayence might also save his crown at
+Berlin.
+
+The count now became the leader of the "Junker" faction, voiced by the
+"Kreuz Zeitung." He was, in fact, the fittest man for the position,
+possessing oratorical eloquence, great mental and physical activity, and
+a complete conviction that any sort of means is justified by the end.
+And, the end accomplished, he flung from the height of his tribune this
+epigram in the face of an astonished Chamber: "Might is Right!" in three
+words summing up both his political creed and the direct consequences
+which followed.
+
+The life-giving principles of humanity should be exemplified by three
+nations:
+
+     Commercial activity by England.
+     Moral expansion by Germany.
+     Intellectual brilliance by France.
+
+If we ask why Germany does not occupy the great position assigned to her
+we find the answer in this: France has attained freedom of thought, but
+Germany is allowed only the freedom of a dreamer. The sole atmosphere in
+which she can breathe freely is that of the fortress or the prison. And
+if we wonder why the rest of Germany is ruled by the rod of Prussia the
+explanation may be found in this: German _manners_ do not exist, but
+there is a national _genius_; a genius which desired no revolution, but
+peace and liberty, and, above all--intellectual independence. This
+desire was Prussia's greatest difficulty; she fought it, she weakened
+it, and she hopes to conquer it entirely. She boasts of her compulsory
+education; her children are indeed taught all they can be taught, but
+once out of school they are never permitted to think for themselves.
+
+The Junker faction is composed chiefly of younger sons who have to seek
+either an official career or a military one. Failing this, they must
+depend on the head of the family for a decent maintenance. With very few
+exceptions there is no "old nobility" in Prussia, the aristocracy is not
+distinguished by either wealth or intellect. A few names here and there
+recall ancient Germanic history; others belong to Prussian military
+annals. But the rest of the nobility can claim no distinction, and have
+only owned their estates for a century or two.
+
+Consequently, nearly all the liberal and progressive members of the
+Chamber depend, either by position or office, on the Government, and not
+one of them was strong enough to fight against a despotism which seizes
+a child at the moment of his birth, guides him through adolescence, and
+escorts him for the rest of his life. Therefore Count von Bismarck could
+insult both Chamber and deputies with impunity, knowing that their
+complaints would rouse no answering echo in the country, while at Court
+they were considered as being next door to the servants. On one occasion
+the President Grabow, being present at a state concert, was going to
+occupy a chair in one of the less crowded rooms, when a footman stopped
+him with "These chairs are meant for Excellencies, sir."
+
+"Indeed, my friend," answered the President, "I am evidently out of
+place here."
+
+From the advent of Hohenzollern supremacy may be dated the decay of
+moral independence, both in Prussia and the other Germanic states. Not
+only have the Hohenzollerns failed to exercise any civilizing influence
+by encouraging literature and purifying the language, but they have
+changed Minerva into Pallas, and the beneficent deity of knowledge and
+wisdom has become the Medusa-brandishing goddess of war.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+IN WHICH BISMARCK EMERGES FROM AN IMPOSSIBLE POSITION
+
+
+Now for three months past Bismarck had been in an impossible position,
+and no one could predict how he would emerge from it. Notwithstanding
+the important events which were being enacted from China to Mexico, it
+was upon him that the eyes of Europe were fixed.
+
+Old ministers, experienced in all the wiles of diplomacy, followed him
+with their eyes, spyglass in hand, never doubting that the epoch-making
+minister had an accomplice on the throne in a policy of which they
+vainly sought for precedents in the world's history. If, however, there
+should prove to be no accomplice, they pronounced that he must be a fool
+without an equal.
+
+Young diplomats, modestly aware that they did not quite rank with the
+Talleyrands, the Metternichs, or Nesselrodes, studied him more
+seriously, believing they desired the infancy of a new policy destined
+to carry their epoch to its zenith, whispering the question which
+Germany has asked for three hundred years: "_Ist es der Mann?_" (Can it
+be the Man?) To make this question comprehensible we must tell our
+readers that Germany awaits a liberator as the Jews awaited a Messiah.
+Whenever her chains gall her, she exclaims: "_Wo bleibt der Mann?_"
+(Where, then, is the Man?)
+
+Now, some pretend that to-day in Germany a fourth party, which up to the
+present has been crouching in the gloom, is preparing to emerge--a
+horrible figure, if the poets of Germany are to be believed. Listen to
+Heine on the subject:
+
+"There is thunder truly in Germany, yea, even in Germany: it comes
+slowly; it rolls up gradually from afar; but I doubt not it will come.
+
+"And when you hear a crash, such a crash as the world has not heard in
+all history, you will know that the German thunder has done its work. At
+this uproar eagles will fall dead from the upper air; and lions in the
+pathless deserts of Africa will crouch terrified in their lairs. In
+Germany will be enacted a drama compared with which the French
+Revolution will seem but an _innocent idyll_."
+
+Had Heinrich Heine been the only prophet I should not repeat his
+auguries, for Heine was a dreamer. But here is what Ludwig B---- says:
+
+"In truth, Germany has accomplished nothing for three centuries, and has
+patiently endured all the suffering inflicted upon her. But, even so,
+her labours, sufferings, and joys have not subdued her virgin heart, nor
+her chaste spirit. She contains the reserve forces of liberty and will
+ensure its triumph.
+
+"Her day will come; and to bring it about but little is necessary a
+flash of good-humour, a smile, a summer shower, a thaw, a fool the more,
+or a fool the less, a nothing; the bell of a mule is enough to bring
+down an avalanche. Then France, which is not easily astonished, France
+which accomplished in three days the work of three hundred years, and
+has ceased to wonder at her own work, will survey the German nation with
+astonishment which will not be merely surprise but admiration."
+
+But whether it was the Man or was not the Man that the gallery watched
+as he weighed Europe in the scales, putting everything into one, nothing
+into the other, whether he belonged to the old or to the new diplomacy
+mattered little. The only question was--will von Bismarck demand a
+dissolution of the Chamber, or will the Chamber impeach the count?
+
+The conquest of Schleswig-Holstein had carried him to the height of
+fortune, but the new complications arising _à propos_ of the election of
+the Duke of Augustenburg, made everything seem doubtful even to the
+genius of von Bismarck. During a long interview with the king which took
+place the very day on which this story begins, he fancied that his
+influence was shaken, and he attributed the king's coldness to the
+persistent ill will of the queen.
+
+It is true that until now the count had worked only for his own personal
+advancement, and, having kept entire silence as to his projects, was
+reserving an explanation for a favourable moment, when by the grandeur
+and clearness of his views he hoped to recover the goodwill of his
+sovereign, by an audacious _coup d'état_ to build up a more solid and
+unassailable position than ever.
+
+He had, then, just left the king, intending to unmask his new plan as
+soon as possible, counting on the telegraphic despatches to create an
+effect favourable to himself, which, by making war inevitable, would
+ensure his own safety.
+
+He left the palace accordingly, immersed in these thoughts, and so
+preoccupied that not only did he scarcely observe the excitement in the
+crowded streets, but he did not notice a young man leaning against one
+of the columns of the theatre, who left his place as he passed, and
+followed him like his shadow in and out of the groups blocking the
+street. Twice or thrice, however, as if warned of this close pursuit by
+some magnetic current, the count turned his head, but seeing only a
+well-dressed young man apparently belonging to his own class in life, he
+paid no attention to him.
+
+It was not until he had passed the Friedrich Strasse and was crossing
+the road that he really noticed that the young man seemed determined to
+follow him. He then decided as soon as he had reached the other side to
+stop and ask what his pursuer meant by shadowing him.
+
+But the shadower did not give him an opportunity. The count had hardly
+proceeded three or four steps on his way when he heard a report, and
+felt the wind of a ball which just missed his coat collar. He stopped
+and turned sharply round, seeing in a flash the eddying smoke, the aimed
+revolver, the assassin with his finger on the trigger preparing to fire
+again.
+
+But, as we have said, the count was naturally brave: it did not occur to
+him either to fly or to call for help. He threw himself upon his enemy,
+who, without an instant's delay, fired the second and third shots, which
+whistled harmlessly by. Whether the assassin's hand trembled under
+stress of emotion, or whether, as some say, Providence (which
+nevertheless permitted the assassinations of Henri IV and Gustavus
+Adolphus) forbade the accomplishment of such a crime, the two balls
+passed right and left of von Bismarck.
+
+Then the murderer lost courage and turned to fly. But the count seized
+him by the collar with one hand and with the other clutched the barrel
+of the revolver. Once again a shot was fired; the count was slightly
+wounded, but kept his hold and grasped his adversary closely, throwing
+him on the ground, and finally handed him over to the Prussian officers.
+
+Seizing the favourable occasion with the promptitude of genius, he
+again took his way to the palace, bent on making this event the turning
+point of the situation.
+
+This time he passed through a double avenue of spectators, whereas
+previously in the public commotion no one had noticed him. It was now
+otherwise--the murderer's attempt, of which he had been the object and
+from which he had emerged with so much courage, attracted every one's
+attention, if not their sympathy, and whether loved or not loved, all
+made room and saluted him. Sympathy might be wanting, but the count
+could at all events read admiration upon every face.
+
+Von Bismarck was at this time about fifty or fifty-two; tall, with a
+well-proportioned figure, slightly puffy, and almost bald except at the
+temples, with a thick moustache. One of his cheeks was furrowed by a
+scar, the legacy of a duel fought at the University of Göttingen.
+
+The palace guard had already heard the news and turned out to receive
+the count, who, as colonel in the Army, was entitled to this mark of
+respect. He graciously responded, and went up the staircase leading to
+the king's audience chamber.
+
+As prime minister, the count had the right of entry at any time. He was
+about to turn the door handle when the usher in waiting stopped him,
+saying:
+
+"His Excellency will pardon me, but the king can see no one."
+
+"Not even me?" asked the count.
+
+"Not even your Excellency," replied the usher with a low bow.
+
+The count stepped backward with a movement of the lips that might have
+passed for a smile, but was certainly not one. Then he began to study,
+but without seeing it, a large naval picture which decorated the
+ante-room, standing out by reason of its immense gilt frame from the
+official green paper which adorns all the royal apartments.
+
+At the end of a quarter of an hour, the door opened, the count hearing
+the _frou frou_ of a satin dress, turned and bowed low before a woman of
+forty to forty-five years of age, who had evidently possessed great
+beauty and was indeed still beautiful. Perhaps, if the "Almanach de
+Gotha" were consulted, it would be found that the lady was rather older
+than this, but as the proverb says: "A woman is as old as she looks,"
+and I see no reason why queens should be excepted.
+
+The lady was Queen Marie Louise Augusta Catherine, daughter of Charles
+Frederic, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and known throughout Europe as the
+Queen Augusta. She was of medium height--is best described by the
+essentially French word _attrayant_. She wore on her left arm the
+feminine Order of Queen Louise of Prussia. She passed the minister
+slowly and somewhat haughtily, saluting him indeed, but without her
+usual kindness. By the doors through which she passed the count
+understood she had been with the king, and was now returning to her own
+apartments.
+
+The queen had left the door belonging to the king's apartment open
+behind her, and the usher now intimated that the minister might enter.
+He waited, however, until the door had closed upon the queen.
+
+"Yes," he said, "it is true that I was not born a baron, but let us see
+what the future will do for me."
+
+And then he passed forward. The various lackeys or chamberlains whom he
+met hastened to open the doors leading to the audience-room. Reaching it
+the chamberlain announced in a loud voice: "His Excellency Count von
+Bismarck."
+
+The king started and turned round. He was standing before the
+chimney-piece, and heard the name of von Bismarck with some surprise, it
+being barely a quarter of an hour since the minister had left him. The
+count wondered if the king had already heard what had happened to him in
+the interval.
+
+He bowed low before His Majesty.
+
+"Sire," he said, "an event of great importance has recalled me to Your
+Majesty, but I see with regret that the moment is unfavourable--"
+
+"Why?" enquired the king.
+
+"Because I have just had the honour of meeting the queen in the
+ante-room, and not having the happiness of being in Her Majesty's good
+graces--"
+
+"Well, count, I admit that she does not see eye to eye with you."
+
+"She is wrong, sire, for my devotion belongs equally to my king and to
+my queen, and the one cannot become Emperor of Germany without the other
+becoming Empress."
+
+"A dream, my dear count, in which Queen Augusta unfortunately believes,
+but which is not the dream of a reasonable being."
+
+"Sire, the unity of Germany is as much decreed in the design of
+Providence as the unity of Italy."
+
+"Excellent," said the king, laughing; "can there be a united Italy while
+the Italians possess neither Rome nor Venice?"
+
+"Italy is in formation, sire. She began her march in '59 and will not
+stop on the way. If she looks like stopping, she is only taking breath.
+Indeed, have we not promised her Venice?"
+
+"Yes, but it is not we who will give it her."
+
+"Who then?"
+
+"France? who has already given her Lombardy, and has let her take the
+duchies and Naples. France!" said the king. "France let her take all
+that with quite the best will in the world."
+
+"Is Your Majesty aware of the contents of the telegraphic despatches
+which arrived when I was here and which were delivered as I left?"
+
+"Yes, I know. The Emperor Napoleon's speech at Auxerre," answered the
+king with some embarrassment. "You refer to that, do you not?"
+
+"Well, sire, the emperor's speech means war--war not only against
+Austria but against Germany. It means Venice for Italy and the Rhine
+provinces for France."
+
+"You really think so?"
+
+"I mean that if we give France time to arm, the question without
+becoming desperate becomes grave, but that if we fall promptly and
+vigorously upon Austria, we shall be on the Moldau with three hundred
+thousand men before France can reach the Rhine with fifty thousand."
+
+"Count, you do not give the Austrians their proper value; the swagger of
+our young men has gone to your head."
+
+"Sire, if I appear to adopt the opinions of the heir-apparent and of
+Prince Frederic Charles, I can only say that the prince having been born
+on June 29th, 1801, is scarcely a young man; but the fact is, that in
+these matters I rely on my own opinion only, and I say deliberately in a
+war against Prussia, Austria will certainly be beaten."
+
+"Really?" said the king doubtfully. "Yet I have heard you speak in high
+terms of both their generals and their soldiers."
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Well then, it does not seem to me so remarkably easy to conquer good
+soldiers commanded by good generals."
+
+"They have good, soldiers, sire, they have good generals, but we shall
+beat them because our own organization and arrangement are superior to
+theirs. When I persuaded Your Majesty to undertake the war on Schleswig
+which Your Majesty did not desire to do--"
+
+"If I had not desired to make war on Schleswig it would never have been
+made!"
+
+"That is very true, sire, but Your Majesty hesitated; I had the courage
+to insist, and Your Majesty approved of my reasons."
+
+"Yes, and what is the result of the war on Schleswig? War throughout
+Germany!"
+
+"True, sire, in the first place I like a situation that calls for
+resolute action; and as I consider war in Germany inevitable, I
+congratulate you."
+
+"Will you explain whence comes your confidence?"
+
+"Your Majesty forgets that I made the campaign with the Prussian army. I
+did not do it for the mere pleasure of hearing cannon, of counting the
+dead, and of sleeping on the battlefield, where I assure you one sleeps
+very badly, or for the purpose of giving you what was nevertheless well
+worth having, two posts on the Baltic, of which Prussia stood in great
+need. No, I made the campaign with the object of trying the Austrians,
+and I repeat that they are behind us in everything--discipline,
+armaments, use of arms: they have bad rifles, bad artillery, and worse
+powder. In a war against us Austria will be beaten from the very
+commencement, for we have everything which she has not, and Austria once
+vanquished, the supremacy in Germany must inevitably fall from her hands
+into those of Prussia."
+
+"And how is Prussia with a population of eighteen millions to maintain
+her superiority over sixty? Only look at her pitiful appearance on the
+map."
+
+"That is exactly the point. I have looked at her for three years, and
+now is the time to mould her anew. Prussia is a great serpent whose head
+is at Thionville, while her tail is at Memel, and which has a lump in
+her stomach because she has swallowed half Saxony. She is a kingdom cut
+in two by another--Hanover--in such a fashion that you cannot get home
+without going abroad. You must understand, sire, Hanover is bound to
+become part of Prussia."
+
+"But what will England say to this?"
+
+"England is no longer in the age of Pitt and Cobourg. England is the
+very humble servant of the Manchester School, of Gladstone, Cobden, and
+their scholars; England will do no more for Hanover than she did for
+Denmark. Must we not take Saxony also?"
+
+"France will never allow us to meddle with Saxony, if only in memory of
+the king who was faithful to her in 1813."
+
+"Not if we took too big a mouthful; but if we only nibble she will shut
+both eyes, or at least one of them. And is not Hesse also very
+necessary?"
+
+"The Confederation will not abandon all Hesse."
+
+"But if it will let us take half, that is all we want. Now let us
+consider Frankfort-on-the-Main."
+
+"Frankfort-on-the-Main! The free town! The seat of the Diet!"
+
+"The moment Prussia can reckon thirty millions of men instead of
+eighteen the Diet is dead. Prussia will then be the Diet. Only, instead
+of crying a decree she will say 'decree.'"
+
+"We shall have the whole of the Confederation against us. It will side
+with Austria."
+
+"So much the better!"
+
+"And why?"
+
+"Austria once beaten, the Confederation is beaten along with her."
+
+"We shall have a million men against us."
+
+"Let us count them."
+
+"There are four hundred and fifty thousand in Austria--"
+
+"Agreed."
+
+"And four hundred and fifty thousand in Venetia."
+
+"The emperor is too obstinate to recall troops from Venice before two or
+three battles if he is successful, before ten if he is beaten."
+
+"Bavaria has one hundred and sixty thousand."
+
+"I will answer for Bavaria--her king is too fond of music to love the
+sound of cannon."
+
+"Hanover, twenty-five thousand men."
+
+"Only a mouthful to swallow on our first march."
+
+"Saxony, fifteen thousand."
+
+"Another mouthful."
+
+"And a hundred and fifty thousand belonging to the Confederation."
+
+"The Confederation will have no time to arm them; only we must not lose
+a moment, sire; therefore I now say 'War, Victory, the supremacy of
+Prussia--myself--or-'"
+
+"Or?"
+
+"Or my resignation, which I lay very humbly at Your Majesty's feet."
+
+"What is that on your hand, count?"
+
+"Nothing, sire."
+
+"It looks like blood."
+
+"Perhaps it is."
+
+"Is it true, then, that some one attempted your life by firing at you
+with a revolver?"
+
+"Five times, sire."
+
+"Five? Good gracious!"
+
+"He thought it none too many for me."
+
+"And you are unwounded?"
+
+"Only a scratch on the little finger."
+
+"And who was your assassin?"
+
+"I do not know who he is."
+
+"Did he refuse to give his name?"
+
+"No, I forgot to ask him; besides, that is the Attorney-General's
+affair, not mine. I do not interfere with other people's concerns. Now,
+my own business is my King's business, and that is here."
+
+"I am listening," said the king.
+
+"To-morrow the chamber is dissolved; the following day we mobilize; in
+eight days hostilities are declared, or else--"
+
+"Or else what?"
+
+"Or else, as I have the honour to repeat to Your Majesty, my
+resignation."
+
+Then, without waiting for the king's answer the Count von Bismarck bowed
+low, and according to etiquette retired backwards from the king's
+presence. The king said nothing to detain his minister, but before
+closing the door, that gentleman heard the bell rung loudly enough to
+rouse the whole palace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A SPORTSMAN AND A SPANIEL
+
+
+On the day following the events just narrated, a young man about
+twenty-five years of age arrived in Brunswick by the eleven o'clock
+train from Berlin. Leaving his luggage, which was labelled "Hanover," in
+the station, he took a small knapsack on which were strapped a
+sketch-book and camp-stool, buckled on a cartridge belt, flung a baldric
+supporting a double-barrelled gun over his shoulder, and completed his
+toilet with a large grey felt hat. Altogether he appeared a sort of
+cross between sportsman and tourist. Accompanied by a beautiful
+jet-black spaniel he left the station and hailed an open carriage,
+whereupon the dog instantly justified his name of "Frisk" by springing
+joyously in, and installing himself on the front seat, while his master
+reclined on the back after the manner of one accustomed to do things
+comfortably. Courteously addressing the driver in excellent German:
+
+"Coachman," said he, "kindly take me to the best hotel the town affords,
+or at any rate, to the one which provides the best lunch!"
+
+The coachman nodded as if to say he required no further instructions,
+and the carriage rattled and bumped over the cobble stones to the Hôtel
+d'Angleterre. The dog, who had hardly been able to retain his position,
+instantly sprang out, and showing his relief by active gambols,
+besought his master to follow. The latter alighted, but left his
+knapsack and gun in the carriage. Turning to the driver:
+
+"You may wait," he said, "and keep an eye on my things."
+
+Hackney coachmen, all the world over, have a keen eye for good
+customers. This honest fellow was no exception.
+
+"Excellency may be quite satisfied," he answered with a wink. "I will
+keep careful guard over them."
+
+The traveller entered the inn, and passing straight through it arrived
+at a pleasant court shaded by lime-trees. Here he selected a small table
+with chairs for two, one of which was promptly occupied by Frisk; his
+master took possession of the other and the two proceeded to lunch. This
+occupied an hour, and no lady could have received more attention than
+the young man bestowed on Frisk. The dog ate whatever his master ate,
+only politely protesting when a hare, accompanied by currant jelly,
+appeared on the scene, that as a sporting dog he ought not to touch
+game, and personally had a serious objection to sweets. Meanwhile, the
+driver remaining on his box refreshed himself with bread, cheese, and a
+half bottle of wine. Consequently, when master and dog re-occupied the
+carriage the trio presented an appearance of general satisfaction.
+
+"Where to, Excellency?" enquired the driver, wiping his mouth on his
+sleeve, with the air of a man ready to drive to the world's end if you
+wished.
+
+"I don't quite know," was the answer, "it depends a little on you."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"Well, if I find you a good fellow, I might wish to keep you on for some
+time."
+
+"Oh, a year if you like!
+
+"No, that is too long."
+
+"Well, a month then."
+
+"Neither a year nor a month, but a day or two."
+
+"Oh, that's not enough. I really thought you meant to take me on lease."
+
+"To begin with, what will you charge for going to Hanover?"
+
+"It is six leagues, you know."
+
+"Four and a half, you mean."
+
+"But it is up and down hill the whole way."
+
+"Nonsense! it is as flat as a billiard-table."
+
+"One can't get round you," said the grinning driver.
+
+"In one way you can."
+
+"And which is that?"
+
+"Simply by being honest."
+
+"Ah, indeed! That is a new idea."
+
+"It is one which has not before occurred to you, I think."
+
+"Well, name your own price, then."
+
+"Four florins."
+
+"But you are not counting the drive from the station and the time for
+lunch."
+
+"You are right, I will allow for that."
+
+"And the _pourboire_."
+
+"That is as I may choose."
+
+"Agreed. I don't know why, but I trust you."
+
+"Only, if I keep you more than a week it will then be three and a half
+florins per day, and no _pourboire_."
+
+"I couldn't agree to that."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because I see no reason for depriving you of the pleasure of doing the
+handsome thing when I have the misfortune of leaving you."
+
+"The dickens! One would take you for a wit!"
+
+"I've wit enough to look like a fool when I want to."
+
+"Well done! Where do you come from?"
+
+"From Sachsenhausen."
+
+"And where may that be?"
+
+"It is a suburb of Frankfort."
+
+"Ah! yes, it is a Saxon colony from the days of Charlemagne."
+
+"That is so. So you know that, do you?"
+
+"I also know that you are a fine race, something like the Auvergnats of
+France. We will settle up when we part."
+
+"That's suits me down to the ground."
+
+"What's your name?
+
+"Lenhart."
+
+"Very well, Lenhart, let us get on then."
+
+The carriage started, scattering the usual crowd of idle spectators. A
+few minutes brought it to the end of the street leading to the open
+country. The day was magnificent. The trees had just burst into leaf,
+and earth had assumed a mantle of green, the soft spring breeze seemed
+laden with the perfume of flowers. Overhead the birds were already
+seeking food for their little ones, and awakening Nature appeared to
+listen to their songs. From time to time a lark arose from among the
+corn, and ascending high in the air seemed as if floating above the
+summit of a pyramid of song.
+
+Beholding this magnificent country the traveller exclaimed: "But there
+must be splendid shooting here, is there not?"
+
+"Yes, but it is strictly preserved," replied the coachman.
+
+"So much the better," said our friend, "there will be all the more
+game."
+
+In fact, before they had gone quite a mile from the town, Frisk, who
+had given various signs of impatience, sprang out of the carriage,
+rushed into a field of clover, and pointed.
+
+"Shall I go on or wait," enquired the driver, seeing the young man
+loading his gun.
+
+"Go on a yard, or two," was the answer. "There, that will do; now, draw
+up as near to the field as you can."
+
+The carriage, with the sportsman standing up in it, gun in hand, halted
+within thirty yards of the dog. The driver looked on with all the
+interest of his class, an interest which is always on the side of the
+sportsman and hostile to the landlord and the gamekeeper. "That is a
+clever dog," he remarked. "What is he pointing at?"
+
+"It is a hare."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"Had it been a bird he would have wagged his tail. See."
+
+A big leveret showed itself among the clover and fell a victim to the
+gun. It was promptly brought in by Frisk. Further on a covey of
+partridges was seen, but the dog was called off, and the young brood
+left in peace. They were already approaching Hanover when a startled
+hare was seen some sixty yards from the carriage.
+
+"Ah!" said Lenhart, "this one wisely keeps his distance."
+
+"It does not follow," replied the sportsman.
+
+"You don't expect to hit at that distance, do you?"
+
+"Have you still to learn, my friend, you who profess to be able to
+shoot, that to a good shot and a good gun distance is of small
+importance? Now, watch!"
+
+Then, having altered the charges in his gun the young man enquired:
+
+"Do you know all about the manners and customs of hares, Lenhart?"
+
+"Why, yes, I think I know all any one can know who can't speak their
+language."
+
+"Well, I can tell you this. A startled hare, if not pursued, will run
+about fifty paces and will then sit down to have a look round and
+perform his toilet. Look!"
+
+And in fact, the hare, which had run towards the carriage, instead of
+away from it, suddenly stopped, sat down, and began to wash its face
+with its forepaws. This predicted toilet cost the poor animal its life.
+A prompt shot and the hare bounded upwards and fell back dead.
+
+"Beg pardon, Excellency," said Lenhart, "but if we are going to war as
+it is said we are, on which side will you be?"
+
+"As I am neither Austrian nor Prussian, but happen to be a Frenchman,
+you will probably find me fighting for France."
+
+"So long as you do not fight for these Prussian beggars I am quite
+satisfied. If you will fight against them, however--_donnerwetter_--but
+I have something to say."
+
+"Well? at is it?"
+
+"I offer you the free use of my carriage to fight from."
+
+"Thanks! my friend, 'tis an offer not to be despised. I always thought
+that if I had to fight, I should like to make the campaign in a
+carriage."
+
+"Well, then, here is the very thing you want. I can't tell you how old
+my horse is, he wasn't young when I bought him ten years ago, but I know
+if I took him to a Thirty Years' War he would see me through it. As for
+the carriage, you can see it is as good as new. Those shafts were put on
+only three years ago, and last year it had new wheels and a new axle,
+and it is only six months since I provided it with a new body."
+
+"You remind me of an anecdote we have in France," replied the other. "It
+is that of Simple Simon's knife, which had first a new blade and then a
+new handle, but was still the same knife."
+
+"Ah, sir," said Lenhart, with the air of a philosopher, "every country
+has its Simple Simon's knife."
+
+"And also its simpletons, my good friend."
+
+"Well, if you put new barrels on your gun you might give me the old
+ones. Here comes your dog with the hare," lifting it by the ears. "You
+can join the other, you fool," he said. "See what comes of too much
+vanity! Ah, sir! don't fight against the Prussians if you don't want to,
+but, good heaven, don't fight for them!"
+
+"Oh, as to that you may be quite easy. If I do fight, it will be against
+them, and perhaps I shall not wait for war to be declared."
+
+"Bravo! Down with the Prussians!" cried Lenhart, touching up his horse
+with a sharp cut. The animal, as if to justify his praises, and excited
+by his master's voice and cracking whip, broke into a gallop, bolted
+through the suburban streets and only stopped at the Hôtel Royal.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+BENEDICT TURPIN
+
+
+Lenhart, in his double capacity of hackney coachman and purveyor of
+travellers and tourists for the Hôtel Royal, Hanover, was well known to
+Mr. Stephen, landlord thereof, who gave him a cordial reception. Anxious
+to magnify the importance of his present consignment, Lenhart hastened
+to inform him that the new arrival was a mortal enemy of the Prussians,
+that he never missed a shot, and that if war were declared, he would
+place himself and his deadly weapon at the disposal of the King of
+Hanover. To all of which Stephen lent an attentive ear.
+
+"But where does your traveller come from," he at length enquired.
+
+"He says he's a Frenchman, but I don't believe it. I've never once heard
+him boast about anything, besides, his German is too good. But there, he
+is calling you."
+
+Stephen quickly answered the summons. The stranger was talking to an
+English officer of the Royal Household and his English appeared no less
+fluent than his German. Turning to Stephen he said in the latter
+language.
+
+"I have asked a question of Colonel Anderson, who has kindly given me
+one-half of the answer, and tells me to apply to you for the rest. I
+asked for the title of the principal newspaper here, and the name of
+its editor. Colonel Anderson says the 'Hanoverian Gazette,' but does not
+know the editor's name."
+
+"Wait a moment, Excellency. Yes, yes, let me see. He is Herr Bodemeyer,
+a tall, thin man with a beard, is he not?"
+
+"Never mind his appearance. I want his name and address. I wish to send
+him my card."
+
+"I only know the office address, Park Strasse. Do you dine at the _table
+d'hôte_? If so, Herr Bodemeyer is one of our regular guests. It is at
+five o'clock, he will be here in half-an-hour."
+
+"All the more reason why he should have my card first," and producing a
+visiting-card bearing the legend "Benedict Turpin, Artist," he addressed
+it to Herr Bodemeyer, and handed it and a florin to the hotel messenger,
+who undertook to deliver it within ten minutes.
+
+Stephen then ventured to suggest that if there were private matters to
+discuss a private room might be desirable.
+
+"A good idea," said Benedict, and going to Colonel Anderson, "Sir," said
+he, "although we have never been formally introduced, I nevertheless
+hope you will waive etiquette and do me the honour of dining with me and
+Herr Bodemeyer, who I think will not refuse to join us. Our host
+promises an excellent dinner and good wine. It is six months since I
+left France, consequently six months since I had a chance of
+conversation. In England they talk, in Germany they dream, it is in
+France only that they converse. Let us have a nice little dinner at
+which we can do all three. Here is my card, that of an insignificant
+artist, devoid of armorial bearings or coronets, but with the simple
+Cross of the Légion d'Honneur. I would add, colonel," he continued
+seriously, "that in a day or two I may find myself obliged to ask a
+favour of you, and I should like to prove myself not unworthy of the
+consideration I hope you will show me."
+
+The colonel accepted the card and bowed politely.
+
+"Sir," said he with courteous English formality, "the hope you give me
+of being able to render you some service would certainly induce me to
+accept your hospitality. I have no reason whatever against dining with
+Herr Bodemeyer, and I have a thousand for wishing to dine with you, not
+the least being, if I may say so, that I find your person and manners
+exceedingly attractive."
+
+Benedict bowed in his turn.
+
+"Since you have done me the honour to accept," he said, "and I feel
+pretty sure of Herr Bodemeyer, it becomes my first duty to see that the
+dinner is a decent one. If you will excuse me I should like to interview
+the chef on the subject," and he departed kitchenwards while the colonel
+sought the hotel reading-room.
+
+Left in possession of a fair income at an age when the usual idea is
+only how best to squander it, Benedict Turpin had shown practical sense
+as well as genius. A believer in the excellent proverb which says that a
+man doubles his opportunities in life when he learns a new language, he
+had quadrupled his by spending a year in England, another in Germany, a
+third in Spain, and a fourth in Italy. At eighteen he was a first-rate
+linguist, and he spent the next two years in completing his education by
+classical and scientific studies, not neglecting the use of weapons and
+the general practice of games, calculated to further his physical
+development. By the time he was twenty he had attained an all-round
+proficiency very unusual in youths of his age and promised much in the
+time to come.
+
+He took part in the Chinese expedition, and being possessed of
+sufficient means to indulge his taste for travelling, spent several
+years in world-wide wandering, hunting wild beasts, traversing deserts,
+picking up tapestries, jewels, curiosities, etc., wherewith on his
+return he furnished one of the most artistic studios in Paris. At the
+time our story opens he had, in the course of a round of visits to
+celebrated German painters, arrived in Berlin, where he upheld the
+honour of France, with the insolent good luck which seemed never to
+desert him. When the attention of the mob was momentarily diverted by
+the attack on the Prime Minister, Benedict succeeded in escaping
+unnoticed, and took refuge at the French Embassy, where he was well
+known. Early in the following morning he left by train and finally
+arrived at Hanover without let or hindrance. He had just given his last
+instructions to the cook when he was warned that Herr Bodemeyer was
+already approaching the hotel.
+
+Benedict hurried to the entrance, where he saw close at hand a gentleman
+drawing near, who held a visiting card in his hand, and seemed pondering
+much as to what the owner could possibly want with him.
+
+It is said that the denizens of that ancient Gaul which gave Cæsar so
+much trouble have so marked a personality that, wherever one is seen,
+the passers-by immediately remark: "Look, that's a Frenchman!"
+
+Herr Bodemeyer, at any rate, seemed to recognize Benedict's nationality
+at once. He advanced smiling, with extended hand. Benedict promptly
+descended the steps to meet him and the two exchanged the customary
+civilities. Hearing that the artist had come from Berlin, and being
+professionally eager for news, the editor at once demanded an account of
+the uproar of the previous evening, and of the attempted assassination
+of Count Bismarck.
+
+As to the latter, Benedict could give little information. He had heard
+the shots, seen two men struggling, and one handed over to some
+officers, and then had hastily sprung into the café, left it by a door
+in another street, and found shelter at the Embassy. There he heard
+further that the young man was the stepson of a proscribed refugee of
+the '48, named Blind, and that he had made terrible accusations against
+the count, which, coming as they did from the relative of a banished
+rebel, were held to count for very little.
+
+"Well, we know a little more than that," said Herr Bodemeyer, "we hear
+that the young man attempted to cut his throat with a penknife, but that
+the wounds were only slight and the doctor says are not dangerous. But
+the "Kreuz Zeitung" will be here directly and we shall know a little
+more."
+
+Even as he spoke newsboys hurried down the street shouting "Kreuz
+Zeitung--Zeitung!" There was a rush for the paper. Hanover was nearly as
+excited as Berlin had been the night before. Did the poor little kingdom
+already feel itself in the crushing embrace of the Prussian
+boa-constrictor?
+
+Benedict beckoned to one of the newsboys and bought a paper. Turning to
+the Hanoverian editor,
+
+"I hope you will dine with me and Colonel Anderson," he said. "We have a
+private room, and can talk politics as much as we like. Besides, I have
+something to ask of you which I could hardly ask at a public table."
+
+Just then Colonel Anderson approached. He and Bodemeyer knew each other
+by sight already. Benedict now formally introduced them. The colonel had
+already glanced at his newspaper.
+
+"Do you know," said he, "that although the doctor pronounced the wound
+of no consequence, young Blind nevertheless died early this morning? A
+Hanoverian officer come from Berlin says that about four o'clock a man
+wrapped in a large cloak and wearing a large shady hat which concealed
+his face, arrived at the prison provided with a permission to see the
+prisoner, and was taken to his cell. Blind had been put into a strait
+waistcoat and no one knows what passed between them, but when his cell
+was inspected at eight o'clock he was dead. The doctor says he must have
+been dead nearly four hours, so that he must have died about the time
+this mysterious visitor left him."
+
+"Is this official news?" enquired Bodemeyer. "As editor of a Government
+paper I am bound to accept only official information. Let us see what
+the 'Kreuz Zeitung' has to say."
+
+They withdrew to the room assigned to them, and the Hanoverian editor
+proceeded to examine the Berlin newspaper. The first paragraph of
+consequence stated:
+
+"We are assured that the king's warrant decreeing the dissolution of the
+Lower Chamber will be officially published to-morrow."
+
+"Come," said the colonel, "that is of some importance."
+
+"Wait a moment; there is something more."
+
+"It is also announced that a decree ordering the mobilization of the
+Landwehr will be officially published the day after to-morrow."
+
+"That is enough," observed the colonel, "we know now that the minister
+wins all along the line and that war will be declared in less than a
+fortnight. Let us have the general news. We know all we want to know of
+the political. Only, first, on which side will Hanover be?"
+
+"There is no doubt about that," replied Bodemeyer. "Hanover is bound to
+adhere to the Confederation."
+
+"And on which side is the Confederation," asked Benedict.
+
+"On the side of Austria," answered the journalist promptly. "But listen,
+here is a fresh account of the scene in Unter den Linden."
+
+"Oh! let us have that by all means," cried Benedict. "I was there, and I
+want to know if the account is correct.
+
+"What! were you there?"
+
+"Very much there," and he added laughing, "I might even say with Æneas,
+'_Et quorum pars magna fui._' I was in the thick of it."
+
+Herr Bodemeyer continued:
+
+"We are now able to give fuller details concerning the demonstration in
+Unter den Linden which occurred yesterday after the report of the
+Emperor Louis Napoleon's speech had been received. It appears that just
+as our most distinguished vocalist finished singing 'The German Rhine,'
+which was received with tremendous enthusiasm, a loud hiss was heard. It
+was soon seen that the author of this insult was a foreigner, a French
+painter, evidently intoxicated, and who would probably have atoned for
+his folly with his life, had not some Prussian officers generously
+protected him from the infuriated populace. The young fool further
+defied the crowd by giving his name and address, but when enquiries were
+made at the Black Eagle this morning he had disappeared. We commend his
+prudence and wish him a pleasant journey."
+
+"Is that paragraph signed," asked Benedict.
+
+"No. Is it inaccurate?" returned the reader.
+
+"May I be permitted to remark that the one thing I have everywhere
+observed in my wanderings over three of the four quarters of the
+world--I beg your pardon, there are five, if we count Oceania--is the
+extremely small regard for truth shown by the purveyors of this sort of
+news. Whether in the north or the south, St. Petersburg or Calcutta,
+Paris or Constantinople, they are all alike. Each journal is bound to
+give so many beats of its drum every day. Good or bad, false or true, it
+has to give them, and those who feel injured must obtain redress--if
+they can."
+
+"Which means, I suppose," observed Colonel Anderson, "that this account
+is incorrect."
+
+"Not only incorrect, but incomplete. The 'young fool' it speaks of, not
+only hissed, but cried, 'Vive la France!' Further, he drank to the
+health of France, and also disposed satisfactorily of the four first who
+attacked, him. It is true that these three Prussian officers intervened.
+They wished him to cry 'Vive Guillaume I' and 'Vive la Prusse.' He
+mounted a table, and instead, gave them a recital of Alfred de Musset's
+'Answer to the German Rhine' from end to end. It is also true that just
+then the reports of Blind's revolver attracted general attention, and,
+not proposing to fight all Berlin, he profited by the incident to
+escape, taking refuge in the French Embassy. He had challenged one, two,
+or four adversaries, but not the entire populace. He also left a message
+at the Black Eagle to be given to any enquirers to the effect that he
+could not remain in Berlin, but would wait in some neighbouring country
+in order to oblige any one demanding satisfaction. And, leaving Berlin
+by an early train he arrived at Hanover an hour ago and at once sent his
+card to Herr Bodemeyer, hoping that that gentleman will kindly announce
+in his Gazette both the town and the hotel where this 'young fool' may
+be found by any one unable to find him at the Black Eagle."
+
+"Good heavens," exclaimed the editor, "then it was you who caused this
+mighty uproar at Berlin."
+
+"Even I; small things make much noise, as you see." Turning to the
+Englishman, Benedict continued, "And now you also see why I warned
+Colonel Anderson that I had a favour to ask him. I want him to be my
+second in case, as is quite possible, some wrathful individual should
+arrive demanding why, being in a foreign country, I have dared to uphold
+the honour of my own."
+
+His hearers, with one accord, immediately offered their hands. Benedict
+continued:
+
+"And now, to show I am not absolutely unknown, here is a letter from the
+Head of our 'Department of Fine Arts' to Herr Kaulbach, Painter to the
+King of Hanover. He lives here, does he not?"
+
+"Yes, the king had a charming house built on purpose for him."
+
+At this moment the door communicating with the next room was thrown
+open, the rotund figure of the landlord appeared in the opening and a
+solemn and impressive voice announced:
+
+"Their Excellencies are served."
+
+Whether the chef had perceived that Benedict really understood what he
+was talking about, or else had had orders from his master to do what he
+was told, he had, at any rate, carried out his instructions to the very
+last letter, the result being neither French, English, nor German, but
+cosmopolitan, a banquet for a conference if not a congress. Nor was
+brilliant conversation lacking. Bodemeyer, like all German journalists,
+was a well-read man, but had never been outside Hanover. Anderson, on
+the contrary, had read little, but had travelled everywhere and seen
+much. He and Benedict had explored the same countries and encountered
+the same people. Both had been at the siege of Pekin; Anderson had
+followed Benedict in India, and preceded him in Russia. Both related
+their experiences, the one with English reserve and humour, the other
+with French vivacity and wit. The Englishman, a true modern
+Phoenician, saw everything from the industrial and commercial point of
+view, the Frenchman from that of intellectual progress. Their different
+ideas, brought forward with warmth and also with the courtesy of
+well-bred and distinguished men, crossed each other like foils in the
+hands of experienced fencers, emitting sparks, brilliant if transitory.
+Bodemeyer, unused to this style of discussion, endeavoured to give it a
+philosophical turn, in which he was met by Benedict, but which Anderson
+found difficult to follow. The journalist seemed unintelligible, but
+Benedict's theories he understood as he had never understood before.
+
+The clock striking eight abruptly terminated the conversation. The
+editor sprang up.
+
+"My paper!" he cried, "my 'Gazette'! It is not ready by half!" Never
+before had he succumbed to such an intellectual temptation. "Frenchmen
+are the very devil," he muttered, trying in vain to find a hat which
+would fit him. They _are_ the champagne of the earth, they are clear,
+strong, and sparkling. In vain did Benedict entreat him for five minutes
+in which to write his announcement. "You must let me have it before
+eleven o'clock," cried Bodemeyer, as, having discovered his own hat and
+cane he fled as if the enemy were behind him.
+
+Next morning the following announcement might have been read in the
+"Hanoverian Gazette".
+
+     "On June 7th, 1866, in Unter den Linden at Berlin I had occasion to
+     both give and receive several blows in an encounter with various
+     excellent citizens who wished to tear me to pieces because I had
+     publicly emptied my glass to the glory of France. I have not the
+     honour of knowing who gave these blows, but, wishing to be known by
+     those who received mine, I hereby announce that during the next
+     eight days I may be found at the Hôtel Royal, Hanover, by any one
+     wishing to criticize either my words or actions on the said
+     occasion, and I particularly hope that the author of a certain
+     article referring to me in yesterday's issue of the 'Kreuz
+     Zeitung,' will accept this invitation. Being ignorant of his name,
+     I have no other means of addressing him.
+
+     "I wish to thank the three Prussian officers who interfered to
+     protect me from the amiable people of Berlin. But, should any of
+     them consider himself offended by me, my gratitude will not extend
+     to refusing him satisfaction.
+
+     "I said then and I repeat now, that I am familiar with the use of
+     all weapons."
+
+                          "BENEDICT TURPIN.
+            "_At the Hôtel Royal, Hanover_."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+KAULBACH'S STUDIO
+
+
+Benedict lost no time in leaving his note at the "Gazette" office, and
+his letter of introduction at Kaulbach's studio, where he left also his
+card on which was written, "I hope to have the honour of calling on you
+to-morrow." He therefore ordered Lenhart to be ready a little before
+eleven, in order to pay his two visits, one of thanks to Herr Bodemeyer,
+and one to Kaulbach. As the latter lived at the extreme end of the town
+where the king had had a charming little house erected for him, he
+called at Herr Bodemeyer's office first. The last copies of the
+"Gazette" were just being struck off, and Benedict was able to convince
+himself that his letter was actually in print. As the "Gazette" had
+numerous subscribers in Berlin and would be on sale there at six that
+evening, there was no doubt but that his communication would be widely
+read. The dissolution of the Chamber was confirmed and it was certain
+that mobilization would be announced on the morrow. Benedict continued
+on his way to the studio.
+
+Seen by daylight the house appeared to be a pretty villa in Italian
+style, standing in a garden enclosed with iron railings. The gate stood
+invitingly open. Benedict entered, rang, and was answered by a servant
+in livery, whose manner showed that the visit was expected. He at once
+led the way to the studio.
+
+"The master is just finishing dinner," he said, "but he will be with you
+in a moment."
+
+"Tell the master," replied Benedict, "that I am too delighted at being
+able to see the beautiful things here to wish to hurry him."
+
+And, indeed, the studio, full of original pictures, sketches, and copies
+of some of the works of the greatest painters known, could not fail to
+be intensely interesting to an artist such as Benedict, who now suddenly
+found himself in the sanctuary of one of the greatest of German
+painters. Kaulbach is an artist who has adhered to his Christian faith,
+and everywhere one saw proofs of this. But among highly finished
+sketches for some of his world-famous pictures, such as "The Dispersion
+of Mankind," "The Taking of Jerusalem," etc., Benedict's attention was
+drawn to a modern portrait group of five persons. It represented an
+officer, evidently of high rank, holding a boy of about ten by the hand.
+His charger stood ready on the terrace below, and a lady in the prime of
+life sat near him with two little girls, one leaning against her knee,
+while the other sat at her feet and played with a small dog and some
+roses. The picture, apparently, was a work of love, for the artist had
+taken immense pains with it; too much so, in fact, for the elaborately
+finished details threw the faces into the background, and the general
+effect was too flat.
+
+Absorbed in the study of this group, Benedict did not observe that
+Kaulbach had entered the room and was standing beside him, looking on
+with a smile. Presently he said:
+
+"You are right, that picture is too flat, and I had it brought back, not
+to finish it still more, but to tone it down and soften some parts. Such
+as it is your public would never like it. Delacroix has spoilt you for
+'clean' pictures."
+
+Benedict laughed.
+
+"Do you mean to imply that he painted dirty ones?" he enquired.
+
+"Heaven forbid! His works are excellent, but your nation did not
+appreciate them."
+
+"We do him justice now, however."
+
+"Yes, now that he is dead," said Kaulbach smiling. "Is it not always
+so?"
+
+"Not in your case. Admired in France, adored in Germany, happily you are
+yet with us."
+
+Kaulbach at this time was about fifty-two, slightly grey, sallow in
+complexion, having brilliant dark eyes and a highly nervous
+constitution. Tall and slight, he was at the zenith of his artistic
+powers and hardly past that of his physical ones. The two men studied
+each other critically, until at last Turpin began to laugh.
+
+"Do you know what I am thinking?" asked the German. "I am wondering how
+you have managed to wander from Pekin to St. Petersburg, from Astrakhan
+to Algiers, and yet found time to produce the remarkable pictures you
+have painted. I know these only by report unfortunately, but I have
+heard a good deal. You are a pupil of Scheffer's?"
+
+"Yes, I have also studied under Cabat."
+
+"Great masters, both of them. And you are the hero of that unlucky
+business at Berlin. I have just read your letter in the 'Gazette.'"
+
+"But why 'unlucky'?"
+
+"Well, you will have two or three duels on your hands."
+
+"So much the worse for my adversaries."
+
+"Allow me to remark that you are not lacking in self-confidence."
+
+"No, because I have the certainty of success. Look!" and Benedict held
+out his hand. "Observe that the line of life is double. There is not
+the slightest break anywhere--nothing to indicate accident, sickness, or
+even the slightest scratch. I might live to a hundred--but I won't say
+as much of those who quarrel with me."
+
+Aulbach smiled.
+
+"At the end of your letter of introduction," he said, "there was a
+postscript, which informed me that you were more deeply interested in
+studying occult science than in pursuing your own art."
+
+"I don't know that I study either very much. I am rather a slave to
+temperament. If a thing amuses me, well, yes, I study it. If I think I
+have found a truth, I try to follow it out to the very end. And I do
+believe that chiromancy can give us a glance into the future, and that
+the hand is a page on which the lines of our fate have been traced by
+Destiny. If for five minutes only I could study the hand of either the
+King of Prussia or of Count Bismarck, I could give you some idea of what
+will happen."
+
+"Meanwhile," said Kaulbach, "your science says you will escape scot-free
+from any duels arising out of this Berlin scrimmage?"
+
+"Certainly I shall. But we were talking about your work, which is
+infinitely more interesting. I believe I know all your pictures, or
+nearly so."
+
+"I would wager you don't know the best of them."
+
+"Yes, I do. You mean 'Charlemagne visited in his Tomb by the Emperor
+Otho'? It is the masterpiece of modern German painting."
+
+Kaulbach was evidently delighted.
+
+"You have seen that!" he exclaimed, and he held out his hand to
+Benedict. "I don't think as much of it as you seem to do, but it is the
+best thing I have done. Oh! pardon me, but I see two visitors who come
+for a sitting. But wait, they are kind friends of mine, and may not
+object to your presence. I will tell them who you are, and then if they
+do not mind your being here you can please yourself as to whether you go
+or stay." So saying he hastily quitted the studio.
+
+A carriage was at the garden gate, quite plain in appearance, with no
+arms emblazoned on the panels, yet Benedict's practised eye saw at once
+that the horses had cost at least £200 each. Two gentlemen were leaving
+it, the elder of the two, who seemed about forty-five, wore the
+epaulettes of a general with an undress uniform of dark green, the
+collar and facings being of black velvet. Kaulbach said a few words,
+upon which he took off an order he was wearing and also two crosses,
+retaining those of the Guelphic Order and of Ernest Augustus. Then, that
+he might cross the little garden and ascend the steps he took the arm of
+the younger man, who seemed to be his son, and who, tall and very
+slight, appeared to be about one-and-twenty, and wore a Hussar uniform
+of blue and silver.
+
+Kaulbach opened the studio door and stood respectfully aside. Benedict,
+as he bowed, instantly recognized the central figure of Kaulbach's
+portrait group. He glanced quickly at the picture on which the missing
+decoration was depicted in all its glory. It was the Star of the Order
+of the Garter, worn by few except sovereign princes. He knew at once
+that the visitors must be the blind King of Hanover, one of the most
+cultivated and artistic sovereigns of Germany, and his son, the Crown
+Prince.
+
+"Milords," said Kaulbach, "I have the honour to present a brother artist
+to you. He is young, but is already famous, and he brings a special
+introduction from the Minister of Fine Arts at Paris. May I add that
+his own personality is a better recommendation even than those."
+
+The general bent his head graciously, the youth touched his cap. The
+elder man then addressed Benedict in English, regretting that his French
+was only indifferent. Benedict replied in the same language, saying that
+he was too great an admirer of Shakespeare, Scott, and Byron not to have
+made an effort to read these authors in their own tongue. The king,
+satisfied that he was unrecognized, discussed various subjects, and,
+knowing that Benedict had travelled much, asked many questions which
+were in themselves a compliment, for only men of superior intelligence
+could have asked and answered them. Kaulbach, meanwhile, rapidly worked
+at his picture softening down the too hard accessories. The young prince
+listened eagerly, and when Benedict offered to show him sketches made in
+India, he appealed anxiously to his father as to when and where he could
+see them.
+
+"Better ask both these gentlemen to lunch in your own rooms," said the
+King, "and if they do you the honour to accept--"
+
+"Oh! can you come to-morrow?" enquired the prince, delighted.
+
+Benedict looked at Kaulbach in embarrassment.
+
+"I fear I may have work of another kind to-morrow," he replied.
+
+"Yes," said Kaulbach, "I fear my friend here is a trifle hot-headed. He
+only arrived yesterday and he has already written a letter for the
+'Gazette,' which is now well on its way to Berlin."
+
+"What! the letter I thought so amusing that I read it aloud to my
+father! Is that yours, monsieur? But, indeed, you will have duels
+without end."
+
+"I count on two," said Benedict. "It is a lucky number."
+
+"But suppose you are killed or wounded?"
+
+"If I am killed, I will, with your permission, bequeath you my album. If
+I am badly hurt, I will ask Herr Kaulbach to show it you instead. If I
+am only scratched, I will bring it myself. But you need not be anxious
+on my account; I can assure you nothing unpleasant will happen to me."
+
+"But how can you know that?"
+
+"You know my friend's name, I think," said Kaulbach. "He is Benedict
+Turpin. Well, he descends in the direct line from the famous enchanter
+Turpin, the uncle of Charlemagne, and he has inherited the gifts of his
+ancestor!"
+
+"Good heavens," said the prince, "are you spirit, magician, or what?"
+
+"None of them. I simply amuse myself by reading the past, the present,
+and as much of the future as one's hand can reveal."
+
+"Before you came," said Kaulbach, "he was deeply regretting not being
+able to see the hand of the King of Prussia. He would have told us what
+will happen in the war. My lord," he continued, emphasizing the title,
+"could we not find somewhere a royal hand for him to see?"
+
+"Very easily," said the king, smiling, "only it should be that of a real
+king or a real emperor. Such as the Emperor of China, who is obeyed by
+millions of subjects, or Alexander, who reigns over the ninth part of
+the whole world. Do you not think so, M. Turpin?"
+
+"I think, sir," replied Benedict, as he bent low before the king, "that
+it is not always great kingdoms which make great kings. Thessaly
+produced Achilles, and Macedonia gave birth to Alexander," and again
+bowing, even more deeply, he left the studio.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE CHALLENGE
+
+
+Benedict's prediction was duly fulfilled. He had hardly opened his eyes
+the next morning when Lenhart, who had assumed the duties of valet,
+appeared, bearing a magnificent silver salver which he had borrowed from
+the landlord. On it were displayed two cards.
+
+The cards bore the respective names of "Major Frederic von Bülow" and
+"Georges Kleist, Editor of the 'Kreuz Zeitung.'" Two different classes
+of Prussian society were therefore represented desiring satisfaction.
+
+Benedict enquired where these gentlemen were to be found, and hearing
+that they were both at his own hotel, sent a hasty message to Colonel
+Anderson, begging him to come at once. When he appeared Benedict gave
+him the cards, requesting him to deal with the owners in due order of
+precedence, beginning with Major von Bülow, and to agree to whatever
+terms were proposed whether as to weapons, time, or place. The colonel
+would have protested, but Benedict declared he would have it his own way
+or not at all, and Anderson had no choice but to agree.
+
+He returned at the end of half-an-hour. Von Bülow had chosen swords.
+But, having been sent officially to Frankfort, and having come out of
+his way in order to accept M. Turpin's challenge, he would be greatly
+obliged if the meeting might take place as soon as possible.
+
+"The sooner the better," said Benedict. "It is the very least I can do
+to oblige a man who comes out of his way in order to oblige me."
+
+"All he wants, seemingly, is to be able to continue his journey this
+evening," observed Anderson.
+
+"Ah!" said Benedict. "But I cannot answer for his ability to do that,
+however early we meet!"
+
+"That would be a pity," said the colonel. "Major von Bülow is very much
+a gentleman. It seems that three Prussian officers interfered to protect
+you from the mob on condition that you cried 'Vive King William!' 'Vive
+la Prusse!'"
+
+"Pardon me, there were no conditions."
+
+"Not on your side, but they undertook it for you."
+
+"I did not prevent them from crying it as much as they liked."
+
+"Doubtless, only, instead of doing it yourself--"
+
+"I recited one of Alfred de Musset's finest poems; what more could they
+want?"
+
+"They consider that you treated them with disrespect."
+
+"Perhaps I did. Well, what next?"
+
+"When they read your letter they decided that one of them must accept
+the challenge and the other two act as seconds. They drew lots, and the
+lot fell on von Bülow. That very moment he received orders to go on this
+mission to Frankfort. The others wished that one of them should take his
+place in the duel. But he refused, saying that if he were killed or
+badly wounded, one of them could take on the dispatches which would not
+be much delayed. So I then arranged the meeting for one o'clock."
+
+"Very well. What about the other man?"
+
+"Herr Georges Kleist is not remarkable in any way: he is a typical
+German journalist. He chooses pistols and wants to fire at close
+quarters on account of his defective eyesight. I believe it is quite
+good enough, but, however, he does wear glasses, so you are to be at
+forty-five paces--"
+
+"Good gracious! Do you call that close quarters?"
+
+"Have a little patience! You may each advance fifteen paces nearer,
+which reduces the ultimate distance to fifteen. But we had a discussion.
+His seconds say that he is the aggrieved party and has the right to fire
+first. I say, nothing of the kind; you ought to fire together, at a
+given signal. You must decide; it is a serious matter, and I decline the
+responsibility."
+
+"It is soon decided; he must fire first. I hope you fixed an early time
+for him also? We could then kill two birds with one stone."
+
+"That is just what I have done. At one o'clock you meet von Bülow with
+swords, and at a quarter-past, Herr Kleist, with pistols."
+
+"Well then, my dear colonel, I will go and order breakfast, and will you
+be so good as to tell Herr Kleist that he can have first shot? And," he
+added, "let it be understood that I don't provide any arms myself; I
+will use the swords and pistols they bring with them."
+
+It was then eleven o'clock. Benedict promptly ordered breakfast. Colonel
+Anderson returned in ten minutes and announced that all was settled.
+Whereupon they applied themselves to their repast until the clock struck
+twelve.
+
+"Colonel," said Benedict, "do not let us be late."
+
+"We have no great distance to go. It is a pretty place, as you will see.
+Are you influenced by surroundings?"
+
+"I would rather fight on grass than on cultivated ground."
+
+"We are going to Eilenriede; it is a sort of Hanoverian Bois de
+Boulogne. In the middle of the wood there is a little open glade with a
+spring in it, which might have been made for this sort of encounter. I
+have been there once or twice on my own account and three or four times
+on other people's. By the way, have you secured another second?"
+
+"There are five on the other side, one of them will oblige me."
+
+"But suppose they refused?"
+
+"Not likely! But, even if they did, you alone would be sufficient. And,
+as they seem anxious to finish the affair one way or another, there will
+be no difficulties."
+
+Lenhart had already announced the carriage. The colonel explained the
+way to him. In half-an-hour they arrived at the little glade, with ten
+minutes to spare.
+
+"A lovely spot," said Benedict. "As the others are not yet here, I will
+sketch it."
+
+And, producing a sketch-book from his pocket, he dashed off a very
+accurate view of the place with remarkable rapidity and skill.
+
+Presently a carriage appeared in the distance. As they drew near
+Benedict rose and took off his hat. The three officers, the editor, and
+a surgeon they had brought, occupied it. In the officers, Benedict at
+once recognized his three protectors at Berlin.
+
+His adversaries left their carriage at a little distance and courteously
+returned his salute. Colonel Anderson went to meet them and explained
+that his principal, being a stranger, had no second but himself, and
+asked if one of his opponents would supply the deficiency. They
+consulted a moment, then one of the officers crossed over and bowed to
+Benedict.
+
+"I am much obliged by your courtesy, sir," said Benedict.
+
+"We will agree to anything, sir--rather than lose time," replied the
+officer.
+
+Benedict bit his lip.
+
+"Will you at once select the weapons," he said to Colonel Anderson in
+English, "we must not keep these gentlemen waiting."
+
+Von Bülow had already divested himself of helmet, coat, waistcoat, and
+cravat. Benedict studied him carefully as he did so. He appeared to be
+about thirty-three and to have lived in his uniform until he felt
+uncomfortable out of it. He was dark, with glossy black hair cut quite
+short, a straight nose, black moustache and very decided chin. Both
+courage and loyalty could be read in the frank and open glance of his
+dark eyes.
+
+Von Bülow, having provided the swords, Benedict was offered his choice
+of them. He simply took the first that came, and immediately passed his
+left hand along the edge and felt the point. The edge was keen as a
+razor. The point sharp as a needle. The major's second observed his
+action, and, beckoning Colonel Anderson aside.
+
+"Will you," he said, "kindly explain to your principal that in German
+duels we use only the edge of the sword? To thrust with the point is
+inadmissible."
+
+"The devil!" said Benedict when this information was repeated to him,
+"it is well you told me. In France, where duels, especially military
+ones, are usually serious, we use every stroke we can, and our
+sword-play is actually called 'counterpoint.'"
+
+"But indeed," exclaimed von Bülow, "I beg, sir, that you will use your
+sword in whatever way you find best."
+
+Benedict bowed in acknowledgment. Having fought several duels at
+Heidelberg he was well acquainted with German methods of fencing and
+placed himself with apparent indifference. As the affronted person has
+the right of attack, and a challenge may be considered an affront, he
+waited, standing simply on guard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE TWO DUELS
+
+
+"Engage, gentlemen!" cried the colonel.
+
+Von Bülow's sword swept through the air with a flash like lightning.
+But, rapid though it was, it descended in empty space. Warned by the
+instinct of a true fencer, the blades had barely crossed when Benedict
+sprang swiftly aside and remained standing unguarded, his point lowered,
+and his mocking smile disclosing a fine set of teeth. His adversary
+paused, perplexed, then swung round so as to face him, but did not
+immediately advance. However, feeling that this duel must be no child's
+play, he stepped forward and instantly the point of Benedict's sword
+rose menacingly against him. Involuntarily he retreated a step. Benedict
+now fixed his eyes upon him, circling round him, now bending to the
+right, now again to the left, but always keeping his weapon low and
+ready to strike.
+
+The major began to feel a kind of hypnotic influence overpowering him.
+Determined to fight against it, he boldly stepped forward, holding his
+sword aloft. Instantly he felt the touch of cold steel. Benedict thrust,
+his rapier pierced von Bülow's shirt and reappeared on the other side.
+Had not the major remained standing motionless opposite him, an onlooker
+would have supposed he had been run through the body.
+
+The seconds hastened up, but:
+
+"It is nothing, I assure you," said the major.
+
+Then, perceiving that Benedict had only intended to pierce his shirt and
+not himself, he added:
+
+"Come, sir, let us continue this game in earnest."
+
+"Ah!" said Benedict, "but you see, had I played in earnest, you would
+now be a dead man!"
+
+"On guard, sir," cried von Bülow, furious, "and remember this is a duel
+to the death."
+
+Benedict stepped back and saluting with his sword:
+
+"Pardon me, gentlemen," he said, "you see how unfortunate I am. Although
+fully intending not to use my point I have nevertheless made two holes
+in my opponent's shirt. My hand might again refuse to obey my will, and,
+as I do not visit a country merely to rebel against its
+customs--particularly when they happen to be philanthropic--so--"
+
+He went up to a rock which rose out of the little valley and, placing
+the point of his rapier in a crevice, broke off a good inch of the
+blade.
+
+His adversary wished to do likewise, but,
+
+"It is quite unnecessary, sir," said Benedict, "you are not likely to
+use your point."
+
+Being now reduced to ordinary sword-play, Benedict crossed swords with
+his opponent, which necessitated their keeping close together. But he
+continually retreated half a pace and advanced again, thanks to which
+incessant movement the major merely made cuts in the air. Becoming
+impatient, he endeavoured to reach Benedict, missed again, and
+involuntarily lowered his weapon. Benedict parried a back stroke and
+touched von Bülow's breast with the broken point. Said he:
+
+"You see I was right in breaking the point of my sword. Otherwise, this
+time something besides your shirt would have been pierced."
+
+The major remained silent, but quickly recovering himself again stood on
+guard. He now saw that his adversary was a most skilful swordsman, who
+united French celerity with determined coolness and who was fully
+conscious of his strength.
+
+Benedict, seeing that an end must be made, now stood still, calm but
+menacing, with frowning brows and eyes fixed on his enemy, not
+attempting to strike but retaining a posture of defence. It seemed as if
+he awaited the attack, but suddenly with the unexpected celerity which
+characterized all his movements, he sprang forward with a bound like
+that of a jaguar, aimed a blow at his adversary's head, and as the
+latter raised his arm in defence, drew a line with his blade right
+across his chest. Then, springing lightly back in the same instant he
+again lowered his sword as before.
+
+Von Bülow's shirt, slashed as though cut by a razor, was instantly
+tinged with blood. The seconds moved forward.
+
+"Do not stir, I beg," cried the major, "it is nothing but a scratch. I
+must confess the gentleman's hand is a light one."
+
+And he again stood on guard.
+
+Courageous though he was, he felt he was losing confidence, and,
+dumbfounded by his enemy's agility, a sense of great danger oppressed
+him. Evidently Benedict was keeping just out of reach, and was merely
+waiting until he should expose himself by an unwary advance. He
+understood that hitherto his opponent had simply played with him, but
+that now the duel was approaching an end and that his smallest mistake
+would be severely punished. His sword, never able to encounter
+Benedict's, seemed to become lifeless, and ceased to respond to his
+will.
+
+His previous experience in fencing seemed useless here, and this
+flashing blade which he could never touch, but which rose constantly
+before him, alert, intelligent, as if endued with life, confused his
+senses. He dared not risk a movement before this enemy always just
+beyond his reach, so imperturbable and yet so alert, and who evidently
+intended, like the artist he was, either to finish with one brilliant
+stroke or else--which did not seem likely--to expire in a dignified pose
+like the "Dying Gladiator."
+
+But, exasperated by his opponent's perfect bodily grace, by his elegant
+and masterly swordsmanship, and still more by the mocking smile which
+hovered on his lips, von Bülow felt the blood rise to his temples, and
+could not resist muttering between his teeth:
+
+"This fellow is the very devil!"
+
+And, springing forward, no longer fearing the broken point, he raised
+his sword and aimed a blow with all his might at his adversary, a blow
+which, had it reached its object, would have split his head as though it
+had been an apple. Again, the stroke only encountered empty air, for
+once more Benedict had effaced himself by a light, graceful spring, very
+familiar to Parisian fencing masters.
+
+The major's raised sword had broken his guard. A flash, as of lightning,
+and his arm, streaming with blood, fell against his side. His sword
+dropped, but remained upright supported by the sword knot.
+
+The seconds hurried to his side. Very pale, but with smiling lips, von
+Bülow bowed to Benedict and said:
+
+"I thank you, sir. When you might have run me through the body you only
+wounded my shirt; when you might have cut me in two you let me off with
+the sort of cut one gets in shaving, and now, when you might have either
+cleft my head or maimed my arm, I escape with a ruined sleeve. I now
+ask you to extend your courtesy even further, and to complete the
+record like the gentleman you are by explaining why you have spared me
+thus?"
+
+"Sir," said Benedict with a smile, "in the house of Herr Fellner, the
+Burgomaster of Frankfort, I was introduced to his god-daughter, a
+charming lady, who adores her husband. Her name was the Baroness von
+Bülow. When I saw your card it occurred to me that you might be related,
+and though, beautiful as she is, mourning could only add to her charm,
+it would grieve me to have been the cause of compelling her to wear it."
+
+The major looked Benedict in the face and, stern soldier though he might
+be, there were tears in his eyes.
+
+"Madame von Bülow is my wife," he said. "Believe me, sir, wherever she
+may meet you she will greet you thus: 'My husband foolishly quarrelled
+with you, sir; may you ever be blessed because for my sake you spared
+him!' and she will give you her hand with as much gratitude as I now
+offer you mine."
+
+And he added smiling:
+
+"Forgive me for only offering my left hand. It is entirely your own
+fault that I cannot give you the right."
+
+And now, although the wound was not dangerous, von Bülow did not refuse
+to have it dressed. The surgeon promptly ripped up his sleeve,
+disclosing a wound, not very deep, but terrible to look at, which
+extended down the arm from the shoulder to the elbow. And one shuddered
+to think what such a wound would have been, had the swordsman struck
+with all his force instead of simply drawing his blade along the arm.
+
+The surgeon dipped a cloth in the ice-cold spring which rose at the foot
+of the rock and wrapped it round the arm. He then drew the sides of the
+wound together and strapped them with plaster. He assured the major that
+he would be quite able to continue his journey to Frankfort in the
+evening.
+
+Benedict offered his carriage to the major, who, however, declined,
+being curious to see what would happen to his successor. He excused
+himself on the score that courtesy required him to wait for Herr Georges
+Kleist.
+
+Although Herr Kleist, having had time to see what sort of adversary he
+had to deal with, would willingly have been some leagues away, he put a
+brave face on the matter, and although he grew perceptibly pale during
+the first duel, and still paler when the wound was dressed, he was,
+nevertheless, the first to say.
+
+"Excuse my interrupting you, gentlemen, but it is my turn now."
+
+"I am quite at your service, sir," said Benedict.
+
+"You are not properly dressed for a duel with pistols," interposed
+Colonel Anderson, glancing at Benedict's costume.
+
+"Really," said Benedict, "I never thought about what clothes I was to
+fight in. I only wanted to do it with comfort to myself. That's all!"
+
+"You can at least put on your tunic and button it!"
+
+"Bah! It is much too hot."
+
+"Perhaps we ought to have taken the pistols first. All this sword-play
+may have unsteadied your hand."
+
+"My hand is my servant, dear colonel; it knows it has to obey me and you
+will see it does so."
+
+"Do you wish to see the pistols you are to use?"
+
+"You have seen them, have you not? Are they double barrelled or single?"
+
+"Single barrelled duelling pistols. They were hired this morning from a
+gunsmith in the Grande Place."
+
+"Then call my other second and see them properly loaded. Mind the shot
+is inside the barrels, and not dropped outside."
+
+"I will load them myself."
+
+"Colonel," asked the Prussian officers, "do you wish to see the pistols
+loaded?"
+
+"Yes. I wish to do so. But how are we to arrange? Herr Kleist will only
+have one second."
+
+"These two gentlemen may answer for Herr Kleist," said the major, "and I
+will go over to M. Turpin." And his wound being now bandaged, he went
+and sat down on the rock which gave its name to the glade.
+
+Meanwhile the pistols were loaded, Colonel Anderson fulfilling his
+promise by putting in the balls himself. Benedict came up to him.
+
+"Tell me," the Englishman asked gravely, "do you mean to kill him?"
+
+"What do you expect? One can't exactly play with pistols as one can with
+swords or rapiers."
+
+"Surely there is some way of disabling people with whom you have no
+serious quarrel without killing them outright?"
+
+"I really cannot undertake to miss him just to oblige you! Think! He
+would naturally go and publish everywhere that I did not know how to
+shoot!"
+
+"All right! I see I need not have spoken. I bet you have an idea of some
+sort."
+
+"Frankly, I have. But then he must do his part."
+
+"What must he do?"
+
+"Just keep perfectly still, it ought not to be so very difficult. See,
+they are ready."
+
+The seconds had just measured the forty-five paces. Colonel Anderson now
+measured off fifteen from each end, and to mark the exact limit which
+neither combatant was to pass, he laid two scabbards across and planted
+a sword upright in the ground at each end to decide the starting-point.
+
+"To your places, gentlemen," cried the seconds.
+
+Herr Kleist having selected his pistol, the colonel brought the other to
+Benedict, who was talking to the major, and who took the pistol without
+as much as looking at it, and still chatting with von Bülow, walked
+quietly to his place.
+
+The duellists now stood at the extreme distance.
+
+"Gentlemen!" said Colonel Anderson, "you are now forty-five paces apart.
+Each of you may either advance fifteen paces before firing, or may fire
+from where he now stands. Herr Georges Kleist has the first shot and may
+fire as soon as he pleases. Having fired, he may hold his pistol so as
+to protect any part of himself he wishes.
+
+"Now, gentlemen!"
+
+The two adversaries advanced towards each other. Having arrived at the
+mark, Benedict waited, standing, facing his opponent with folded arms. A
+light breeze ruffled his hair and blew his shirt open at the chest. He
+had walked at his ordinary pace.
+
+Herr Kleist, dressed entirely in black, bare-headed, and with closely
+buttoned coat, had advanced slowly, by force of will overcoming physical
+disinclination. He halted at the limit.
+
+"You are ready, sir?" he asked.
+
+"Quite ready, sir."
+
+"Will you not turn sideways?"
+
+"I am not accustomed to do so."
+
+Then, turning himself, Herr Kleist slowly raised his pistol, took aim,
+and fired.
+
+Benedict heard the ball whiz close by his ear and felt the wind ruffle
+his hair; it had passed within an inch of his head.
+
+His adversary instantly raised his pistol, holding it so as to protect
+his face, but was unable entirely to control a nervous movement of his
+hand.
+
+"Sir," said Benedict, "you courteously asked just now if I would not
+stand sideways, which is unusual between combatants. Permit me in my
+turn to offer a piece of advice, or rather, make a request."
+
+"What is it, sir?" asked the journalist, still protecting himself with
+his pistol.
+
+"This; keep your hand steady, your pistol is moving. I wish to put my
+ball in the wood of your pistol, which will be very difficult unless you
+keep it quite still. Against my own will I might hit you, either in the
+cheek or the back of the head, whereas--if you keep your hand just as it
+is--"
+
+He raised his pistol and fired instantly.
+
+"There! it is done now!"
+
+It was done so rapidly that no one could have supposed he had taken any
+aim at all. But, even as the report was heard, Herr Kleist's pistol was
+blown to pieces and he himself staggered and fell on one knee.
+
+"Ah!" said Anderson, "you have killed him."
+
+"I think not," replied Benedict. "I aimed between the two screws which
+hold the hammer. It is the shock of the concussion which has brought him
+down."
+
+The surgeon and the two seconds hastened to the wounded man, who now
+held only the butt end of his pistol. There was a terrible bruise on his
+cheek, reaching from the eye to the jaw. Otherwise he was untouched,
+only the shock had knocked him down.
+
+The barrel of the pistol was picked up on one side and the lock on the
+other. The ball had lodged exactly between the two screws. Had it
+continued its course unobstructed it would have broken the upper jaw and
+penetrated the brain.
+
+The dressing was simple--the bruise was a very bad one, but the skin was
+only broken in two places, and the surgeon considered a cold-water
+bandage to be all that was required.
+
+Benedict embraced the major, bowed to the journalist, shook hands with
+the seconds, put on his coat, and got into the carriage, looking less
+dishevelled than if he had come from a picnic.
+
+"Well, my dear sponsor," he said to Colonel Anderson.
+
+"Well, my dear godson," responded the latter, "I know at least ten men
+besides myself who would willingly have given a thousand pounds to see
+what I have seen to-day."
+
+"Sir," said Lenhart, "if you would promise neither to hunt nor to fight
+unless I am there to see, I, my horse, and my carriage should be at your
+service for the rest of my life."
+
+And indeed, Benedict returned as he had foretold, having fought his
+duels, vanquished his adversaries, and come off without a single
+scratch!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+"WHAT WAS WRITTEN IN A KING'S HAND"
+
+
+When Benedict returned to his hotel he was met by Kaulbach's servant,
+sent by his master to learn what had happened. In the good town of
+Hanover it had speedily become known that in answer to Benedict's letter
+in the "Gazette" two challenges had been received that very morning, and
+that he, his challengers, and seconds, had all gone to Eilenriede, the
+usual place for settling affairs of this description. Benedict desired
+him to assure his master that all was well, adding that he would have
+come in person to acknowledge his courtesy, had he not feared to rouse
+the curiosity of the whole town.
+
+Colonel Anderson had made an excuse for leaving Benedict as soon as they
+returned. Being an officer of the Royal Ordnance he had probably some
+report to make to the king.
+
+The news of the result of this double combat spread as rapidly as had
+that of the challenges. Such an event as two duels successfully fought
+without a scratch being received was quite unheard of, and was
+considered so extraordinary that the young men of the town, who also had
+no love for the Prussians, sent a deputation to congratulate Benedict on
+his success. He received the deputies and replied in such excellent
+German that they retired marvelling more than ever.
+
+The doors had scarcely closed on them when Stephen appeared, and
+announced that all his guests were so interested in the events of the
+day that they begged Benedict would honour them by dining at the _table
+d'hôte_, in order that they might all have the pleasure of personally
+congratulating him.
+
+Benedict replied that he did not in the least understand so much
+admiration for his perfectly natural conduct, but that he was quite
+willing to do anything which might be agreeable to his fellow guests.
+
+Stephen had time to let the news circulate in the town that the young
+Frenchman of whom every one was talking, would, for once only, consent
+to dine at the _table d'hôte_. Instead of twenty-five only, he had
+covers laid for two hundred guests. Every place was occupied.
+
+The police feared disorder of some kind, and came to investigate. They
+were assured that it was only a family affair, a demonstration such as
+had been made three days before under the windows of Count von
+Bismarck--only it was the other way about! Now the Hanoverian police was
+an excellent body, which highly approved of family fêtes and patriotic
+demonstrations. Therefore, instead of objecting to this one they
+encouraged it with all their power, thanks to which all passed off in
+perfect order.
+
+At midnight, Benedict was at length allowed to retire, but his admirers
+organized a serenade beneath his windows which lasted till two o'clock
+in the morning.
+
+At nine Kaulbach entered his room. The Crown Prince invited Benedict to
+breakfast at the Palace of Herrenhausen, and requested him to bring his
+sketches. Kaulbach was commissioned to bring him back. The breakfast was
+at eleven, but the prince would be obliged if Benedict would come at ten
+in order to have some time for conversation both before and after.
+
+Benedict lost no time in dressing, and although Kaulbach, intimate at
+the palace, assured him he could go in ordinary costume, he preferred to
+wear the naval uniform in which he had made the Chinese campaign. On his
+breast was the Cross of the Légion d'Honneur, of which the simple red
+ribbon means much more when worn by some than do the various grand
+crosses worn by others. He added a sabre, the gift of Said Pasha, took
+his sketches, and got into the carriage with Kaulbach.
+
+Lenhart had a whole day's holiday.
+
+Twenty-five minutes brought them to Herrenhausen, which is about a
+league from Hanover, and, the carriage being open, Benedict could see
+the young prince watching for him eagerly at a window. He was
+accompanied only by his aide-de-camp, an officer of Engineers, and
+consequently well able to draw. Also, which is more unusual, he did not
+disdain the picturesque.
+
+The prince enquired courteously after Benedict's health, without making
+the smallest allusion to the duels of the day before. It was evident
+nevertheless that he knew all about them. Had there been any doubts on
+the subject they would have been dispelled by the appearance of Colonel
+Anderson as another invited guest.
+
+But the prince's chief interest centred in the portfolio which Benedict
+carried under his arm.
+
+Anticipating his wishes, Benedict observed;
+
+"Your Highness wished to see some of my sketches. I have brought some
+representing hunting incidents, thinking that they might interest you
+most."
+
+"Oh! let me see, let me see!" exclaimed the prince, extending his hand,
+and placing the portfolio on the piano, he began eagerly to examine the
+contents. After having turned over several, "Ah," said he, "but they are
+beautiful. Will you not tell me something of the adventures which I am
+sure they illustrate? They must be so interesting."
+
+Benedict endeavoured to gratify the prince, and the time both before and
+after the breakfast passed rapidly in listening to accounts of elephant
+hunting, of encounters with pirates in the Straits of Malacca, of
+adventures in the Caucasus, and he had just finished an especially
+thrilling anecdote relating to the poisonous snakes of India when the
+king was seen approaching from the gallery. He held the arm of his
+aide-de-camp with whom he was conversing and walked firmly as if able to
+see. He entered the dining-room without being announced. The four guests
+rose immediately, but:
+
+"Do not let me disturb you, gentlemen," said the king. "I merely came to
+visit the prince, to ask if he has all he wants, and if not, to convey
+his wishes to the persons concerned."
+
+"No! thanks to Your Majesty's kindness, nothing is wanting here except
+yourself. Your knowledge of men has not deceived you, and Monsieur
+Benedict is the most delightful companion I ever met."
+
+"The prince is imaginative, sire," said Benedict laughing. "He
+attributes to some very simple anecdotes and hasty sketches an
+excellence which they do not possess."
+
+But the king replied as if answering his own thought, the thought which
+had led him to visit the young man.
+
+"Yesterday," he said, addressing Benedict and turning towards him, as he
+always did in conversation, "you said something about a science which
+interested me in former days, namely, chiromancy. My thoughts carry me
+on towards the mysterious unexplored regions of the human mind, of
+nature, of creation. I should like to know they are based upon logic, on
+physiology, for instance."
+
+"I know, sire," replied Benedict, smiling, "that is why I ventured
+yesterday to mention the occult sciences to Your Majesty."
+
+"You know. But how?" demanded the king.
+
+"I should be a poor student, sire, if I had limited my enquiries to the
+hands only, and had not united the study of Lavater and Gall to that of
+Arpentigny. I saw at once in the form of your hands and head those
+precious aptitudes which are shown in phrenology by the well-developed
+organs of the poetic faculty and of the love of harmony, which betoken
+the student of natural science. The protection accorded by Your Majesty
+to the poor herbalist, Lampe, arose not from benevolence only, but from
+the conviction that certain men are empowered to receive a revelation,
+and that it is not always the highly placed ones of earth to whom truth
+is thus manifested."
+
+"It is true," said the king. "Other men may see the stars shining in the
+midnight silence, but it seems to me that I actually hear that 'music of
+the spheres' spoken of by Pythagoras. And I am proud to think that while
+I stand on the summit of earthly society, there are, immediately above
+me, intermediate angelic influences which carry on a boundless electric
+chain, linking us not merely with our own little planetary system, but
+with others--with the whole universe."
+
+"I do not venture," the king continued with a smile, "to discourse
+openly on these beliefs. I should get the reputation of 'a king of
+dreams,' about the worst a king can have. But to you, who are a dreamer
+like myself, I do say--yes, I believe in these celestial influences, and
+I believe that each mortal has, in that precious casket which he calls
+his skull, the signs of his destiny. He may strive to alter or delay its
+course, but it will bear him on irresistibly to fortune, success, or
+misery, as the case may be.
+
+"And I speak with conviction because I have had proofs. In early youth I
+once met a gipsy woman in the course of a solitary walk. She examined my
+hand and told me certain things which came to pass. I wish to believe
+you, but I must have proofs. Can you read the past in my hand even as
+the gipsy read the future. Can you, do you, sincerely believe you have
+this power?"
+
+"I do, sire. And I think actual science will tell you what has before
+been perhaps merely guessed at by intuition or tradition."
+
+"Well then," said the king, extending his hand, "now tell me what you
+read."
+
+"Sire," replied Benedict, "I do not know how far I dare--"
+
+"Dare what?" enquired the king.
+
+"What if I read only a threatening future?"
+
+"We live in days when no predictions, however terrible, can exceed the
+reality of the convulsions which are taking place around us. What can
+you predict for me that can be so terrible? Is it the loss of my
+kingdom? I lost more than a kingdom when I lost the vision of sun and
+sky, of earth and sea. Take my hand, and tell me what is written."
+
+"Everything?"
+
+"Everything. As for misfortunes, is it not better to know of them than
+to encounter them unforeseen?"
+
+Benedict bowed so deeply over King George's hand that he almost touched
+it with his lips.
+
+"A truly royal hand," he said, after having glanced over it, "a
+beneficent hand; an artistic hand."
+
+"I did not ask for compliments, sir," said the king, smiling.
+
+"See, my dear master," said Benedict, addressing Kaulbach, "how well the
+Mount of Apollo, there, under the ring-finger, is developed! Apollo
+bestows love of the arts; he is the giver of intelligence, of all that
+is brilliant and creates brilliance. It is he who gives the hope of an
+immortal name, calm of the soul, the sympathy that creates love. Look at
+the Mount of Mars, represented by the part opposite the thumb. This is
+what gives courage, both civil and military, calm, coolness in danger,
+resignation, pride, devotion, resolution, and the strength of
+resistance. Unfortunately, Saturn is against us. Saturn threatens. You
+know, sire, Saturn is Fate. Now, I ought to tell you, the lines of
+Saturn are not only unfavourable; they are calamitous."
+
+And here Benedict raised his head and looking at the king with the
+utmost respect and sympathy:
+
+"I might continue more intimately yet, sire," he said, "and reveal your
+whole character in its most secret recesses. I might sketch your
+inclinations one by one to you to their lightest shades; but I should
+prefer to pass at once to graver facts. At twelve years old, Your
+Majesty had a serious illness."
+
+"It is true," said the king.
+
+"At nineteen, a line extends both towards the brain and towards the
+Mount of the Sun--a nervous seizure on one side; on the other, something
+resembling death, but which is not death--an eclipse! And worse than
+that, an eclipse is momentary one night!"
+
+"The gipsy told me literally the same as you--something that resembles
+death, but is not death! The fact is that at the age of nineteen I
+passed through great trouble."
+
+"Stay! Here, sire, on Jupiter there is a marvellous gleam; one of the
+highest seats of human fortune--about the age of thirty-nine."
+
+"Again the words of the gipsy. At thirty-nine I became king."
+
+"I was ignorant of the precise dates," said Benedict, "but it might be
+supposed that I knew them. Let me look for a fact that I could not have
+known. Ah, I see it. Yes, it is certainly here. An agony of terror, an
+accident due to water. What is it? A boat in danger? A tempest watched
+from the shore? The imminent wreck of a vessel containing some one
+beloved? There is fearful terror, but terror only; for there is a rescue
+traced close to the line of fate. Your Majesty undoubtedly experienced
+terrible anxiety for the life of some one greatly beloved.'
+
+"Do you hear this, Ernest?" said the king addressing his son.
+
+"Oh, my father!" said the young prince, throwing his arms around his
+father's neck. Then, to Benedict: "Yes, indeed, my poor father was in
+terrible fear. I was bathing in the sea at Nordeney. I can swim fairly
+well; but without perceiving it I let myself be carried away on a
+current; and, upon my word, I was on the point of sinking when I grasped
+the arm of an honest fisherman who had come to my assistance. One second
+more, and all would have been over with me."
+
+"And I was there," said the king. "I could hear his cries, I stretched
+my arms towards him--it was all I could do. Gloucester offered his
+kingdom for a horse: and I would gladly have given mine for a ray of
+light. Do not let us think of it. All the misfortunes of the future
+together are not more terrible than the shadow of that misfortune which
+did not happen."
+
+"And so, sire?" said Benedict.
+
+"And so I am convinced," said the king. "I have no need of further
+proofs. Let us pass on to the future."
+
+Benedict looked with great attention at the king's hand. He hesitated a
+moment and asked for a magnifying glass, to see more distinctly. It was
+brought.
+
+"Sire," he said, "you are about to be drawn into a great war. One of
+your nearest neighbours will not only betray, but will despoil you; and
+notwithstanding--look, monseigneur!" he said to the prince, "the line of
+the Sun shows victory: but an empty victory, useless, without fruit."
+
+"And then?" asked the king.
+
+"Oh, sire, what do I read in this hand!"
+
+"Good tidings, or bad?"
+
+"You told me to keep nothing from you, sire."
+
+"And I repeat it. Tell me then; this victory--"
+
+"This victory, as I have told Your Majesty, leads to nothing. Here is
+the Line of the Sun broken off above the Line of the Head by a line
+starting from Mars which also cuts the Mount of Jupiter."
+
+"And that foretells?"
+
+"A defeat. But however--No," said Benedict, seeking to read the most
+mysterious secrets from the royal hand; "moreover, it is not the last
+word of your destiny. Here is the Line of the Sun after its breakage
+starting afresh, reaching the ring-finger and stopping at its base. And
+there see further, above this line traversing Jupiter, a straight line
+like a furrow crowned with a star, as a sceptre is crowned with a
+diamond."
+
+"And that prophesies?"
+
+"Restoration."
+
+"Then according to you, I shall lose the throne and reconquer it?"
+
+Benedict turned towards the prince.
+
+"Your hand, if you please, monseigneur."
+
+The prince gave him his hand.
+
+"After the age of forty, monseigneur, the Line of Life sends a branch
+towards the Line of the Sun. At that period you will ascend the throne.
+This is all that I can tell you. Now, if you ascend the throne, prince,
+it can only mean that your father has either recovered or has never lost
+it."
+
+The king remained silent for a moment, resting his head on his left
+hand. He seemed gazing fixedly before him as if absorbed in some great
+idea. The most profound silence reigned in the apartment.
+
+"I cannot tell you," he said at length, "how much this unknown science
+interests me. Does Providence permit each of us to recognize his destiny
+in advance, just as the wrestler of ancient Greece might calculate the
+strength of his adversary in the circus, and consider how best to avoid
+his grip and obtain the victory?"
+
+He remained silent for a few moments, then continued:
+
+"After all, it would seem only just, only reasonable, that Providence
+which announces a storm by gathering clouds and muttering thunder,
+should allow to man and especially to man placed on the highest point of
+earthly grandeur, some indication of the approach of the storms of life.
+Yes, this science should be true, if only for the reason that it is
+necessary, and has hitherto been a missing link--unknown as it was--in
+the harmony of creation and in the logic of the Divine Mercy."
+
+At this moment an usher appeared and informed the king that the Minister
+of Foreign Affairs desired an audience on account of important business.
+
+The king turned to Benedict:
+
+"Sir," said he, "though your predictions are gloomy, you will always be
+welcome in the home of him to whom you have made them. You have foretold
+a victory; well, I to-day commission you to depict it. And if you remain
+with us, it only rests with you to share it. Ernest, give your Guelphic
+Cross to M. Benedict Turpin. I will tell my Minister of Foreign Affairs
+to have the patent ready for signature to-morrow."
+
+The king embraced his son, gave his hand to Kaulbach, graciously saluted
+Anderson and Benedict, and taking the arm of his aide-de-camp left the
+apartment as he had entered it.
+
+The young prince detached the cross and ribbon of the Guelphic Order
+which decorated his uniform, and fastened them on Benedict's coat with
+signs of the most livery pleasure. The latter thanked him and expressed
+his gratitude with evidently heartfelt warmth. Said the prince:
+
+"Only promise me one thing, M. Benedict. If your predictions should be
+verified, and you should have nothing better to do, we will go on our
+travels together, and you will show me how to kill lions and elephants
+in these wonderful forests I have heard of to-day."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+BARON FREDERIC VON BÜLOW
+
+
+And now we will leave our friend Benedict Turpin in order to follow one
+of his adversaries who is destined to become an important character in
+our story. We mean Baron Frederic von Bülow, whom we left with Georges
+Kleist in the glade of Eilenriede.
+
+Although his wound appeared at first sight the more serious of the two,
+it was not in reality so. Moreover, he was the most eager to leave the
+field. Entrusted as he was with a mission to Frankfort, he had turned
+aside from his road to call Benedict to account, and from the first
+moment that he was able to bear the fatigue of the journey he did not
+lose a moment in pursuing it.
+
+Although untouched by the ball, the impact of the broken pistol with the
+right side of Kleist's face had had deplorable results. The blow was so
+violent that it had left a bruise of the exact shape of the muzzle of
+the pistol. His eyes were bloodshot and his cheek immoderately swollen.
+In short, Herr Kleist would be obliged for at least a fortnight to forgo
+the pleasures of society.
+
+When the Baron Frederic von Bülow and Herr Kleist arrived at the Royal
+Hotel they found their misadventure and Benedict's triumph were already
+public property. The fact of their being Prussians was no
+recommendation, and they were received with an amount of derision which
+induced Herr Kleist, suffering though he was, to take the train
+immediately. As for the major, having already accomplished a third of
+his journey, he had only to continue on a branch line running direct
+from Hanover to Frankfort.
+
+We have already given some account of the appearance and physique of the
+Baron Frederic von Bülow; we will now complete our description, first
+relating the romantic manner in which he entered the military career and
+the happy chance by which his undoubted merits found their due reward.
+
+Frederic von Bülow came of a family belonging to Breslau. He had been a
+student at Jena. One fine day he resolved to make a tour which is
+frequently undertaken by German students along the banks of the Rhine.
+He set out alone; not that he was in the least misanthropical; but he
+was a poet. He loved to travel according to the inclination of the
+moment, to stop when it suited him, proceed when he pleased, and have no
+companion drawing him to the left when he wanted to follow a charming
+woman to the right.
+
+He had reached the most picturesque part of the Rhine; the Seven
+Mountains. On the opposite bank, on the summit of a lofty hill there
+stood a fine Gothic castle, lately restored. It belonged to the brother
+of the King of Prussia, who was then only the Prince Royal. Not only had
+he rebuilt the castle on its ancient foundations, but he had furnished
+it throughout with appointments of the sixteenth century, collected in
+the neighbourhood from the peasantry and convents, and new pieces made
+by clever workmen from ancient models. Hangings, tapestries, mirrors,
+all were of the same period, and formed a charming miniature museum of
+arms, pictures, and valuable curiosities. When the prince was not in
+residence he allowed the castle to be shown to visitors of distinction.
+
+How difficult it is to define the phrase "visitors of distinction."
+Frederic, whose family was of ancient nobility, considered that he had a
+right, though travelling on foot, to see the castle. Knapsack on
+shoulder, staff in hand, he climbed the steep path and knocked at the
+door of the keep. The sound of a horn was heard, and the door opened. A
+porter appeared and an officer in the costume of the sixteenth century,
+who asked what could be done for him. Frederic von Bülow explained his
+wish as an archæologist to see the Prince Regent's castle. The officer
+replied, regretting he was not able to gratify him; the prince's
+intendant had arrived the evening before, preceding his master only by
+twenty-four hours. Visitors could no longer be admitted. But the
+traveller was invited according to custom to inscribe his name, titles,
+and qualifications in the visitors' book. He took a pen and wrote
+Frederic von Bülow, student of the University of Jena. Then he took up
+his iron-shod stick, saluted the officer, and began to descend the path.
+
+But he had not taken a hundred steps when he heard himself called. The
+officer beckoned and a page ran after him, saying the intendant begged
+him to return and would take upon himself to grant the desired
+permission to see the castle.
+
+In the ante-room Frederic met, as if by chance, a man of about
+fifty-eight or sixty. It was the prince's intendant. He entered into
+conversation with the young man, appeared pleased with him, and offered
+to be his guide throughout the castle, an offer that Frederic took good
+care to accept. The intendant was very well informed; Frederic was a
+young man of ability, and three or four hours had passed without either
+being aware how the time was going, when a servant announced, dinner.
+Frederic gracefully expressed his concern at leaving his cicerone so
+soon; and his regret was evidently shared by his guide.
+
+"See here," he said. "You are travelling as a student; I am here _en
+garçon_. Suppose you dine with me. You will not dine so well as you
+might with the king, but at any rate it will be better than hotel fare."
+
+Frederic protested as far as he thought good breeding demanded, but as
+he was really longing to accept the invitation he ended by acceding with
+visible pleasure, and they consequently dined together. Frederic was a
+delightful companion, being both poet and philosopher, qualities one
+finds only united in Germany. He quite made a conquest of his host, who
+after dinner proposed a game of chess. Midnight struck, and each thought
+the evening barely begun. It was not possible to return to the village
+at such an hour. Frederic, after some modest reluctance, remained at the
+castle and slept in the Landgrave Philip's bed; and it was only the next
+day after lunch that he obtained his host's permission to resume his
+journey.
+
+"I am not without some slight influence at court," said the intendant on
+taking leave of him, "and if I can ever be of any service to you, pray
+make use of me."
+
+Frederic promised that he would.
+
+"And whatever may happen," added his host, "I shall remember your name.
+You may forget me, but I shall not forget you."
+
+Frederic finished his travels on the Rhine, returned to the University
+of Jena, concluded his studies there, entered the diplomatic service and
+was greatly astonished at being one day summoned to the cabinet of the
+grand duke.
+
+"Sir," said the great man, "I have selected you to convey my
+congratulations to William the First, King of Prussia, on his recent
+accession to the throne."
+
+"But, Highness!" cried Frederic in astonishment, "who am I to be
+honoured with such a commission?"
+
+"Really! are you not Baron Frederic von Bülow?"
+
+"Highness! Baron? I? But since when have I become a baron?"
+
+"Since I made you one. You will start at nine o'clock to-morrow; your
+letters of credit will be ready at eight."
+
+Frederic could only bow and utter his thanks; he bowed deeply,
+gratefully thanked the grand duke and left the room.
+
+The next morning at ten o'clock he was in the train and by the evening
+he was in Berlin. His arrival was immediately announced to the new king.
+The new king replied that he would receive him the following day at the
+castle Of Potsdam.
+
+On the morrow Frederic, in his court suit, started for Potsdam and
+arrived at the castle. But to his great astonishment he learnt that the
+king had just gone away and had left only his intendant to represent
+him.
+
+Frederic's first idea was to return to Berlin; but he remembered that it
+was this official who had entertained him so kindly and courteously two
+years before at the castle of Rheinstein. He did not want to appear
+ungrateful or offended, so had his name sent in accordingly. But while
+crossing the ante-room he observed a full-length portrait of the king.
+He stopped for an instant stupefied. His Majesty resembled his intendant
+as one drop of water resembles another. The truth now dawned on
+Frederic. It was the king's brother himself who, to-day reigning as King
+William I, had received him at the castle of Rheinstein, who had acted
+as his guide, had kept him to dinner, who had won three games of chess
+out of five, and had made him sleep in the Landgrave Philip's bed--who
+had offered his influence at court, and who on taking leave of him had
+promised not to forget him.
+
+He understood now why he had been chosen by the Grand Duke of Weimar to
+carry his congratulations to the king; why the Grand Duke of Weimar had
+made him a baron, why the king had appointed a meeting at Potsdam, and
+why finally His Majesty had returned to Berlin, leaving his intendant
+only to represent him.
+
+His Majesty wanted to enjoy another day like that they had passed
+together at Rheinstein. Frederic was a good courtier, and was ready to
+contribute all in his power to this caprice. He entered as if he had no
+suspicion, greeted his host like an old acquaintance, only showing the
+respect due to an older man, thus recalling the scene which had left
+such a pleasing influence on his mind.
+
+The intendant made excuses for His Majesty, and invited Frederic to pass
+the day at the castle of Potsdam, an invitation which was accepted like
+the one at Rheinstein. He again offered his services as cicerone, took
+him into the mausoleum, and showed him the tomb and the sword of the
+Great Frederic.
+
+A court carriage was ready waiting for them, and they went to see the
+castle of Sans-Souci, which is only two miles from Potsdam. It was here,
+it will be remembered, in the park of this château that the famous mill
+was situated which its owner refused to sell to Frederic II, and which
+caused the king to exclaim when the miller gained his lawsuit, "So there
+are still judges at Berlin!" In the sequel the descendants of the
+stubborn miller were softened and sold their mill to William I, who,
+wishing to preserve it as a monument of the occurrence, refused to allow
+it to be demolished.
+
+But time, which cares nothing for the commands of kings, had in store
+for William and his guest an example of its disregard. An hour before
+the arrival of Frederic and the so-called agent, the four sails of the
+windmill had fallen, bringing down in their fall the balustrade which
+surrounded it. So that to day one must conclude that there are no longer
+judges in Berlin, as there is no longer a mill at Sans-Souci.
+
+On their return to Potsdam, Frederic and his companion found a table
+ready laid for two. They dined alone together, played five games of
+chess out of which the agent won three, and it was only at midnight that
+they separated, when on the agent wishing Frederic a good night, the
+latter replied with a deep bow: "Sire, may God grant Your Majesty a good
+night."
+
+The next day the fiction was abandoned. The king breakfasted with
+Frederic, gave him the Order of the Red Eagle, and with much pressing
+induced him to hand in his resignation and join the army. A week later
+he received his commission as lieutenant of the line, and came to pay
+his respects in his new character to the king, who undertook that the
+king would ever remember him whom the prince had promised not to forget.
+
+Two years later, Frederic received a proof that the king indeed had not
+forgotten. His regiment was stationed in garrison at Frankfort, where at
+the house of Herr Fellner, the burgomaster, he made the acquaintance of
+a family of French descent exiled by the revocation of the Edict of
+Nantes, which had since its expatriation become Catholic. The family
+consisted of the mother, aged about thirty-eight, the grandmother, who
+was sixty-eight, and two girls of twenty and eighteen. Their family name
+was Chandroz.
+
+The elder daughter, Emma, had black hair, black eyes, a pale clear skin,
+and well-marked eyebrows; her marvellously beautiful teeth showed like
+pearls against her vividly red lips. She had, in fact, that stately dark
+beauty which suggests the Roman matron, Lucretia and Cornelia in one.
+
+Helen was worthy of her name. Her hair was of that exquisite blonde tint
+which can only be compared to the colour of ripe corn. Her complexion
+faintly tinted with rose had the freshness and delicacy of the camellia.
+And the effect was almost astonishing when under these fair locks, and
+upon that countenance of almost transparent pallor, she raised large
+dark eyes, eloquent of passion, overarched with dark eyebrows and
+fringed with lashes which gave to their sparkling orbs deep reflections
+like those of the black diamonds of Tripoli. And as one had only to look
+at Emma to see foreshadowed in her the calm and wisdom of those matrons
+among whom the Catholic religion finds its saints, so one could divine
+in Helen all that tempestuous future which the united passions of two
+races hold in store for the hybrids of their sex.
+
+Whether it were that this strange manifestation of divine caprice
+dismayed him, or whether he felt himself drawn by irresistible sympathy
+to the elder of the two sisters--it was to her that the Baron von Bülow
+paid his homage. He was young, handsome, and rich. It was known that the
+King of Prussia held him in warm regard. He stated that if he were
+granted Emma's hand, his royal protector at the same time would make him
+a captain. The two young people were in love, and the family had no
+serious opposition to raise to their union. They said: "Obtain your
+promotion as captain, and we will see." He asked three days' leave,
+started for Berlin, and came back on the third day with his captain's
+commission.
+
+All was arranged. But during his absence Emma's mother was slightly
+indisposed. Her illness increased, developed into disease of the lungs,
+and at the end of six months Emma was doubly orphaned.
+
+It was a further reason for giving the family a protector. The
+grandmother, sixty-nine years of age, might die at any moment. They
+waited till the strict season of mourning dictated both by their hearts
+and by custom had elapsed, and at the end of six months they were
+married.
+
+Three days after the birth of his first child, a boy, the Baron Frederic
+von Bülow received his commission as major. On this occasion the
+protection of the king was so obvious and so kindly intentioned that the
+baron resolved to make a second journey to Berlin, not on this occasion
+to ask for favours, but to return thanks for them. This journey was all
+the more opportune because a word dropped by His Majesty's secretary had
+warned him that there were great events on the horizon in which he might
+take part, and that he would do wisely to come to Berlin on any suitable
+pretext and see the king in person.
+
+And in fact we have already said that Count von Bismarck had worked hard
+to bring great events to pass. The king had three times received Baron
+Frederic in private, and had freely discussed with him the probability
+of a terrible war. To crown all, he attached him to the staff, so that
+he might become aide-de-camp to any general whom he sent to any special
+place, or even at need to his son or his cousin.
+
+This was how Baron Frederic chanced to find himself at Berlin on June
+7th, that is, on the day of the attempted assassination of Bismarck. As
+we have seen, he, with two other officers rescued Benedict from the
+hands of the mob; but, having promised the crowd that the Frenchman
+should shout "Long live Prussia! Long live King William I!" he was
+confounded when, instead of adopting this prudent course, Benedict
+declaimed Alfred de Musset's verses on the Rhine, almost as well known
+in Prussia as the song to which they were an answer. He and his comrades
+took this affront, which the public had witnessed, as a deliberate
+insult. All three presented themselves at the Black Eagle, which
+Benedict as we know had given as his address, intending to demand
+immediate satisfaction.
+
+But, as they met each other and learnt that their errands were all the
+same, they recognized that three men, who do not wish to gain their end
+by intimidation, cannot all demand satisfaction from a single opponent.
+For this reason they cast lots as to who should have the honour of
+fighting with Benedict, and the lot as we have seen fell upon Frederic.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+HELEN
+
+
+There stands in Frankfort-on-Main, at the corner of the Ross-market,
+opposite the Protestant Church of St. Catherine, a mansion, which, by
+its architecture, belongs to the transition period between Louis XIV and
+Louis XV. It is known as Passevent House. The ground-floor was occupied
+by a bookseller, and all the rest by the Chandroz family, already known
+to the reader by name.
+
+A sort of uneasiness, not quite amounting to actual trouble, seemed to
+prevail in the house. The morning before a letter had been received by
+Baroness von Bülow, announcing her husband's return in the evening, and
+close upon that came a telegram, saying that he would not arrive before
+the following morning, and that she must not be anxious if there were a
+further delay. The fact was, that two hours after writing his letter,
+the baron saw Benedict's announcement in the "Gazette." Fearing that he
+might be delayed by a wound, he wished to spare his wife any possible
+anxiety, her infant being only just over a week old.
+
+Although the train was not due until four in the morning, Hans, the
+confidential servant of the family, had already departed at three,
+taking the carriage to meet his master at the station and at least ten
+times during the interval Emma rang up her maid, wondering why the time
+passed so slowly.
+
+At length the sound of a carriage was heard, followed by the creaking of
+the great gate, the carriage passed under the arch, the tread of spurred
+boots echoed on the staircase, Emma's door opened, and Emma's arms
+enfolded her husband.
+
+It did not escape her notice that Frederic winced when she threw her
+arms round him. She asked the cause. Frederic replied with a
+cock-and-bull story of a cab accident in which he had slightly sprained
+his arm.
+
+The sound of the carriage and the general movement in the house informed
+Helen of the baron's arrival. Hastily wrapping herself in a
+dressing-gown with her beautiful hair falling loosely over it, she
+hurried to greet her brother-in-law whom she loved tenderly. In order
+not to disturb the Countess de Chandroz, their grandmother, orders had
+been given to keep her wing of the house as quiet as possible.
+
+Madame von Bülow, with the usual penetration of wives, soon guessed that
+Frederic's arm was more hurt than he chose to acknowledge. She insisted
+that the family doctor, Herr Bodemacker, should be sent for, and
+Frederic, who knew by the pain he suffered, that the bandage must have
+been displaced during his journey, made no objection. He only begged her
+to keep quiet while he went to his own room for the bath he had ordered,
+saying that it would be much better for the doctor to follow him there
+and decide which of his two hundred and eighty-two bones required
+attention.
+
+The question of importance was to keep the baroness in ignorance as to
+the serious nature of the wound. With the help of Hans and the
+connivance of the doctor this would be easy. The bath was a marvellous
+help, and Emma allowed him to go to his room without suspecting the real
+cause of his requiring it.
+
+When the doctor arrived, Frederic astonished Hans by explaining that the
+evening before he had received a sword wound which had laid open his
+arm, that the bandage must have slipped in the train, and that it, his
+coat, and his shirt were all soaked in blood.
+
+The doctor slit the sleeve the whole way up, and then cut it clear at
+the top. Frederic then was told to plunge his arm into the warm water of
+the bath which enabled the doctor to remove the coat sleeve. He then
+loosened the shirt sleeve by sponging it with the warm water, and
+finally, cutting it away at the shoulder, was able to expose the wound.
+
+The arm, compressed by the sleeves, was frightfully red and swollen, the
+plaster had given way, the wound was gaping widely through its whole
+length, and in the lower part the arm appeared cut to the bone. It was
+fortunate that there had been plenty of warm water at hand. The doctor
+brought the two sides of the cut together again, fixed them carefully,
+bandaged the whole arm and put it in splints as if it had been broken.
+But it was absolutely necessary that the baron should remain quite quiet
+for two or three days. The doctor undertook to find the general in
+command and to explain privately that Baron von Bülow was charged with a
+mission to him but could not possibly leave the house.
+
+Hans quickly removed the water and stained bandages. Frederic went down,
+kissed his wife, and satisfied her by saying the doctor had merely
+ordered him to rest for a few days. The word dislocation spread through
+the house and accounted for the baron's indisposition. Returning to his
+own apartment he found the Prussian general awaiting him. He explained
+matters in two words; moreover, before long the story would be in all
+the papers. The important question was, to keep the baroness in
+ignorance. She would be uneasy about a dislocation, but in despair over
+a wound.
+
+Frederic handed over his despatches to the general. They merely warned
+him to be ready for action at a moment's notice. It was evident that
+Count Bismarck, from whom the order came, wished to have a garrison at
+hand during the Diet, to overawe the assembly, if possible. Afterwards
+he would withdraw it or leave it, according to circumstances. This
+question would be put to the Diet. "In case of war between Austria and
+Prussia, on which side will you be?"
+
+Frederic was extremely anxious to see his young sister Helen, having
+important communications to make. After he and Benedict had vowed
+eternal friendship on the field of battle, and Benedict had spoken of
+having met the baroness at the burgomaster's house, he had conceived an
+idea which he could not drive away, namely, to marry Benedict to his
+sister-in-law. From what he had seen and heard of the young man, he felt
+convinced that these two impetuous, imaginative, and artistic
+characters, always ready to pursue an idea suggested by a ray of
+sunlight or a scented breeze, were, out of the whole creation, the best
+suited to each other. Consequently he wished to ascertain if Helen had
+been attracted by his friend. Were this the case, he would find some
+pretext for bringing Benedict to Frankfort, and, little as Helen cared
+for admiration, he thought the acquaintance would soon assume the
+character he wished.
+
+Moreover, he wished to warn Helen to keep newspapers away from her
+sister and grandmother, and on this account it was absolutely necessary
+to take her into his confidence. She anticipated his wishes, for
+scarcely had the general left him, when some one knocked softly at his
+door, such a knock as might have proceeded from a cat or a bird. He
+knew Helen's gentle manner of announcing herself.
+
+"Come in, little sister, come in!" he cried, and Helen entered on
+tip-toe.
+
+The baron was lying on his bed in his dressing-gown, lying on his left
+side, his wounded arm extended along his body.
+
+"Ah! you good-for-nothing," said she, folding her arms and gazing at
+him, "so you have been and gone and done it, have you?"
+
+"How? done what?" enquired Frederic, laughing.
+
+"Well, now I have got you alone, we can talk."
+
+"Exactly, dear Helen, now we are alone as you say. You are the
+strong-minded person of this house, although no one else knows it, not
+even yourself. So I want to discuss important matters with you--and they
+are not a few."
+
+"So do I, and I shall begin by taking the bull by the horns. Your arm is
+not dislocated nor even sprained. You have fought a duel, like the
+hothead you are, and your arm is wounded by either a sabre or
+sword-cut."
+
+"Well, my little sister, that is exactly what I wanted to tell you. I
+did fight a duel--for political reasons. And I did get a sabre cut in my
+arm, but it was a friendly sabre, very neatly and prettily applied. It
+is not dangerous, no artery or nerve severed. But the story will be in
+all the papers; it has made noise enough already. Now we must prevent
+both grandmamma and Emma from seeing the newspapers."
+
+"The only paper taken here is the 'Kreuz Zeitung.'"
+
+"Which is precisely the one that will say the most."
+
+"What are you smiling at?"
+
+"I can't help thinking of the face of the man who will have to supply
+the details!"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Nothing. I was only talking to myself, and when I say things to myself
+they are not worth repeating aloud. The question is--to keep an eye on
+the 'Kreuz Zeitung.'"
+
+"Certainly I will keep an eye on it."
+
+"Then I need not trouble any more about it?"
+
+"When I tell you that I will see to it myself!"
+
+"Very well! We will talk about something else."
+
+"About anything you like."
+
+"Do you recollect meeting a young Frenchman at Herr Fellner's, an
+artist, a painter?"
+
+"Monsieur Benedict Turpin? I should think so! A charming man who makes
+the most rapid sketches, and though they are flattering, they are still
+likenesses."
+
+"Oh! come, come! You are quite enthusiastic."
+
+"I can show you one he did of me. He has given me a pair of wings, and I
+really look like an angel!"
+
+"Then he is clever?"
+
+"Enormously clever."
+
+"And witty."
+
+"He can certainly give you as good as you gave. You should have seen how
+he routed some of our bankers when they tried to chaff him. He spoke
+better German than they did."
+
+"Is he rich as well?"
+
+"So they say."
+
+"It also seems as if there were remarkable affinities between his
+character and that of a little girl I know."
+
+"But who? I don't understand."
+
+"Nevertheless, it is some one you know. He appears to be capricious,
+imaginative, vivacious; he adores travelling, is an excellent rider,
+and a good sportsman, either on foot or horseback, all which coincides
+admirably with the tastes of a certain 'Diana Vernon.'"
+
+"I thought that was what you always called me."
+
+"So it is. Do you recognize my portrait?"
+
+"Not at all, not in the least. I am gentle, calm, collected. I like
+travelling, yes. But where have I been? To Paris, Berlin, Vienna,
+London, and that is all, I love horses, but what do I ever ride except
+my poor little Gretchen?"
+
+"She has nearly killed you twice over!"
+
+"Poor thing! it was my own fault. As for shooting, I have never held a
+gun, and as for coursing, I have never started a hare."
+
+"True, but why not? Only because the grandmother objected. If you could
+have had your own way--"
+
+"Oh, yes! It would be glorious to rush against the wind, to feel it
+blowing through one's hair. There is great pleasure in rapid motion, a
+feeling of life which one finds in nothing else."
+
+"So you would like to be able to do these things which you don't do."
+
+"Yes, indeed."
+
+"With Monsieur Benedict?"
+
+"Why Monsieur Benedict more than any one else?"
+
+"Because he is more charming than most."
+
+"I do not think so."
+
+"Really?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then; supposing you were allowed to choose a husband out of all my
+friends, you would not choose M. Benedict?"
+
+"I should never dream of doing so."
+
+"Now, little sister, you know I am an obstinate man, who likes to
+understand, things. How is it that a man, young, handsome, rich,
+talented, courageous, and imaginative, fails to interest you,
+particularly when he has both the good qualities and the defects of your
+own character?"
+
+"What am I to say? I do not know, I cannot analyse my feelings. Some
+people are sympathetic to me, some indifferent, some downright
+disagreeable!"
+
+"Well, you don't class Monsieur Benedict among the disagreeable, I
+hope."
+
+"No, but among the indifferents."
+
+"And why among the indifferents?"
+
+"Monsieur Benedict is of medium height, I like tall men: he is fair, I
+like dark men. He is volatile, I like serious people. He is bold, always
+rushing off to the ends of the world; he would be the husband of other
+men's wives, and not even the lover of his own."
+
+"Let us resume. What sort of man, then, must he be that would please
+you?"
+
+"Somebody just the opposite of M. Benedict."
+
+"He must be tall."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Dark?"
+
+"Either dark or dark chestnut."
+
+"Grave."
+
+"Grave, or at least, serious. Also brave, steady, loyal, and--"
+
+"Just so. Do you know that you have described, word for word, my friend,
+Karl von Freyberg?"
+
+Helen blushed crimson, and moved quickly, as if to leave the room, but
+Frederic, disregarding his wound, caught her hand and made her sit down
+again. The light from between the curtains irradiated her face like the
+sunlight falling on a flower. He looked at her intently.
+
+"Well, yes," she said, "but no one knows but you."
+
+"Not Karl himself?"
+
+"He may have some idea."
+
+"Well, little sister," said Frederic, "I see no great harm in all this.
+Come and kiss me, and we will talk again another time."
+
+"But how comes it," exclaimed Helen, with vexation, "that you know all
+you want to know, although I have told you nothing at all?"
+
+"Because one can see through a crystal which is pure. Dear little Helen,
+Karl von Freyberg is my best friend, he has all I could wish in a
+brother-in-law, or that you could desire in a husband. If he loves you
+as much as you seem to love him, there should be no great difficulty
+about your becoming his wife."
+
+"Ah! dear Frederic," said Helen, shaking her pretty head, "but I once
+heard a Frenchwoman say that the marriages which present no difficulties
+are just those which never come off!"
+
+And she retired to her own room, wondering no doubt as to what
+difficulties Destiny could interpose to the completion of her own
+marriage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+COUNT KARL VON FREYBERG
+
+
+In the days of Charles V the Austrian Empire dominated for a period both
+Europe and America, both the East and the West Indies. From the summit
+of the Dalmatian mountains Austria beheld the rising of the sun, from
+the chain of the Andes she could watch his setting. When the last ray of
+sunset sank in the west, the first light of dawn was reappearing in the
+east. Her empire was greater than that of Alexander, of Augustus, of
+Charlemagne.
+
+But this empire has been torn by the devouring hands of Time. And the
+champion by whom the armour of this colossus, piece by piece, has been
+rent away, is France.
+
+France took--for herself--Flanders, the Duchy of Bar, Burgundy, Alsace,
+and Lorraine. For the grandson of Louis XIV she took Spain, the two
+Indies, and the islands. For the son of Philip V she took Naples and
+Sicily. She also took the Netherlands and made two separate kingdoms of
+them, Belgium and Holland, and, finally, she tore away Lombardy and
+Venetia, and gave them to Italy. And to-day the boundaries of this
+empire, upon which, three hundred years ago, the sun never set, are, in
+the west, Tyrol; in the east, Moldavia; to the north, Prussia; to the
+south, Turkey.
+
+Every one knows that, strictly speaking, there is no Austria, properly
+so called, only a dukedom of Austria, with nine to ten millions of
+inhabitants, of which Vienna is the capital. And it was a duke of
+Austria who imprisoned Richard Coeur-de-Lion on his return from
+Palestine, and only released him on payment of a ransom of two hundred
+and fifty thousand gold crowns.
+
+The map-space now occupied by Austria, outside the actual dukedom, its
+kernel, consists of Bohemia, Hungary, Illyria, the Tyrol, Moravia,
+Silesia, the Sclavonian district of Croatia, the Vaivody of Servia, the
+Banat, Transylvania, Galicia, Dalmatia, and Styria.
+
+We do not count four to five millions of Roumanians scattered throughout
+Hungary, and on the banks of the Danube. Every one of the above
+districts has its own character, its own customs, language, costume,
+frontier. Especially the dwellers in Styria, composed of Norica and the
+ancient Pannonia, have retained their own language, costume, and
+primitive customs. Before it became included in Austria, Styria had its
+own separate history and nobility, dating from the time when it was
+known as the march of Styria, about 1030. And from that epoch Karl von
+Freyberg dated his ancestry, remaining a great noble at a time when
+great nobles are becoming rare.
+
+He was a handsome young man of about twenty-seven, tall, straight,
+slight, flexible as a cane, and equally tough. His fine black hair was
+cut close, and he had beneath black eyebrows and eyelashes, those dark
+grey eyes which Homer attributes to Minerva and which shine like
+emeralds. His complexion was sunburnt, for he had hunted since
+childhood. He had small hands and feet, unwearied limbs, and prodigious
+strength. In his own mountains he had hunted bear, wild goat, and
+chamois. But he had never attacked the first of these animals with any
+weapon except lance or dagger.
+
+He was now a captain in the Lichtenstein Hussars, and, even in barracks,
+was always followed by two Tyrolean chasseurs dressed in the national
+costume. While the one carried out an order the other remained at hand,
+so that there might be always some one to whom his master might say "Go
+and do this." Although they understood German he always spoke to them in
+their own tongue. They were serfs, understanding nothing about
+enfranchisement, who considered that he had absolute power of life and
+death over them, and although he had several times tried to explain
+matters, telling them they were free to go where they chose, they had
+simply refused either to believe or to listen.
+
+Three years before, during a chamois hunt, one of his keepers lost his
+footing. He fell down a precipice, and was dashed to pieces. Karl
+ordered his steward to pay the widow an annuity. She thanked him, but
+was quite unable to understand that he owed her anything merely because
+her husband had been killed in his service.
+
+When there was a hunt--and he who writes this had twice the honour to be
+of the party--whether in his own country or not, Karl always wore his
+national costume and very picturesque it was.
+
+The count's two attendants never left him. They were loaders. When Karl
+had fired, he dropped his gun on the ground and another ready loaded was
+instantly slipped into his hand.
+
+Whilst waiting for the beaters to be placed, which generally took half
+an hour, the two chasseurs drew from their game-bags small Tyrolean
+flutes made of reeds, on which they played, sometimes together,
+sometimes alone, but always joining again after a certain number of
+bars, Styrian airs, melancholy, but sweet and plaintive. This lasted
+some minutes, then, as if drawn by the music, the count in his turn
+produced a similar flute and put it to his lips. He now took up the
+melody, the others only played accompaniments, which I think must have
+been improvised--so original were they. It seemed as if the
+accompaniments pursued the air, overtook it, and then turned around it
+like creepers or tendrils. Then the air reappeared, charming, but always
+sad, and reaching notes so high that one would have thought only silver
+or glass could produce them. Then a gun was heard, that of the chief
+beater, announcing that all was ready. The three flutes vanished inside
+the game-bags, the musicians took their guns and again became hunters,
+ear and eye strained to the utmost.
+
+Count Karl knocked at eleven o'clock at Baron von Bülow's door, having
+heard both of his return and his accident. Frederic received him with an
+unusually smiling countenance, but only offered his left hand.
+
+"Ah! then, it is true, is it? I have just read the 'Kreuz Zeitung.'"
+
+"What have you read, my dear Karl?"
+
+"I read that you fought with a Frenchman and were wounded."
+
+"Hush--not so loud. I am not wounded for the family, only dislocated."
+
+"What does that mean?"
+
+"It means, my dear fellow, that my wife won't think she need inspect a
+sprained arm, but she would positively insist on examining a wounded
+one. Now she would die of fright over this wound, while I believe you
+would rather like to have it. Have you seen many wounds a foot long? I
+can show you one if you like."
+
+"How so? A skilled fencer like you, who uses his sabre as if he had
+invented it!"
+
+"None the less, I found my master."
+
+"A Frenchman?"
+
+"A Frenchman."
+
+"Well, instead of hunting wild boar in the Taunus to-morrow, as I
+intended, I should like to go and hunt your Frenchman, and bring back
+one of his paws to replace your wounded one."
+
+"Don't do anything of the kind, my dear friend, you might easily only
+bring back a nice little cut like this of mine. Besides, the Frenchman
+is now my friend, and I want him to be yours also."
+
+"Never! A rascal who has cut your arm open--how far? A foot, did you
+say?"
+
+"He might have killed me. He did not. He might have cut me in two, and
+he only gave me this wound. We embraced on the battlefield. Did you see
+the other details?"
+
+"What other details?"
+
+"Those concerning his other duel, with Herr George Kleist."
+
+"Superficially. I don't know him, I only cared about you. I did see that
+your Frenchman had damaged the jaw of some man who writes articles in
+the 'Kreuz Zeitung.' He seems to have quarrelled with two professions,
+since he chooses to encounter an officer and a journalist on the same
+day."
+
+"He did not choose us, we were foolish enough to choose him. We pursued
+him to Hanover, where he was very comfortable. Probably he was annoyed
+by being disturbed. So he sent me home with my arm in a sling, and
+dismissed Herr Kleist with a black eye."
+
+"Is the fellow a Hercules?"
+
+"Not at all, it is curious. He is a head shorter than you, but formed
+like Alfred de Musset's Hassan, whose mother made him small in order to
+turn him out perfect."
+
+"And so you embraced on the battlefield?"
+
+"Better still. I have an idea."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"He is a Frenchman as you know."
+
+"Of good family?"
+
+"Dear friend, they are all of good family since the Revolution. But he
+is clever--very."
+
+"As a fencing master?"
+
+"Not at all, as an artist. Kaulbach says he is the hope of the present
+school. He is young."
+
+"Young?"
+
+"Yes, twenty-five or six at most, and handsome."
+
+"Handsome as well?"
+
+"Charming. An income of twelve thousand francs."
+
+"A trifle."
+
+"Not everybody has two hundred thousand, like you, my dear friend.
+Twelve thousand francs and a fine talent might mean fifty or sixty
+thousand."
+
+"But why in the world do you consider all this?"
+
+"I should like him to marry Helen."
+
+The count nearly sprang out of his chair.
+
+"What! Let him marry Helen! your sister-in-law! A Frenchman!"
+
+"Well, is she not herself partly of French origin?"
+
+"I am sure Mademoiselle Helen loves you too much to be willing to marry
+a man who has wounded you like this. I hope she refused?"
+
+"She did."
+
+The count breathed again.
+
+"But what the deuce put such an idea into your head as to marry him to
+your sister?"
+
+"She is only my sister-in-law."
+
+"That does not matter. What an idea to think of marrying one's
+sister-in-law to the first person picked up on the high road!"
+
+"I assure you this young man is not just--"
+
+"Never mind! She refused, did she not? That is the chief thing."
+
+"I hope to make her think better of it."
+
+"You must be quite mad."
+
+"But tell me, why should she refuse? Explain if you can! Unless, indeed,
+she cares for some one else."
+
+The count blushed up to his eyes.
+
+"Do you think that quite impossible?" he stammered.
+
+"No, but then if she should love someone else, she must say so."
+
+"Listen, Frederic, I cannot positively say that she loves some one else,
+but I can declare that some one else loves her."
+
+"That is half the battle. Is it some one as good as my Frenchman?"
+
+"Ah! Frederic, you are so prejudiced in favour of your Frenchman. I dare
+not say yes."
+
+"Then tell me at once. You see what might have happened had my Frenchman
+been here, and I had made any promise to him."
+
+"Well, at any rate, you won't turn me out for saying it. The some one is
+myself."
+
+"Always modest, loyal, and true, dear Karl but--"
+
+"But? I will have no 'buts.'"
+
+"It is not a very terrible 'but,' as you will see. You are a great
+noble, Karl, compared to my little sister Helen."
+
+"I am the last of my race, there is no one to make objections."
+
+"And you are very rich for a dowry of two hundred thousand francs."
+
+"I can dispose of my own fortune as I choose."
+
+"These are observations I felt bound to make to you."
+
+"Do you consider them really serious?"
+
+"I acknowledge objections to them would be much more so."
+
+"Is it of no consequence to ascertain whether Helen loves me or not?"
+
+"That can be decided at once."
+
+"How?"
+
+"I will send for her, the shortest explanations are always the best."
+
+The count became as pale as he had been red the moment before. In a
+trembling voice he exclaimed:
+
+"Not now, for Heaven's sake! not now!"
+
+"But, my dear Karl!"
+
+"Frederic!"
+
+"Do you believe I am your friend?"
+
+"Good heavens! yes."
+
+"Well, do you suppose I would subject you to an interview which could
+only make you unhappy?
+
+"You mean--"
+
+"I mean that I believe--"
+
+"Believe what?"
+
+"I believe that she loves you as much as you love her."
+
+"My friend, you will kill me with joy."
+
+"Well, since you are so afraid of an interview with Helen, go and do
+your hunting in the Taunus, kill your wild boar and come back again, the
+thing will be done."
+
+"Done, how?"
+
+"I will undertake it."
+
+"No, Frederic, I will not go."
+
+"What, you will not go? Only think of your men waiting there with their
+flutes."
+
+"They may wait."
+
+At this moment the door opened, and Helen appeared on the threshold.
+
+"Helen!" exclaimed Karl.
+
+"You will be careful--you must not be too long with my brother," she
+said, remaining at the door.
+
+"He is waiting for you," observed Frederic.
+
+"For me?"
+
+"Yes, come here."
+
+"But I don't understand in the least."
+
+"Never mind! Come here."
+
+Karl offered his hand to Helen.
+
+"Oh, mademoiselle," he said, "do what your brother asks, I entreat you."
+
+"Well," she said, "what shall I do?"
+
+"You can lend your hand to Karl; he will return it."
+
+Karl seized her hand and pressed it to his heart. Helen uttered a cry.
+Timid as a child, Karl released the hand.
+
+"You did not hurt me," said Helen.
+
+Karl promptly repossessed himself of the released hand.
+
+"Brother," said Frederic, "did you not say you had a secret you wished
+to confide to Helen?"
+
+"Oh yes, yes," cried Karl.
+
+"All right, I am not listening."
+
+Karl bent towards Helen's ear, and the sweet words "I love you" fell
+from his lips with a whisper as of a moth's wings, which flitting by
+your ear on a spring evening breathes the eternal secret of Nature.
+
+"Oh! Frederic, Frederic!" cried Helen, hiding her forehead on his couch,
+"I was not mistaken!"
+
+Then raising her head and languidly opening her beautiful eyes.
+
+"And I," she said, "I love you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE GRANDMOTHER
+
+
+For a few moments Frederic left the lovers to themselves and their
+happiness. Then, as both raised their eyes to his, as if enquiring what
+next should be done:
+
+"The little sister," said he, "must go and tell all this to her big
+sister, the big sister will relate it to the grandmother, and the
+grandmother, who believes in me, will come and talk it over and we will
+arrange things together."
+
+"And when must I go and tell all this to the big sister?" enquired
+Helen.
+
+"At once, if you will."
+
+"I will go now! You will wait for me, Karl?"
+
+Karl's smile and gesture answered her. Helen glided out of his embrace
+and vanished like a bird.
+
+"Now for our own affairs!" said Frederic.
+
+"How! what affairs?"
+
+"I have something to tell you."
+
+"Anything important?"
+
+"Very serious."
+
+"Anything about our marriage? You alarm me!"
+
+"Suppose this morning when you doubted the possibility of Helen's love I
+had answered, 'Do not be afraid, Helen loves and will marry you, but
+there is an obstacle, and the marriage cannot possibly take place in
+less than a year?'"
+
+"What would you have? I should have been in despair at the delay, but
+transported by the news."
+
+"Well, my friend, I tell you now what I should have told you this
+morning. Helen loves you. She did not ask me to tell you this; she has
+told it herself, but at this moment there is an insurmountable
+obstacle."
+
+"At least you will explain what the obstacle is?"
+
+"I am going to tell you what is yet a secret, Karl. In a week, or at
+most, a fortnight, Prussia will declare war against Austria."
+
+"Ah! I feared it. Bismarck is Germany's evil genius."
+
+"Well, now you will understand. As friends we can serve on opposite
+sides, that happens every day. But--as brothers-in-law--we could not.
+You can hardly become my brother-in-law at the very moment of
+unsheathing your sword against me."
+
+"You are quite sure of your information?"
+
+"Most certainly I am. Bismarck now occupies such a position in regard to
+the Chambers, and has forced the king into such a position with regard
+to the other German princes, that, either he must embroil Germany from
+Berlin to Pest and even to Innspruck, or he will be tried for high
+treason, and end his days in a fortress! Now, Bismarck is a power--a
+power of darkness if you will--he will not be tried for high treason,
+and he will embroil Germany--for this reason: Prussia has nothing to
+gain by upsetting him, whereas by upsetting Germany she can annex two or
+three little kingdoms or duchies, which will round off her borders very
+comfortably."
+
+"But the Confederation will be against him."
+
+"Little will he care for that, so long as he himself remains
+indispensable. And, listen to what I tell you; the more enemies Prussia
+has, the more she will beat them. Our army is organized as no other
+European army is organized--at the present moment."
+
+"You say our army, then you have become a _Prussian_. I thought you were
+a _German_."
+
+"I am a Silesian, Prussian since the days of Frederic II. All I have I
+owe to King William, and I would willingly die for him, while regretting
+it should be in a bad cause."
+
+"What do you advise in my case?"
+
+"You are a Styrian, therefore an Austrian. Fight for your emperor like a
+lion, and if by ill luck we meet in a cavalry charge you turn your horse
+to the right, I also turn mine; we salute and pass on. Don't yourself
+get killed, that is all, and we will sign the marriage contract the day
+peace is declared."
+
+"Unhappily, I see no other way out of it, unless by good luck we could
+both remain at Frankfort, a free and neutral town. I have no wish to
+fight with Germans. It will be an iniquitous war. If it had been Turks,
+French, or Russians, it would be all right, but between children of the
+same country, speaking the same language! My patriotism ends there, I
+confess."
+
+"That last hope must be given up. I myself brought orders to the Prussian
+general here to be ready to leave, Austria will certainly withdraw her
+troops also. Frankfort may have a Bavarian garrison or be left with one
+of her own, but most certainly we, to the last man, shall have to rejoin
+the army."
+
+"Poor dear Helen! What are we to say when she comes back?"
+
+"We will say the marriage is decided on, that the betrothal will take
+place; but the marriage must be delayed for a year. If, in spite of my
+prophecy, war should not be declared, you can marry at once. If this
+war does take place, it is not a war which will last. It will be a
+tempest, a hurricane, passing over and destroying everything, then it
+will be peace. If I fix a date, it is because I am sure not to have to
+ask for further delay. Helen is eighteen, she will then be nineteen, you
+are now twenty-six, you will then be twenty-seven. This delay is not
+caused by circumstances of our making. Circumstances impose it on us. We
+must give way to them."
+
+"You will promise not to let anything change your opinion of me, and
+that from to-day, June 12th, you count yourself my brother-in-law--on
+parole?"
+
+"The honour is too dear for me ever to think of repudiating it. From
+to-day, June 12th, I am your brother-in-law--on parole."
+
+"Madame von Beling!"
+
+This exclamation was drawn from Karl by the unexpected appearance of an
+elderly lady dressed entirely in black. She had splendid hair, white as
+snow, and must in youth have been very beautiful. Her whole appearance
+betokened distinction and benevolence.
+
+"How is this, my dear Frederic?" said she, entering the room. "You have
+been here since five o'clock this morning and I only hear of your
+arrival from your wife at two in the afternoon; also, that you are in
+pain."
+
+"Dear grandmamma," answered Frederic, "but do I not also know that you
+do not awake before eleven, and only rise at noon?"
+
+"True, but they tell me you have a sprained arm. I have three excellent
+remedies for sprains, one, which is perfect, came from my old friend
+Goethe, one from another old friend, Madame Schröder, and the third from
+Baron von Humboldt. You see the origin of all three is unimpeachable."
+
+Turning to Karl, who, bowing, brought forward an armchair for her, she
+said:
+
+"You, Herr von Freyberg, have evidently no sprains, for you are in
+hunting costume. Ah! you do not know how your Styrian dress recalls a
+happy memory of my youth. The first time I saw my husband, Herr von
+Beling it is now something like fifty-two years ago, for it was in
+1814--at a carnival masked ball, he wore a similar costume to the one
+you are now wearing. He was about your age. In the middle of the ball--I
+remember as if it were yesterday--we heard of the landing of that
+accursed Napoleon. The dancers vowed that if he again ascended the
+throne they would go to fight him. The ladies each chose a cavalier, who
+should be entitled to wear her colours in the coming campaign. I did
+like the rest, and I chose Herr von Beling, although in my heart of
+hearts--for I have remained French in heart--I could not be very angry
+with the man who had made France so great.
+
+"This fanciful nomination of Herr von Beling as a champion wearing my
+colours opened my parents' house to him. He could not, he said, be my
+knight without their permission. They gave their permission. Napoleon
+again became emperor. Herr von Beling rejoined his regiment, but he
+first asked my hand from my mother. My mother consulted me, I loved him.
+It was agreed that we should marry when the war was over. The campaign
+was not long, and when Herr von Beling returned we were married; I, at
+the bottom of my heart feeling a little vexed that he had contributed
+the three hundred millionth part towards the dethronement of my hero.
+But I never confessed this small infidelity of enthusiasm, and our life
+was no less happy on that account."
+
+"Dear grandmamma," enquired Frederic, "did Herr von Beling--he must
+have been very handsome in Styrian garb, I have seen his portrait--did
+Herr von Beling kneel before you when he asked the favour of being your
+knight?"
+
+"Certainly, and very gracefully he did it too," returned the old lady.
+
+"Did he do it better than my friend Karl?"
+
+"Better than your friend Karl? But is your friend Karl likely to kneel
+before me by any chance?"
+
+"Just look at him."
+
+Madame von Beling turned round and saw indeed Karl kneeling on the
+ground before her.
+
+"Good gracious!" said she laughing, "have I suddenly grown fifty years
+younger?"
+
+"My dear grandmother," said Frederic, while Karl took possession of the
+old lady's hand. "No, you have still your threescore and ten years,
+which become you so well that I will not let you off a single one of
+them; but here is Karl, who also is going to the war, and who asks to be
+called the knight of your granddaughter Helen."
+
+"Really! and is my little granddaughter Helen actually old enough to
+have a knight of her very own?"
+
+"She is eighteen, grandmother."
+
+"Eighteen! My age when I married Herr von Beling! It is the age when
+leaves forsake the tree and are borne away by the wind. If Helen's hour
+has struck," she continued with a mournful smile, "she must go like the
+rest."
+
+"Never, never, dear grandmother," cried the young girl who had entered
+unperceived, "never so far but that I can every day kiss the dear hand
+which gives life to all of us."
+
+And she knelt down beside Karl and took the other hand.
+
+"Ah!" said Madame von Beling, nodding her head, "so that is why I was
+invited to come upstairs. I was to be caught in a trap. Well, what am I
+to do now? How defend myself? To surrender at once is stupid; it is like
+a scene from Molière."
+
+"Very well, grandmamma, don't surrender, or at least not without
+conditions."
+
+"And what are they to be?"
+
+"That these young people can be betrothed as soon as they like, but that
+the marriage, like your own, can only be celebrated when the war is
+over."
+
+"What war?" asked Helen, in anxiety.
+
+"We will tell you about it later. Meanwhile, if Karl is your knight, he
+must wear your colours. What are they?"
+
+"I have only one," replied Helen. "It is green."
+
+"Then he is wearing them now," said Frederic indicating his friend's
+coat with green facings, and the hat with its wide band of green velvet.
+
+"And in honour of my lady love," said Karl, rising, "a hundred men shall
+also wear them, with me, and like me."
+
+Everything was now settled, and the whole party, Frederic leading the
+way, Madame von Beling on Karl's arm, went downstairs to convey the good
+news to the dear invalid.
+
+That same evening it was known that the Diet was convoked at Frankfort
+for June 15th.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+FRANKFORT-ON-MAIN
+
+
+It is time to give some information concerning the town in which the
+chief events of our history will take place.
+
+Frankfort ranks as one of the most important towns in Germany, not
+merely on account of the number of its inhabitants, nor because of its
+commercial standing, but by reason of the political position which it
+occupies as being the seat of the Imperial Diet.
+
+One continually hears phrases repeated until they become familiar
+without the person precisely understanding the exact meaning. Let us in
+a few words explain what the functions of the Imperial Diet really are.
+
+It is the duty of the Diet to watch over the affairs of Germany in
+general and to smooth down disagreements between the confederate States.
+The president is always a representative of Austria. The decisions of
+the assembly are called _Recesses_. The Diet, which has existed since
+very remote ages, had at first no fixed seat, but was held sometimes at
+Nuremberg, sometimes at Ratisbon, or at Augsbourg. Finally, June 9th,
+1815, the Congress of Vienna established Frankfort as the permanent seat
+of the Diet of the Germanic Confederation.
+
+Thanks to the new constitution Frankfort has a quarter vote at the
+Diet, the other three-quarters belonging to the three free towns of
+Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck. In return for this honour, Frankfort was to
+raise seven hundred and fifty men for the Germanic Confederation and
+fire a salute on the anniversary of the battle of Leipzig. The execution
+of this latter obligation was at first a trifle difficult, for the
+reason that since 1803 Frankfort had ceased to possess ramparts, and
+since 1813 had owned no cannon. But in the first moments of enthusiasm a
+subscription was opened which allowed the purchase of two four-pounders,
+so that since 1814, on the proper day, Frankfort has duly paid the debt
+of fire and smoke owed to the Holy Alliance.
+
+As to the ramparts, they exist no longer. Instead of old walls and muddy
+ditches, Frankfort has seen the gradual formation of a charming English
+garden, a gracious and perfumed enclosure, which enables one to make the
+circuit of the town, while walking on the smoothest of paths and under
+magnificent trees. So that, with its houses painted white, green, and
+pink, Frankfort looks like a bouquet of camellias set in a border of
+heather. The tomb of the mayor to whom this improvement is due stands in
+the midst of a delightful labyrinth of walks, much frequented by the
+burghers and their families about four or five o'clock in the afternoon.
+
+The Teuton name Frankfort means a _free ford_, and the town owes its
+origin to an imperial castle built by Charlemagne at a point where the
+Namur is fordable. The first historical notice of it is the date of the
+Council held there in 794, in which was discussed the question of image
+worship. As to Charlemagne's palace, no trace of it can be found, but
+antiquaries say that it stood where now is the Church of St. Leonard.
+
+It must have been about 796 that Charlemagne founded the colony of
+Sachsenhausen peopled by the Saxons whom he had conquered and baptized.
+In 822 Louis le Debonnaire built the Sala on the site of the present
+Saalhof, and in 838 Frankfort had already a court of justice and walls
+of defence.
+
+In 853 Louis the German raised it to the rank of capital of the eastern
+portion of the French empire; extended its borders, and built the church
+of St. Saviour close to where the autumn fair was held, in accordance
+with the traders' custom of setting up their booths under the walls of
+churches and temples.
+
+The custom of electing the emperor at Frankfort was begun by that great
+Swabian house whose name alone calls up a host of terrible and
+melancholy recollections. In 1240 Frederic II granted letters of safe
+conduct to all going to the market of Frankfort; and the Emperor Louis
+of Bavaria, wishing to show gratitude for his election, proved his
+attachment to the town by granting great advantages, among others the
+right of holding a fair for fifteen days during Lent, which was known as
+the Easter fair.
+
+The Emperor Charles IV confirmed the right of the Imperial Election to
+Frankfort by the famous Golden Bull issued in 1356. This Bull provided
+the Emperor Napoleon with an opportunity for displaying his excellent
+memory. Dining one day with half a score of sovereign princes, at the
+meeting of Erfurth, the conversation chanced to turn on the Golden Bull,
+which, until the Confederation of the Rhine, had laid down the rules for
+Imperial elections. The Prince Primate, being on his own ground, gave
+some details concerning the Bull, fixing the date for 1409.
+
+"I think you are mistaken, prince," said Napoleon. "If my memory is
+correct, the Bull was published in 1356 in the reign of the Emperor
+Charles IV."
+
+"Your Majesty is right," said the primate, reconsidering, "but how is
+it you remember the date of a bull so exactly? Had it been a battle it
+would be less wonderful."
+
+"Shall I tell you the secret of this wonderful memory, prince?" enquired
+Napoleon.
+
+"Your Majesty would give us all much pleasure."
+
+"Well," continued the emperor, "you must know that when I was a
+sub-lieutenant in the Artillery--"
+
+Whereupon there was so decided a movement of surprise and curiosity
+among the illustrious guests that Napoleon paused an instant, but seeing
+that all were waiting for him to continue, he resumed with a smile:
+
+"I was saying that when I had the honour of being a sub-lieutenant of
+Artillery I was in garrison at Valence for three years. I did not care
+for society, and lived very quietly. By a lucky chance I had rooms
+opposite a well-read and obliging bookseller, whose name was Marcus
+Aurelius, and who gave me the run of his library. I read and re-read
+everything in his shop two or three times during my stay in the capital
+of the Drôme, and I remember everything I then read--even to the date of
+the Golden Bull."
+
+Frankfort continued to govern itself as a free imperial town until,
+after having been bombarded by the French in the wars of the Revolution,
+it was one fine day handed over by Napoleon to the Prince Primate
+Charles of Dalberg, when it became the capital of the Grand Duchy of
+Frankfort.
+
+The most interesting building in Frankfort is undoubtedly the Römer, a
+huge building which contains the Hall of the Electors, now used for the
+sittings of the Upper Senate of Frankfort, and the Hall of the Emperors
+in which the latter were proclaimed. A peculiarity of this hall, which
+contains the portraits of all the emperors from Conrad to Leopold II, is
+that the architect who built it made exactly as many niches as there
+have been sovereigns wearing the Imperial crown. So that when Francis II
+was elected, all the niches were already filled, and there was no space
+found for the new Cæsar. There was much discussion as to where his
+portrait could be placed, when in 1805 the ancient German empire
+crumbled into dust at the noise of the cannon of Austerlitz, and the
+courtiers were relieved from their difficulty. The architect had exactly
+foreseen the number of emperors to come. Nostradamus himself could not
+have done better.
+
+After the town hall the most interesting place is the street of the
+Jews. When the writer of these lines visited Frankfort for the first
+time, some thirty years ago, there were still Jews and Austrians
+there--real Jews, who hated Christians even as Shylock hated them, and
+real Christians who hated Jews as did Torquemada.
+
+This street consisted of two long rows of tall houses, black, gloomy,
+sinister in aspect, closely crowded, looking as if they clung to each
+other in terror. It was Saturday, which no doubt added to the gloom of
+the street. Every door was closed, bastard little doors made to allow
+only one person to pass at once. All the iron shutters were also closed.
+No sound of voice, or step, or movement was heard; a look of anguish and
+terror seemed spread over all these houses. Occasionally an old woman
+with a hooked nose like an owl glided past and disappeared in a sort of
+cellar or basement in this strange street. To-day all this is more
+civilized and the houses have a more active and lively appearance.
+
+The population of Frankfort consists of a historic bourgeoisie forming
+the aristocracy of the Imperial town, the coronation town by right of
+the Golden Bull. The chief families are those of the old nobility;
+those of French extraction expatriated by the revocation of the Edict of
+Nantes, and who by their intelligence and industry stand in the first
+rank of society; thirdly, Italian families, in whom the feelings of race
+have been stronger than religious differences, and who, although
+Catholics by profession, have mingled with the French Protestants.
+Finally the Jewish bankers, who naturally group themselves around the
+house of Rothschild as being incontestably members of the same clan. All
+are devoted to Austria, because to Austria the town owes its peculiar
+position, the source of its wealth and independence, and all these
+classes, though divided by race, language, and religion, are united by
+their common affection for the House of Hapsburg--a love which perhaps
+hardly attains to devotion, but which, in words at least, amounts to
+fanaticism.
+
+One must not omit the suburb of Sachsenhausen, situated on the other
+side of the Main, the colony founded by Charlemagne. Its inhabitants,
+living closely together and only marrying among themselves, have
+retained some of the roughness of the old Saxon character. This
+roughness, contrasted with the growing politeness among other nations,
+now seems to be absolute rudeness, but rudeness which is not
+intentional. They are said to be ready in the use of the somewhat harsh,
+but occasionally witty retorts, wherewith the weak sometimes retaliate
+upon the strong. We can give two specimens of the rough speech of the
+people of Sachsenhausen.
+
+As is usual in the month of May, owing to the melting of the snow, the
+Main was in flood. The Great Elector himself came to judge of the rise
+of the water, and the damage it would probably cause. Meeting a man from
+Sachsenhausen:
+
+"Well," he asked, "is the Main still rising?"
+
+"Well, idiot that you are!" replied the individual addressed, "can't you
+see that for yourself?"
+
+And the old Saxon went on, shrugging his shoulders. One of his comrades
+ran after him:
+
+"Do you know to whom it was you spoke?" he asked.
+
+"No, I don't."
+
+"Well, it was the Elector of Hesse himself."
+
+"Thunder and lightning!" exclaimed the old man, "how glad I am I
+answered him civilly!"
+
+At the play one of these honest people leaned against the man sitting in
+front of him; the latter moved away:
+
+"Am I annoying you?" demanded the aggressor, "because if it were you who
+annoyed me, I should give you a punch you would remember the rest of
+your life!"
+
+Since 1815 Frankfort has been garrisoned by two detachments of fifteen
+hundred to two thousand each, one Austrian, the other Prussian; the
+former were much beloved; the latter equally, or even more, hated. A
+Prussian officer was taking some friends to see the curiosities of
+Frankfort. They arrived at the Dôme. There, among other votive
+offerings, representations of hearts, hands, or feet, the sacristan
+exhibited a mouse, made of silver.
+
+"What was that for?" some one asked.
+
+"Through the divine wrath," answered the sacristan, "a whole quarter of
+Frankfort once found itself eaten up by swarms of mice. In vain they
+fetched all the cats of the other quarters, all the terriers, bulldogs,
+every sort of animal that can kill a mouse; the plague increased. At
+last a devout lady thought of having a silver mouse made and dedicated
+to the Virgin as a votive gift. At the end of a week not a mouse was to
+be seen!"
+
+And as the listeners were somewhat astonished when they heard this
+legend:
+
+"What fools these Frankforters are!" said the Prussian, "to tell tales
+of that kind and believe them!"
+
+"We tell them," said the sacristan, "but we do not believe them. If we
+did we should have made a silver Prussian and offered him to the Virgin
+long ago."
+
+It is to be remembered that our friend Lenhart, Benedict's coachman, was
+a citizen of the Sachsenhausen colony.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE DEPARTURE
+
+
+Since the Schleswig-Holstein troubles, the Diet had always assembled at
+Frankfort on June 9th, this year that date was the day after the
+attempted assassination of Bismarck on which Benedict drank to the
+health of France. The Diet, knowing of the mobilization of the Landwehr
+and the dissolution of the Chamber, decreed that, if Frankfort were not
+to be compromised in its position as a free and imperial town in the
+various events which would necessarily follow a war between Prussia and
+Austria, the Prussian and Austrian garrisons must be withdrawn, and
+replaced by a Bavarian garrison.
+
+It was agreed that Bavaria should appoint the commander-in-chief, and
+Frankfort the governor of the town. The Bavarian Colonel Lessel, who had
+been for many years member of the federated military commission for
+Bavaria, was appointed commander-in-chief, and the lieutenant-colonel of
+the Frankfort battalion became governor of the town.
+
+The departure of the Prussian and Austrian troops was fixed for June
+12th, and it was decided that the Prussians should leave by two special
+trains on the Main-Weser line, at six and eight in the morning, for
+Wetzlar, and the Austrians at three in the afternoon of the same day.
+
+This arrangement was known in Frankfort on the 9th, and as may be
+understood, filled the Chandroz house with despair. Emma would be
+separated from her husband and Helen from her lover.
+
+We have said that the Prussians were to leave first. At five in the
+morning Frederic said farewell to his wife, his child, his dear sister
+Helen, and the grandmother. It was too early for Karl von Freyberg to be
+in the house at that hour; but he waited for his friend on the Zeil. He
+and Helen had agreed the evening before that after having seen Frederic
+off Karl should come back and wait for her in the little Catholic church
+of Notre Dame de la Croix.
+
+The harmony between the two young people was perfect. Helen and Karl,
+though born in two different countries hundreds of leagues apart, were
+both Catholics. Doubtless they had selected this early hour, because
+they knew the little liking the people of Frankfort had for the
+Prussians. No manifestation of regret was shown on the departure of the
+latter, perhaps they were watched through the closed shutters, but not a
+window or blind opened for a flower to fall which might say "Au revoir,"
+no waving handkerchief said "Farewell!"
+
+One would have sworn it was a troop of the enemy leaving a town, and the
+town itself seemed only to wait for their departure in order to wake up
+and rejoice. Only the officers of the city battalion came to the station
+courteously to see them off, wishing nothing better than soon to fight
+them with deadly hate.
+
+Frederic left by the second train at eight o'clock in the morning,
+consequently Karl was late and it was Helen who waited for him. She was
+standing by the holy water stoup leaning against a white pillar. She
+smiled sadly when she saw Karl, gently dipped two fingers in the holy
+water and held them towards him. Karl took her whole hand, and made the
+sign of the cross with it.
+
+Never had the beautiful girl looked so lovely as at this moment when
+Karl was going to be parted from her. She had scarcely slept all night;
+all the rest of the time she had wept and prayed. She was dressed in
+white like a bride, with a wreath of little white roses on her head.
+They went together, Karl with Helen's hand in his, to kneel in one of
+the side chapels where Helen was accustomed to pray. Almost all the
+ornaments in the chapel, from the altar cloth to the Virgin's dress,
+were the work of her hand alone, and the Madonna's gold and pearl crown
+had been her gift. They prayed together; then Karl said:
+
+"We are going to part, Helen; what vows shall I make you? and in what
+words shall they be made?"
+
+"Karl," replied Helen, "tell me again before the beloved Madonna who has
+watched over me in childhood and youth, tell me again that you will love
+me always, and that you will have no other wife but me."
+
+Karl quickly extended his hand.
+
+"Ah! yes," he said, "and willingly! for I have always loved you. I love
+you now, and I shall love you always. Yes, you shall be my wife in this
+world and in the next, here and above!"
+
+"Thank you," said Helen; "I have given you my heart, and with my heart,
+my life. You are the tree, and I am the creeper; you are the trunk and I
+am the ivy which covers you with its verdure. At the moment when I first
+saw you, I said with Juliet: 'I will belong to you or to the tomb.'"
+
+"Helen," cried the young man, "why link that dismal word with such a
+sweet promise?"
+
+But she, not listening, continued her thought:
+
+"I ask no other vow than that which you have sworn, Karl; it is the
+repetition of mine; keep yours as it is; but when I have said that I
+will love you always, that I will never love any one but you, and that I
+will never be another's, let me add: and, if you die, I will die with
+you!"
+
+"Helen, my love, what are you saying?" exclaimed the young man.
+
+"I say, my Karl, that since my heart has left my bosom, to dwell in
+yours, you have become all that I think of, all I live for; and that if
+anything happened to you, I should not need to kill myself, I should
+only have to let myself die. I know nothing of these royal quarrels,
+which seem to me wicked, because they cost the blood of men and tears of
+women. I only know that it matters not to me whether Francis Joseph or
+William I is victorious. I live, if you live I die, if you die."
+
+"Helen, do you wish to drive me mad, that you say these terrible
+things?"
+
+"No, I only wish you to know, when you are absent, what is happening to
+me, and if, when far from me, you are mortally wounded, instead of
+saying: 'I shall never see her again!' you must simply say: 'I am going
+to meet her!' And I say this as truly and sincerely as I lay this wreath
+at the feet of my beloved Virgin."
+
+And she took her wreath of white roses and laid it at the Virgin's feet.
+
+"And now," she continued, "my vow is made, I have said what I had to
+say. To stay here now, to speak longer of love would be sacrilege. Come,
+Karl; you go this afternoon at two o'clock, but my sister, my
+grandmother, and Frederic will permit you to remain with me till then."
+
+They rose again, offered each other the holy water and left the church.
+The young girl took Karl's arm for from that moment she considered
+herself as his wife. But with the same feeling of respect which made
+him take off his kolbach when he entered the church, he only allowed her
+hand to lie lightly on his arm all the way from Nôtre Dame de la Croix
+until they reached the house.
+
+The day was passed in intimate conversation. On the day when he had
+asked Helen which were her favourite colours and she had answered green,
+he had made a resolution which he now explained to her. This was what he
+wished to do.
+
+He would ask his colonel for eight days' leave; surely fighting would
+not begin for eight days. It would take him scarcely twenty hours to
+reach his mountains, where he was king. There, besides the twenty-two
+rangers always in his service he would select seventy-eight chosen men
+from the best Styrian hunters. They should wear the uniform he himself
+wore when hunting, he would arm them with the best rifles he could find,
+then he would give in his resignation as captain in the Lichtenstein
+Light Infantry, and ask the emperor to appoint him captain of his free
+company. An excellent shot himself, at the head of a hundred men
+renowned for their smartness, he could hope for results which, when
+buried in a regiment under the orders of a colonel there would be no
+possibility of his attaining.
+
+There would also be another advantage in this arrangement. As the head
+of a free regiment, Karl would have liberty of movement. In such a case
+he would not be attached to any special regiment. He would be able to
+fight on his own account, doing all possible harm to the enemy, but only
+answerable to the emperor. He would thus be able to remain near
+Frankfort, the only town which now existed for him in the world, since
+in this town lived Helen. The heart exists not where it beats, but where
+it loves.
+
+According to the Prussian plan of campaign which was to envelop Germany
+as in a half-circle, hurling king, grand-dukes, princes, and peoples one
+on the top of another while marching from west to east, there would
+certainly be fighting in Hesse, in the duchy of Baden, and in Bavaria,
+all near Frankfort. It was there that Karl would fight; and with good
+spies he could always ascertain where his brother-in-law was likely to
+be and so avoid the risk of meeting him.
+
+In the midst of all these plans, for which unfortunately they could not
+enlist the aid of Fortune, time was flying. The clock struck two.
+
+At two o'clock the Austrian officers and soldiers were to assemble in
+the courtyard of the Carmelite barracks. Karl kissed the baroness and
+the child lying in its cradle beside her; then he went with Helen to
+kneel before her grandmother and ask her blessing.
+
+The dear old lady wept to see them so sad; she laid her hands upon their
+heads wishing to bless them, but her voice broke. They both rose, and
+stood mute before her; silent tears flowed down their cheeks. She pitied
+them.
+
+"Helen," she said, "I kissed your grandfather when I bade him farewell,
+and I see no reason against your granting poor Karl the same favour."
+
+The young people threw themselves into each other's arms, and their
+grandmother, under pretext of wiping away a tear, turned away, leaving
+them free for their last kiss.
+
+Helen had long sought for some means of seeing Karl again, after leaving
+the house where he had been permitted to take his last farewell. She had
+not succeeded, when suddenly she remembered that the burgomaster
+Fellner, her sister's godfather, had windows overlooking the station.
+
+She asked her good grandmother to come with her to ask her old friend
+for a place in his window. Women who remain beautiful when growing old
+generally keep a young heart: the kind grandmother consented. So it was
+only a goodbye of the lips which the young people had already said;
+there remained a last adieu of the eyes and heart.
+
+Hans was ordered to bring round the carriage without delay; while Karl
+went to the Carmelite barracks. Helen would have time on her part to go
+to the burgomaster Fellner. Helen made a sign to Hans to hurry, but he
+replied with another that it was unnecessary. She then glanced again at
+Karl, he had never seemed so handsome as at this moment when about to
+leave her. She came down leaning on his arm, in order not to leave him
+until they reached the threshold, the last moment possible. Once there,
+a last kiss sealed their separation and pledged their vows.
+
+A hussar waited for his captain at the door, holding his horse; Karl
+saluted Helen once again, then galloped off, sparks flying from under
+his horse's hoofs: he was more than a quarter of an hour late.
+
+The instant he had gone, Hans came with the carriage; in another moment
+they were at Herr Fellner's.
+
+Frankfort was now a very different town to what it had been in the
+morning. We have told of the sombre and sad departure of the Prussians,
+who were detested there. The citizens now wished to give a friendly
+farewell to the Austrians, who were adored.
+
+Therefore, although the departure was a separation, and each separation
+may hide the invisible and hide also a coming grief, this departure was
+to be made a farewell fête. The windows were all draped with Austrian
+flags, and at each window where floated a flag might be seen the
+prettiest women of Frankfort with bouquets in their hands. The streets
+which led to the station were crammed with people until one asked how
+the regiment could pass. In the street leading to the station, the
+Frankfort regiment stood at attention, each soldier with the stock of
+his rifle between his feet, and a bouquet in the muzzle of it.
+
+The crowd was so great that Helen was obliged to get out of the
+carriage. At last she reached the house of Herr Fellner, who, although
+not formally advised of the engagement of his young friend, had noticed
+that Captain Freyberg was not indifferent to her. His two daughters and
+his wife received Helen and her grandmother at the door of their
+apartments. They formed a charming family, living with Herr Fellner's
+sister and brother-in-law, who had no children.
+
+In the days of peace and happiness at Frankfort, Herr Fellner and his
+brother-in-law received their friends twice every week. Any strangers of
+distinction passing through were sure to be made welcome by Herr
+Fellner. It was at his house that Benedict Turpin had met the Baroness
+Frederic von Bülow, a meeting which as we have seen he did not forget.
+
+At three o'clock precisely, they heard in the midst of cries, hurrahs,
+and acclamations, the trumpets of the regiment, which was coming to the
+station by the Zeil and the street of All Saints, playing Radetzky's
+March.
+
+It might have been said that the whole population of Frankfort was
+following the splendid regiment. Men waved flags from the windows above
+them; women threw them their bouquets, and then waved their
+handkerchiefs with those cries of enthusiasm which women only know how
+to utter on such occasions.
+
+Helen had recognized Karl, as soon as he turned the corner, and Karl had
+answered her waving handkerchief by saluting with his sabre. When he
+passed under the window she threw him a scabious bound up with
+forget-me-nots. The scabious meant "sorrow and desolation," and the
+forget-me-not "Do not forget me."
+
+Karl caught the flowers in his kolbach and fastened them on his breast.
+Still turning to look back, his eyes never left Helen until the moment
+when he entered the station. At length he disappeared.
+
+Helen leaned far out of the window. Herr Fellner put his arm round her
+waist and drew her back within the room. Seeing the tears that flowed
+from her eyes and divining their cause:
+
+"With the help of God, dear child," he said, "he will return."
+
+Helen escaped from his arms, and threw herself on a sofa, endeavouring
+to hide her tears in the cushions.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+AUSTRIANS AND PRUSSIANS
+
+
+Desbarolles says in his book on Germany:
+
+"It is impossible to talk for three minutes with an Austrian without
+wishing to shake hands with him. It is impossible to talk for three
+minutes with a Prussian without longing to quarrel with him."
+
+Does this difference in the two organizations spring from temperament,
+education, or the degree of latitude? We cannot say; but it is a fact
+that along the whole way from Ostrow to Oderburg, we know when we have
+left Austria and entered Prussia by the way in which the porters bang
+the carriage doors. This double impression is particularly evident at
+Frankfort, a town of gentle manners, cultivated habits, and amateur
+bankers; the country of Goethe has appreciated this difference between
+the extreme civilization of Vienna and the rough Protestant shell of
+Berlin.
+
+We have seen the different demonstrations of feeling at the departure of
+the two garrisons; the people of Frankfort not having the least doubt of
+the result of the war, and believing, after the conclusions of the Diet,
+in the superiority of the Austrian arms, which would be aided by all the
+little States of the Confederation. They had not cared to put the least
+restraint on the manifestation of their feelings; they allowed the
+Prussians to depart like vanquished enemies whom they would never see
+again, and they had, on the contrary, fêted the Austrians like
+victorious brothers, for whom if they had had the time, they would have
+made triumphal arches.
+
+The good burgomaster's drawing-room, where we have introduced our
+readers, was at noon on June 12th an exact and complete specimen of all
+the other drawing-rooms of the town, whatever the origin, country or
+religion of the inhabitants might chance to be.
+
+Thus, while Helen, with whose grief all sympathized, wept, keeping her
+face buried in the cushions, and her good grandmother left the window to
+sit beside her and hide her somewhat from view, Councillor Fischer,
+editor of the "Post Zeitung," was writing on a corner of the table, an
+article in which he compared with undisguised antipathy and sympathy,
+the departure of the Prussians to a nocturnal flight, and that of the
+Austrians to a triumphal leave-taking.
+
+In front of the fireplace, the Senator von Bernus, one of the most
+distinguished men in Frankfort, by ability, education, and birth, was
+talking with his colleague, Doctor Speltz, Chief of Police, who, owing
+to the position which he held, was always well informed. A slight
+difference rather than a discussion had arisen between them. Herr Doctor
+Speltz did not completely agree with the opinion of the majority of the
+town's people as to the certain victory of the Austrians. His private
+information, as Chief of Police, was of the kind which may be relied on,
+and which is obtained, not to help the opinions of others, but to form
+one's own, and it represented the Prussian troops as full of enthusiasm,
+admirably armed, and burning with desire for battle. Their two generals,
+Frederick Charles of Prussia and the Crown Prince, were both able to
+command and to execute, and their rapidity and courage no one could
+doubt.
+
+"But," observed Herr von Bernus, "Austria has an excellent army which is
+animated with an equal spirit; it was beaten at Palestro, at Magenta,
+and at Solferino, it is true, but by the French, who also beat the
+Prussians at Jena."
+
+"My dear von Bernus," replied Speltz, "it is a far cry from the
+Prussians of Jena to the Prussians of to-day; the miserable state into
+which the Emperor Napoleon reduced them, by only allowing them to put
+forty thousand men under arms for six years, was the providential cause
+of their strength; for with this reduced army the officers and
+administrators could superintend the smallest details and bring them as
+near as possible to perfection. From this has grown the Landwehr."
+
+"Well," said von Bernus, "if the Prussians have the Landwehr, the
+Austrians have the Landsturm; all the Austrian population will rise in
+arms."
+
+"Yes, if the first battles are unsuccessful; yes, if there is a chance
+that by rising they can repel the Prussians. But three-quarters of the
+Prussian army are armed with needle guns which fire eight or ten shots a
+minute. The time is past when, as said Marshal Saxe, the rifle is only
+the handle of the bayonet; and of whom did he say that? Was it not the
+French, a fiery and warlike nation, not methodical and military like the
+Austrians. You know, mein Gott, victory is an entirely moral question;
+to inspire the enemy with an unaccountable fear is the secret.
+Generally, when two regiments meet, one of them runs without having ever
+come to grips with the enemy. If the new guns, with which the Prussians
+are armed, do their work, I am very much afraid that the terror in
+Austria will be so great that the Landsturm, from Königsgrätz to
+Trieste, from Salzburg to Pest, will not raise a man."
+
+"Psst!... my dear friend, you have named the real stumbling block; if
+the Hungarians were with us, my hope would be a conviction. The
+Hungarians are the nerve of the Austrian army, and one can say of them
+what the ancient Romans said of the Marsi; 'What are we to do, either
+against the Marsi or without the Marsi?' But the Hungarians will not
+fight until they have their separate government, their constitution, and
+their three ministers, and they are right. For one hundred and fifty
+years Hungary has been promised that constitution, it has been given and
+withdrawn again, and now Hungary is angry; but the emperor has only one
+word to say, one signature to write, and the whole nation would rise for
+him. Then the Szozat would be heard, and in three days they would have a
+hundred thousand men under arms."
+
+"What is the Szozat?" asked a big man, who kept a whole window to
+himself, and whose expansive face testified to great commercial
+prosperity. He was, indeed, the first wine merchant of Frankfort,
+Hermann Mumm.
+
+"The Szozat," said Fischer, still writing his article, "is the Hungarian
+Marseillaise by the poet Voeroesmarti. What the deuce are you doing
+there, Fellner?" he added, lifting his glasses to his forehead and
+looking at the burgomaster, who was playing with his two youngest
+children.
+
+"I am doing something much more important than your article, councillor,
+I am making a village, of which Master Edward is to be the baron, with
+some houses I got in a box from Nuremburg."
+
+"What does baron mean?" asked the child.
+
+"That is a difficult question. To be a baron is much and it is nothing.
+It is much if you are called 'Montmorency.' It is nothing if you are
+called 'Rothschild.'" And he went back seriously to his village.
+
+"It is said," went on von Bernus to Doctor Speltz, taking up the
+conversation where they had left it before Hermann Mumm's interruption,
+"that the Emperor of Austria has named General Benedek as General in
+Chief with all powers."
+
+"The nomination was discussed in the council and signed yesterday."
+
+"Do you know him?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"It seems to me a good choice."
+
+"May God grant it."
+
+"Benedek is a self-made man, he has won every step sword in hand. The
+army will love him better than it would love an archduke made
+field-marshal by right of birth."
+
+"You will laugh at me, von Bernus, and will say I am a bad republican.
+Very well, I would rather have an archduke than this self-made man as
+you call him. Yes, if all our officers were self-made men, it would be
+admirable, because, if none knew how to command, they would at least
+know how to obey: as it is, our officers are nobles, who are officers by
+position or by favour. They will not obey, or will only obey such a
+commander unwillingly. Further, you know, I have the misfortune to be a
+fatalist, and to believe in the influence of the stars. General Benedek
+is a Saturnian. May Austria escape his fatal influence! He may have
+patience in a first loss, resolution against a second perhaps; but in a
+third he will lose his head and be good for nothing.
+
+"Also, do you not see that there cannot be two equally Great Powers in
+Germany. Germany, with Prussia in the north, and Austria in the south,
+has two heads like the Imperial Eagle. Now, he who has two heads has
+not even one. Last winter I was at Vienna on New Year's Day. Always, on
+January 1st a new standard is raised on the fortress. The Standard for
+1866 was displayed at six in the morning. A moment afterwards a furious
+storm, such as I have seldom seen, came from the north, the Standard was
+torn, and the rent cut off the two heads of the Eagle. Austria will lose
+her supremacy both in Italy and Germany."
+
+A profound gloom as of painful foreboding seemed to have spread over the
+company. The only person unaffected was "Baron" Edward, who, while
+anxiously considering as to in which corner of his village he should put
+the belfry, had fallen fast asleep.
+
+Herr Fellner rang three times, and a beautiful peasant from Baden,
+answering the signal, came in and took the child. She was carrying him
+away asleep in her arms, when Herr Fellner, wishing to change the
+subject, motioned to the company.
+
+"Listen!" he said, and putting his hand on the nurse's shoulder.
+"Linda," he said, "sing us that song with which the Baden mothers sing
+their children to sleep." Then, turning to the others he said:
+"Gentlemen, listen to this song, which is still sung low in the Duchy of
+Baden. Perhaps, in a few days, the time may have come to sing it aloud.
+Linda learnt it from her mother, who sang it over her brother's cradle.
+Their father was shot by the Prussians in 1848. Now Linda, sing as your
+mother sang."
+
+Linda put her foot on a chair, holding the child in her arms as if she
+were pressing it to her breast and covering it with her body. Then, with
+anxious eyes, in a low and trembling voice, she sang:
+
+         Sleep soft, my child, without a cry,
+         For hark! the Prussian passeth by.
+     The Prussian slew thy father dear
+     And robbed thy mother of gold and gear
+     The Prussian he will close thine eye.
+
+         Sleep soft, my child, without a cry,
+         For hark! the Prussian passeth by.
+
+     All bloody is the Prussian's hand
+     It closes on our dying land.
+     So must we all lie still and dumb
+     As doth thy father in his tomb.
+
+         Sleep soft, my child, without a cry,
+         For hark! the Prussian passeth by.
+
+     God knows how many a weary day
+     We wait the dawning of that ray
+     Those blessed radiance shall restore
+     Our liberty to us once more.
+
+         Sleep soft, my child, without a cry,
+         For hark! the Prussian passeth by.
+
+     But when that longed for hour shall come,
+     However narrow be his tomb,
+     His foes within that grave so deep
+     Shall share for aye thy father's sleep.
+
+         Then shout, my child, shout loud and high,
+         The Prussian in his grave doth lie.
+
+The nurse had sung this song with such expression, that a shudder passed
+over the hearts of those who listened, and none thought of applauding.
+She went out with the child in a profound silence.
+
+Only Helen murmured in her grandmother's ear: "Alas! alas! Prussia means
+Frederic, and Austria means Karl!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE DECLARATION OF WAR
+
+
+On June 15th, at eleven in the morning, Count Platen of Hallermund,
+presented himself to the King of Hanover. They had conversed for some
+minutes when the king said:
+
+"I must tell this news to the queen. Wait for me here; I will come back
+in a quarter of an hour."
+
+Within the palace King George required no guide. Queen Mary was engaged
+upon a piece of wool work with the young princesses. Seeing her husband
+she went to him and offered him her forehead to kiss. The princesses
+took possession of their father's hands.
+
+"See," said the king, "this is what our cousin the King of Prussia does
+us the honour to communicate through his First Minister." The queen took
+the paper and began to read. "Stay," said the king, "I want to call
+Prince Ernest."
+
+One of the princesses hurried to the door.
+
+"Prince Ernest," she cried to the usher.
+
+Five minutes after the prince came in, embraced his father and sisters,
+and kissed his mother's hand.
+
+"Listen to what your mother is going to read," said the usher to him.
+
+The Minister Bismarck in the name of his master offered to Hanover an
+offensive and defensive alliance, on the condition that Hanover should
+support Prussia to the utmost of its power with men and soldiers and
+should give the command of its army to King William. The dispatch added
+that if this pacific proposal were not immediately accepted the King of
+Prussia would consider himself as in a state of war with Hanover.
+
+"Well?" asked the king of his wife.
+
+"No doubt," she replied, "the king has already decided in his wisdom
+what is best to do; but, if he has not finally decided and such a
+feature as the opinion of a woman is considered to be as a weight in the
+balance, I would say to you, refuse, sire!"
+
+"Oh yes, yes, sire!" cried the young prince, "refuse!"
+
+"I thought it right to consult you both," replied the king, "partly
+because of your upright and loyal natures, partly because your interests
+are one with mine."
+
+"Refuse, father: the prediction must be fulfilled to the end."
+
+"What prediction?" asked the king.
+
+"You forget, sire, that the first word which Benedict said to you was
+this: 'You will be betrayed by your near relation.' You are betrayed by
+your German cousin; why should he be wrong about the rest since he was
+right at the beginning?"
+
+"You know that he has predicted our downfall?"
+
+"Yes, but after a great victory. We are little kings, it is true; but we
+are, on the English side, great princes, let us act greatly."
+
+"That is your opinion, Ernest?"
+
+"That is my prayer, sire," said the young prince, bowing.
+
+The king turned to his wife and interrogated her by a movement of his
+head.
+
+"Go, my dear," said she, "and follow your own thought, which is ours
+also."
+
+"But," said the king, "if we are obliged to leave Hanover, what will
+happen to you and the two princesses?"
+
+"We will stay where we are, sire, in our castle of Herrenhausen. After
+all, the King of Prussia is my cousin, and if our crown is in danger
+through him, our lives are not. Summon your council, sire, and take with
+you the two voices which say to you: 'Not only no treason against
+others, but above all no treason against our honour!'"
+
+The king called a council of his ministers, who unanimously voted for
+refusal.
+
+At midnight Count Platen replied verbally to the Prince of Issemburg,
+who had brought the proposal.
+
+"His Majesty the King of Hanover declines the proposals of His Majesty
+the King of Prussia; as he is constrained to do by the laws of the
+Confederation."
+
+This reply was instantly telegraphed to Berlin.
+
+Immediately upon the receipt of the reply, another telegram from Berlin
+ordered the troops concentrated at Minden to enter Hanover. A
+quarter-of-an-hour later, the Prussian troops set foot over the borders
+of Hanover.
+
+A quarter-of-an-hour had sufficed for Prussia to receive the reply and
+to order the opening of the campaign. Already the Prussian troops from
+Holstein, who had obtained permission from His Majesty the King of
+Hanover to cross his territory in order to get to Minden, had stationed
+themselves at Marbourg, and were thus in occupation, within the kingdom,
+as enemies, even before the king's decision.
+
+Moreover, King George had only held back his answer until the evening in
+order to secure time for taking measures himself. Orders had been given
+to the different regiments of the Hanoverian army to mobilize and
+assemble at Göttingen. The intention of the king was to manoeuvre so
+as to obtain the assistance of the Bavarian army.
+
+Towards eleven at night, Prince Ernest had asked permission of Queen
+Mary to take leave of her and at the same time to present to her his
+friend Benedict. The real object of the young prince was to get his
+mother to entrust her hand to the palmist, and to be reassured by him as
+to the dangers which might encompass the queen.
+
+The queen received her son with a kiss, and the Frenchman with a smile.
+Prince Ernest explained his wish to her. She readily granted his request
+and held out her hand. Benedict knelt on one knee and respectfully put
+his lips to the tips of her fingers.
+
+"Sir," she said, "in the circumstances in which we are placed, it is not
+my good- but my ill-fortune that I wish you to tell me."
+
+"If you see misfortunes before you, madam, I may be permitted to seek in
+yourself the powers which Providence has given you to resist them. Let
+us hope that the resistance will be stronger than the strife."
+
+"A woman's hand is feeble, sir, when it has to struggle against that of
+destiny.
+
+"The hand of destiny is brute force, madam; your hand is intelligent
+force. Look, here is a very long first joint to the thumb."
+
+"What does that mean?" asked, the queen.
+
+"Will power, Majesty. Your resolution once taken, reason alone can
+conquer you and make you change--danger, accident, persecution, never."
+
+The queen smiled and nodded approvingly.
+
+"Also, you can bear to hear the truth, madam. Yes, a great misfortune
+menaces you."
+
+The queen started. Benedict went on quickly.
+
+"But, calm yourself, it is neither the death of the king, nor of the
+prince: the line of life is magnificently marked, on their hands. No,
+the danger is entirely political. Look at the line of fate: it is broken
+here, above the line of Mars, which shows from what direction the storm
+will come; then this line of fate, which might dominate again if it
+stopped at the circle of the middle finger, that is, at the circle of
+Saturn, goes on, on the contrary, to the base of the first finger, a
+sign of ill-fortune."
+
+"God tries every one according to the rank he holds. We will endeavour
+to bear our ill-fortune like Christians if we cannot bear it like
+kings."
+
+"Your hand has answered me before you, madam; the Mount of Mars is
+smooth and without lines, the Mount of the Moon is smooth and even; it
+means resignation, madam, the first of all the virtues. With this power
+Diogenes broke his porringer; with this, Socrates smiled at death; with
+this, the poor man is a king, the king is a god! With resignation and
+calm any strong feeling shown in the hand, worthily developed may
+replace the line of Saturn and create a new good fortune. But there will
+be a long struggle first. That struggle presents strange signs. I see in
+your hand, madam, auguries opposed to each other; a prisoner without a
+prison, wealth without riches: an unhappy queen, a happy wife, and a
+happy mother. The Lord will try you, madam, but as a daughter whom He
+loves. For the rest, you will have every kind of resource, madam; first
+music, next painting; the pointed and slim fingers show that; religion,
+poetry, invention, two princesses who love you at your side, a king and
+a prince who love you from a distance. God tempers the wind to the
+freshly shorn lamb."
+
+"Yes, sir, shorn to the quick," murmured the queen, raising her eyes to
+heaven. "After all, perhaps the misfortunes of this world will secure
+the joys of another. In this case, I shall be not only resigned, but
+consoled."
+
+Benedict bowed like a man who, having accomplished what was required of
+him, only awaits his dismissal.
+
+"Have you a sister, sir?" asked the queen of Benedict, as she toyed with
+a string of pearls, fastened by a clasp of diamonds, which evidently
+belonged to one of the young princesses.
+
+"No, madam," replied Benedict, "I am alone in the world."
+
+"Then do me the pleasure to accept this turquoise for yourself. I am not
+making you a present; under that guise it would be worthless. No! it is
+an amulet which I offer you. You know that we people of the north have a
+superstition that turquoises bring good luck. Keep this as a remembrance
+of me."
+
+Benedict bowed, received the turquoise ring and put it on the little
+finger of his left hand. While he did this the queen called Prince
+Ernest to her, and took up a satchel of perfumed leather.
+
+"My son," said she, "we know the place which the exile's first step
+leaves, but not that at which his last will pause. This satchel contains
+500,000 francs worth of pearls and diamonds. If I wished to give them to
+the king, he would refuse to take them."
+
+"Oh! mother!"
+
+"But to you, Ernest, I have the right to say _I wish it_! I wish you,
+dear child, to take this satchel as a last resource, to bribe a gaoler
+if you are made prisoner; to reward devotion--who knows--perhaps for the
+personal needs of the king or yourself. Hang it round your neck, put it
+in your belt; but in all cases, keep it always upon you. I embroidered
+it with my own hands; it bears your own monogram. Hush! here is your
+father!"
+
+At this moment the king came in.
+
+"There is not a minute to spare, we must be off," said, he, "Ten minutes
+ago the Prussians entered Hanover."
+
+The king embraced the queen and his daughters; and Prince Ernest, his
+mother and sisters. Then, clinging together, king, queen, prince,
+princesses, went down the steps before which the horses were waiting.
+There took place the last adieus: there, tears flowed from the eyes of
+the most valiant, as well as from those of the most resigned. The king
+set an example by mounting his horse first.
+
+The prince and Benedict rode two horses exactly alike, which were of the
+beautiful Hanoverian race, crossed with an English strain. An English
+carbine, which would send a pointed bullet four thousand yards, hung at
+the saddle-bow; and a pair of double-barrelled pistols, as true as
+duelling pistols, rested in the holsters.
+
+A last farewell passed between the riders already in the saddle and the
+queen and princesses on the steps. Then the cavalcade, preceded by two
+scouts bearing torches, started at a quick trot.
+
+A quarter-of-an-hour later they were in Hanover. Benedict proceeded to
+the Royal Hotel to settle his account with Mr. Stephen. Every one was
+up, for the news of the invasion of the Prussians and the departure of
+the king had already spread. As for Lenhart, he was invited to join the
+main body of the army with his vehicle. The rendezvous, as we know, was
+at Göttingen. As Lenhart was greatly attached to the dog Frisk, Benedict
+did not hesitate to entrust it to his care.
+
+A deputation of the notabilities of the town, with the burgomaster at
+their head, waited on the king to bid him farewell. The king, his voice
+full of emotion, commended his wife and daughters to their care. There
+was but one voice in assuring him of their devotion. The whole town was
+abroad notwithstanding the hour of the night, and accompanied him,
+shouting 'Long live the king! Long live George V! May he return
+victorious!' Again the king commended the queen and the princesses, not
+now to the deputation, but to the whole population. The king entered the
+royal carriage amid a concert of tears and sobs. One would have said
+that every daughter had just lost a father, every mother a son, every
+sister a brother. Women crowded to the door of his carriage to kiss his
+hand. The locomotive had to whistle five or six times, and the signal
+had five or six times to be repeated, before the crowd could be detached
+from the carriage doors. At last the train had to be put into motion so
+as to shake off gently and almost imperceptibly the clusters of men and
+women who clung to it.
+
+Two hours later Göttingen was reached.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE BATTLE OF LANGENSALZA
+
+
+Two days after, the army, drawn from all parts of the kingdom, was
+assembled round the king.
+
+Among others the regiment of the Queen's Hussars commanded by Colonel
+Hallelt, had remained thirty-six hours on horseback, and had been
+marching for thirty-six hours.
+
+The king was lodged at the Crown Inn. This inn was on the line of march,
+and as each regiment of cavalry or infantry arrived, the king, warned by
+the music, went to the balcony and passed it in review. They filed one
+after another past the inn, flowers on their helmets, and cries of
+enthusiasm on their lips. Göttingen, the town of study, shuddered every
+instant, roused by the cheering warriors.
+
+All the old soldiers on leave, whom there had not been time to recall,
+came of their own accord to rejoin their flag. All of them felt
+joyously, bringing with them from their villages and all along their
+routes a large number of recruits. Lads of fifteen gave their ages as
+sixteen in order to be enlisted.
+
+On the third day they started. During this time the Prussians, on their
+side, had manoeuvred. General Manteuffel from Hamburg, General von
+Rabenhorst from Minden, and General Beyer from Wetzlar were approaching
+Göttingen and enclosing the Hanoverian army in a triangle.
+
+The simplest rules of strategy prescribed the union of the Hanoverian
+army, sixteen thousand strong, with the Bavarian, eighty thousand
+strong. The king, in consequence, had sent out couriers to Charles of
+Bavaria, brother of the old King Louis, who ought to have been in the
+valley of the Werra, to warn him, in entering Prussia and crossing
+Mulhausen, that he should proceed towards Eisenach. He added that he was
+followed closely by three or four Prussian regiments, who, united, would
+make twenty or twenty-five thousand men.
+
+They arrived at Eisenach, by way of Verkirchen. Eisenach, defended by
+only two Prussian battalions, was about to be carried at the point of
+the bayonet, when a courier arrived from the Duke of Gotha, on whose
+territory they were, bringing a dispatch from the duke.
+
+The dispatch announced that an armistice was arranged. The duke, in
+consequence, summoned the Hanoverians to retire. Unfortunately, as it
+came from a prince, the message was received without suspicion. The
+vanguard halted and took up its quarters where it was.
+
+Next day, Eisenach was occupied by a regiment of the Prussian army. A
+great deal of time and many men had been lost in taking Eisenach, a
+useless manoeuvre: and they resolved to leave Eisenach on the right
+and to proceed to Gotha. In order to put this project into execution,
+the army concentrated on Langensalza.
+
+In the morning the king left, having on his left Major Schweppe, who
+held the sovereign's horse by invisible reins. The Prince Royal was on
+his right, having with him Count Platen, the first minister, and in the
+various uniforms of their regiments or of their calling, Count Wedel,
+Major von Kohlrausch, Herr von Klenck, Captain von Einem, various
+cuirassiers of the Guard, and Herr Meding. The cortège left Langensalza
+very early, and went to Thannesbruck.
+
+Benedict rode near the prince, fulfilling the functions of a staff
+officer.
+
+The army had left its cantonments in order to proceed to Gotha: but at
+ten in the morning, the vanguard, as it arrived on the banks of the
+Unstrut, was attacked by two Prussian regiments, commanded by the
+Generals Flies and Seckendorff. They were able to mount nearly a
+thousand men, both troops of the guard and _landwehr_.
+
+Among these regiments of the guard was that of Queen Augusta, one of the
+élite. The rapidity of the Prussian fire showed at once that they must
+be armed, at least the greater part of them, with quick-firing rifles.
+
+The king put his horse to the gallop in order to arrive as soon as
+possible on the spot where the battle had begun. The little village of
+Merscleben was on a hill to the left: behind the village, on higher
+ground than the Prussian artillery posts, they placed four batteries
+which at once opened fire.
+
+The king desired to be informed of the disposition of the field. In
+front of him, running to the right and left was the Unstrut and its
+marshes; then a great thicket, or rather, a wood called Badenwaeldschen;
+and behind the Unstrut, upon the steep slope of the mountain, the
+Prussian masses advancing, preceded by formidable artillery which fired
+as it came.
+
+"Is there a higher point whence I can direct the battle?" asked the
+king.
+
+"There is a hill half a kilometre from the Unstrut, but it is under the
+fire of the enemy."
+
+"That is the place for me," said the king. "Come, gentlemen."
+
+"Pardon, sire," said the prince, "but half a gun-shot away from the hill
+where Your Majesty wishes to establish your camp, there is a sort of
+wood of alders and aspens stretching to the river. We must search that
+wood."
+
+"Order fifty skirmishers to go down to the river."
+
+"That will be unnecessary, sire," said Benedict, "there is no need for
+more than one man for that."
+
+And he went off at a gallop, crossed the wood in every direction and
+reappeared.
+
+"There is no one there, sire," said he, saluting.
+
+The king put his horse to the gallop and posted himself on the top of
+the little hill. His horse was the only white one, and served as a
+target for bullets and balls. The king wore his uniform as general of
+the forces, blue, turned up with red; the prince his uniform of the
+hussars of the guard.
+
+Battle was joined. The Prussians had driven back the Hanoverian
+outposts, who had recrossed the river, and a hot cannonade was exchanged
+between the Hanoverian artillery before Merscleben, and Prussians on the
+other side of the Unstrut.
+
+"Sire," said Benedict, "don't you fear that the Prussians will send men
+to hold the wood which I searched just now, and will fire on the king as
+at a target from its outskirts, only three hundred metres away?"
+
+"What would you suggest?" asked the prince.
+
+"I propose, monseigneur, to take fifty men and go to guard the wood. Our
+fire will protect you as the enemy approach."
+
+The prince exchanged a few words with the king, who nodded approvingly.
+
+"Go," said Prince Ernest; "but for heaven's sake don't get killed."
+
+Benedict showed the palm of his hand.
+
+"Can a man be killed, who has a double line of life on his hand?"
+
+And he galloped to the infantry of the line.
+
+"Fifty good marksmen for me," said he in German.
+
+A hundred presented themselves.
+
+"Come," said Benedict, "we shall not be too many."
+
+He left his horse with a hussar of the prince's regiment, and threw
+himself into the underwood at the head of his men, who scattered. They
+had scarcely disappeared among the trees, when a terrible fusillade
+burst forth. Two hundred men had just passed the Unstrut; but, as they
+were ignorant of the number of men following Benedict, they retreated
+fighting, supposing him to have superior forces, and leaving a dozen
+dead in the wood. Benedict guarded the bank of the Unstrut, and by a
+well-sustained fire, kept off all approach.
+
+The king had been recognized, the bullets whistled around him and even
+between his horse's legs.
+
+"Sire," said Major Schweppe, "perhaps it would be well to seek a place a
+little further from the field of battle."
+
+"Why so?" asked the king.
+
+"The bullets may reach Your Majesty!"
+
+"What does it matter! Am I not in the hands of the Lord?"
+
+The prince came up to his father.
+
+"Sire," said he, "the Prussians are advancing by great masses towards
+Unstrut, despite our fire."
+
+"What are the infantry doing?"
+
+"They are marching to take the offensive."
+
+"And--they march well?"
+
+"As on parade, sire."
+
+"The Hanoverian troops were once excellent troops; in Spain they held
+the élite of the French troops in check. To-day, when they fight before
+their king they will prove worthy of themselves, I trust."
+
+And, in fact, all the Hanoverian infantry, formed in column, advanced
+with the calm of veterans under the fire of the Prussian batteries.
+After having been a moment astounded at the hail of bullets which the
+muskets rained upon them, they continued their march, crossed the
+marshes of Unstrut, took the thicket of Badenwaeldschen by bayonet and
+struggled hand to hand with the enemy.
+
+For a moment smoke and the unevenness of the ground hid the general
+aspect of the battle. But at that moment a horseman was seen to emerge
+from the smoke and to move towards the hill where the king was
+stationed, riding in hot haste and mounted on the horse of a Prussian
+officer. It was Benedict, who had killed the rider in order to take his
+horse, and who was coming to say that the Prussians had commenced the
+attack.
+
+"Einem! Einem!" cried the king, "haste, order the cavalry to charge."
+
+The captain hastened. He was a giant of over six feet, the most vigorous
+and handsomest man in the army. He put his horse to the gallop, crying,
+"Hurrah!" A minute afterwards, a sound like a hurricane was heard. It
+was the cuirassiers of the guard charging.
+
+It would be impossible to describe the enthusiasm of the men as they
+passed the base of the hill, where stood the heroic king who wished to
+be at the most dangerous post. Cries of "Long live the king! long live
+George V! long live Hanover!" made the air tremble as in a tempest. The
+horses tore up the earth like an earthquake.
+
+Benedict could not restrain himself. He put his spurs to his horse and
+disappeared in the ranks of the cuirassiers. Seeing the storm which was
+bursting upon them, the Prussians formed into squares. The first which
+encountered the Hanoverian cavalry disappeared under their horses' feet;
+then, whilst the infantry fired in their faces, the cuirassiers took the
+Prussian army on the flank, which, after a desperate struggle, tried to
+retreat in order, but, ferociously pursued, found themselves routed.
+
+The prince followed these movements with an excellent pair of field
+glasses and described everything to the king, his father. But soon his
+glasses followed only a group of fifty men, at the head of whom was
+Captain Einem, whom he recognized by his great stature, and of whom
+Benedict, recognizable by his blue uniform among the white cuirassiers,
+was one. The squadron passed on by Nagelstadt and proceeded towards the
+last Prussian battery which still held out. The battery fired on the
+squadron from a distance of thirty yards. Everything vanished in the
+smoke. Twelve or fifteen men alone remained; Captain Einem was lying
+under his horse.
+
+"Oh! poor Einem!" cried the prince.
+
+"What has happened to him?" asked the king.
+
+"I think he is dead," said the young man; "but no, he is not dead. There
+is Benedict helping to drag him from under his horse. He is only
+wounded. He is not even wounded! Oh, father, father! There are only
+seven left out of fifty; only one artilleryman is left; he is aiming at
+Einem, he is firing.... Oh, father! you are losing a brave officer, and
+King William a brave soldier; the artilleryman has killed Einem with a
+shot from his carbine, and Benedict has cut him down at his gun with his
+sabre."
+
+The Prussian army was in full flight, the victory was with the
+Hanoverians!...
+
+The Prussians retired to Gotha. The rapidity of the march to the field
+of battle had so fatigued the Hanoverian cavalry that they could not
+pursue the fugitives. In this respect the advantages of the battle were
+lost.
+
+The results were: eight hundred prisoners, two thousand dead or wounded,
+two cannon taken.
+
+The king rode round the field of battle to complete his task by showing
+himself to the unhappy wounded.
+
+Benedict had become an artist once more, and was dreaming of his
+picture. He was seated on the first piece of cannon which had been
+taken, and was sketching a general view of the battlefield. He saw that
+the prince was searching among the killed and wounded officers of the
+cuirassiers.
+
+"Pardon, monseigneur," said he, "you are looking for the brave Captain
+Einem, are you not?"
+
+"Yes," said the prince.
+
+"There, monseigneur, there, on your left, in the midst of that heap of
+dead."
+
+"Oh," said the prince, "I saw him doing miracles."
+
+"Can you believe that after I had drawn him from under his horse, he
+stabbed six with his sabre? Then he was hit for the first time and fell.
+They thought he was dead, and threw themselves upon him. He raised
+himself on one knee and killed two, who cried to him to surrender. Then
+he stood upright and it was at that moment that the last surviving
+artilleryman sent a ball into his forehead, which killed him. As I was
+not able to save him, being too much occupied myself, I avenged him!"
+
+Then, presenting his sketch to the prince as calmly as if in the studio:
+
+"Do you think that is right?" he asked.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+IN WHICH BENEDICT'S PREDICTION CONTINUES TO BE FULFILLED
+
+
+The visit to the field of battle having been paid, the king followed the
+highway and entered the town of Langensalza. He established his
+headquarters in the sharpshooters' barracks. The major-general had given
+orders that all should remain quiet during the night.
+
+His Majesty's first care was to send by three different routes
+despatches to the queen to tell her of the day's victory and to ask for
+reinforcements, if not for the next day for the day after. And, as it
+turned out, he had nothing to fear from the Prussians: they were too
+thoroughly beaten not to wish for a day's rest.
+
+The night was gay; money had been given to the soldiers, and they were
+told to pay for everything they had. The bands played "God save the
+King," and the soldiers sang in chorus,--a song by a Hanoverian
+volunteer, to the Polish tune:
+
+     "A thousand soldiers swear on bended knee."
+
+The next day was spent in waiting for news of the Bavarian army, and in
+sending out couriers. The first came back with promises which were never
+kept.
+
+A truce until morning had been offered to the Prussians so that the dead
+might be buried. The Prussians refused, and the Hanoverians alone
+proceeded with this pious work. The soldiers dug great trenches 25 feet
+long and 8 feet wide. The dead were placed in these in two rows. Four
+thousand armed men led by the king and prince stood bare-headed while
+Beethoven's funeral march was played. Over each grave a squadron passed
+and fired a salute by way of military mourning. The municipal officers
+who had come to thank the king for his orders to the soldiers, which had
+been strictly carried out, were present at the ceremony.
+
+At eleven in the evening the men who were on guard towards the north
+announced that a large Prussian army was arriving by way of Mulhausen.
+It proved to be General Manteuffel's.
+
+The third day after the battle, the Hanoverian army had received no news
+of the Bavarian army, and was surrounded by 30,000 men.
+
+Towards midday, a lieutenant-colonel came with a flag of truce, from
+General Manteuffel, to propose that the king should surrender.
+
+The king replied that he knew perfectly well that he was hemmed in on
+all sides, but that he, his son, his major-general, his officers, and
+soldiers, from the highest to the lowest, preferred to die, unless an
+honourable capitulation were offered them.
+
+At the same time he called a council of war which declared unanimously
+for a capitulation, as long as it was honourable. There was, indeed, no
+choice. The army had only three hundred shells left, and rations for one
+night and day. The whole court, the king included, had dined on a piece
+of boiled beef and potatoes; the soup was given to the wounded. Every
+man was allowed but one glass of bad beer.
+
+Each article of the capitulation was discussed, so as to spin out the
+delay as long as possible. The speedy arrival of the Bavarians was
+still hoped for.
+
+At length, during the night, the following conditions were drawn up,
+between General Manteuffel for the King of Prussia, and General von
+Arentschild for the King of Hanover.
+
+The Hanoverian army was to be disbanded and the soldiers sent back to
+their homes. All the officers and non-commissioned officers were to go
+free. They were to retain their arms and equipments. The King of Prussia
+was to guarantee their pay. The king, the prince, and their suite were
+to be free to go wherever they wished. The king's private fortune was to
+be intact and inviolable.
+
+The capitulation being signed, General Manteuffel went to the king's
+quarters. Entering his cabinet he said to him:
+
+"I am sorry, sire, to present myself before Your Majesty in such sad
+circumstances. We understand all that Your Majesty suffers, we Prussians
+who have known Jena. I beg Your Majesty to tell me to what place you
+wish to retire, and to give me my orders. It shall be my duty to see
+that you suffer no inconvenience on your journey."
+
+"Sir," replied the king coldly, "I do not know where I shall await the
+finding of the congress which has to decide whether I shall remain king,
+or become once more a simple English prince. Probably with my
+father-in-law, the Duke of Saxe-Altenburg, or with His Majesty the
+Emperor of Austria. In either case I have no need of your protection,
+for which I thank you."
+
+The same day the king's aide-de-camp left for Vienna, to ask permission
+for his master to retire through the Austrian states. As soon as this
+request reached Vienna, one of the emperor's aides-de-camp left to
+serve as guide and escort to the king. This officer was the bearer of
+the Marie-Thérèse medal for the king, and the order of knighthood for
+the prince.
+
+On the same day, the king sent, as messengers to announce his arrival to
+His Majesty the Emperor of Austria; Herr Meding, representing the
+regency, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Herr von Platen, and the
+Minister of War, Herr von Brandis.
+
+The prince asked Benedict to accompany him. As Benedict had never seen
+Vienna, he assented. But upon conditions. His life, as at Hanover, was
+to be entirely independent of the court. He still had to arrange
+Lenhart's business, which, as we know, had been left to Benedict's
+discretion. Benedict had kept Lenhart for seventeen days. He now gave
+him four hundred francs and one hundred more as a gratuity--an
+unexampled generosity to which Lenhart replied by declaring his
+attachment to the House of Hanover to be such that he would never return
+to Brunswick from the moment when Brunswick became Prussian. This
+declaration was worth two hundred francs to him from the King of
+Hanover, and one hundred francs from the prince.
+
+After this Lenhart's resolution was fixed. He sold, or had sold, all the
+carriages and horses which he had at Brunswick and with the proceeds he
+meant to set up a livery stable in Frankfort, a free town, where you
+seldom see any Prussians. At Frankfort, his brother Hans was in service
+with one of the best families in the town, that of Chandroz. Madame
+Chandroz' daughter, the Baroness von Bülow, was the burgomaster's
+goddaughter. With such connections he could be sure of prospering, and
+Benedict promised him his custom in case he returned to Frankfort.
+
+The adieux between Benedict and Lenhart were most affecting, and still
+more so between Lenhart and Frisk, but they were forced to part.
+Lenhart set out for Frankfort. The king, the prince, Benedict, and
+Frisk, on their arrival at Vienna, took up their residence in the little
+château of Froehliche Wiederkehr, which means Happy Return.
+
+In this way Benedict's prediction to the king was realized--of victory,
+overthrow, exile.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+WHAT PASSED AT FRANKFORT BETWEEN THE BATTLES OF LANGENSALZA AND SADOWA
+
+
+Frankfort followed from afar and with anxiety the struggle which went on
+in the other parts of Germany. But she did not believe that that
+struggle could reach even her. By June 29th Prince Charles of Bavaria
+had been appointed general of the Federated Troops. On the same day
+Frankfort heard the news of the victory of Langensalza. This caused
+great joy throughout the town, though no one dared to show it. On June
+30th Rudolfstadt and the Hanseatic towns declared that they withdrew
+from the Confederation. The Würtemberg and Baden regiments were in the
+town; the soldiers, in groups of four and five, went gaily about the
+streets in hackney carriages. On July 1st, news came of the capitulation
+of the Hanoverian Army. On July 3rd Mecklenburg, Gotha, and the younger
+branch of Reuss declared that they withdrew from the Confederation. On
+July 4th the Prussian papers accused the people of Frankfort of having
+turned all Prussian subjects out of the town, even those who had been
+established there for ten years, and of having illuminated their streets
+on the news of the victory of Langensalza. They had not done so; but the
+falser the charge, the more it frightened the people of Frankfort.
+Evidently the Prussians were trying to pick a quarrel with them. On July
+5th the gloom increased; news came of the defeat of the Austrians
+between Königsgrätz and Josephstadt. On July 8th the first news of the
+battle of Sadowa arrived in Frankfort.
+
+Everything that that fatalist, Dr. Speltz, had said with regard to
+Marshal Benedek came true. After two checks he lost his head; to speak
+in the language of Herr Speltz, Saturn ruled above Mars and Jupiter.
+What he had foreseen in another direction, about the superior equipment
+of the Prussians--in conjunction with their natural courage--also came
+true. In no single encounter had the Austrians the advantage. The only
+victory gained over the Prussians was that when the King of Hanover had
+been in command.
+
+But what particularly terrified Frankfort was the order given by the
+commanding officers of the Allies' Army to make entrenchments in the
+neighbourhood of the town. On this occasion, the Senate awoke from its
+inactivity, it arose and protested to the Diet that Frankfort was an
+unfortified town which was not able, and did not wish to be defended.
+But, in spite of the protestations of the Senate, the troops came to
+Frankfort.
+
+On July 12th a fresh regiment was announced. It was the 8th regiment of
+the Federated Army, under the orders of Prince Alexander of Hesse,
+composed of men from Würtemberg, Baden, and Hesse, and an Austrian
+Brigade commanded by Count Monte Nuovo. They had scarcely entered
+Frankfort, when Count Monte Nuovo enquired for the house of the Chandroz
+family, and got himself billeted upon the widowed Madame von Beling who
+resided there.
+
+Count Monte Nuovo, which title disguised the celebrated name of Neuburg,
+was the son of Marie Louise. He was a handsome, tall, fashionable
+general of forty-eight or fifty, who presented himself to Madame von
+Beling with all the Austrian grace and courtesy, and who, in saluting
+Helen, let fall from his lips the name of Karl von Freyberg.
+
+Helen started. Emma had excused herself, as the wife of a Prussian, from
+doing the honours of her house to a man with whom her husband might be
+fighting on the morrow. This absence gave Count Monte Nuovo the
+opportunity of being alone with Helen. Helen, it is hardly necessary to
+say, awaited this moment with impatience.
+
+"Count," said she, as soon as they were alone, "you mentioned a certain
+name."
+
+"The name of a man who adores you, Fräulein."
+
+"The name of my _fiancé_," said Helen, rising.
+
+Count Monte Nuovo bowed and signed to her to reseat herself.
+
+"I know it, Fräulein," he said; "Count Karl is my friend. He has bidden
+me hand you this letter and to give you news of him with my own lips."
+
+Helen took the letter.
+
+"Thank you, sir," she said, and, eager to read it. "You will allow me,
+won't you?"
+
+"Certainly," said the count bowing, and he appeared to become absorbed
+in a portrait of Herr von Beling in his uniform.
+
+The letter was all vows of love and protestations of tenderness such as
+lovers write to each other. Old phrases always new; flowers plucked on
+the day of creation, and, after six thousand years, as sweet as on the
+first day.
+
+Having finished the letter, as Count Monte Nuovo still looked straight
+at the portrait:
+
+"Sir," said Helen, in a low voice.
+
+"Fräulein?" answered the count, approaching her; "Karl lets me hope that
+you will give me some details yourself," and he adds: 'Before coming to
+grips with the Prussians, he will, or indeed we shall perhaps, have the
+pleasure of seeing you again.'"
+
+"It is possible, Fräulein, especially if we meet the Prussians in three
+or four days."
+
+"Where did you leave him?"
+
+"At Vienna, where he was organizing his volunteer regiment. We arranged
+a meeting-place at Frankfort, my friend Karl von Freyberg having done me
+the honour of wishing to serve under my orders."
+
+"He tells me that he has as his lieutenant a Frenchman whom I know. Do
+you know of whom he is speaking?"
+
+"Yes; he met him at the King of Hanover's, where he went to pay his
+respects; a young Frenchman called Benedict Turpin."
+
+"Ah! yes," said Helen smiling, "he whom my brother-in-law wished me to
+marry in gratitude for the sabre-cut he received from him."
+
+"Fräulein," said Count Monte Nuovo, "these things are riddles to me."
+
+"And a little to me also," said Helen; "I will explain to you." And she
+told him what she knew of Frederic's duel with Benedict. She had
+scarcely finished when some one simultaneously knocked and rang at the
+door. Hans went to open it, and a voice asking for Madame von Beling,
+and reaching her ears through all the closed doors between, made her
+start.
+
+"What is the matter, Fräulein?" asked Count Monte Nuovo. "You are quite
+pale!"
+
+"I recognize that voice!" exclaimed Helen.
+
+At the same moment the door opened, and Hans appeared.
+
+"Fräulein," said he, "it is Count Karl von Freyberg."
+
+"Ah!" cried Helen, "I knew it! Where is he? What is he doing?"
+
+"He is below in the dining-room, where he is asking Madame von Beling's
+permission to pay his respects, to you."
+
+"Do you recognize the gentleman in that?" asked Count Monte Nuovo.
+"Another man would not even have asked for your grandmother, but have
+flown straight to you."
+
+"And I could have pardoned him." Then, in a louder voice. "Karl, dear
+Karl!" she said. "This way!"
+
+Karl came in and threw himself into Helen's arms, who pressed him to her
+breast. Then, looking round him, he saw Count Monte Nuovo, and held out
+his hand to him.
+
+"Excuse me, count," said he, "for not having seen you before; but you
+will readily understand that I had eyes for none but her. Is not Helen
+as beautiful as I told you, count?"
+
+"More beautiful," replied he.
+
+"Oh! dear, dear Helen," cried Karl, falling on his knees and kissing her
+hands.
+
+Count Monte Nuovo began to laugh.
+
+"My dear Karl," said he, "I arrived here an hour ago; I asked to be
+quartered at Madame von Beling's, in order to be able to carry out my
+commission. It was done as you knocked. I have nothing more to do here.
+If I have forgotten anything, here you are, and you can supply it.
+Fräulein, may I have the honour of kissing your hand?"
+
+Helen held out her hand, looking at Karl as if for his permission, which
+he gave with a nod. The count kissed Helen's hand, then that of his
+friend, and went out.
+
+The lovers gave a sigh of relief. Fate gave them, amid all the reverses
+of their political fortunes, one of those rare moments which she grants
+to those whom she favours most.
+
+The news from the north was only too true. But all hope was not lost in
+Vienna. The emperor, the Imperial Family, and the Treasury had retired
+to Pest, and a desperate resistance was being prepared. On the other
+hand, the cession of Venice to Italy gave liberty to a hundred and sixty
+thousand men, as a reinforcement to the army in the north. It only
+remained to revive the spirits of the soldiers by a victory, and it was
+hoped that Count Alexander of Hesse would gain that victory. The battle
+would take place in all probability in the outskirts of Frankfort. This
+is why Karl had chosen to serve in the Prince of Hesse's army, and in
+Count Monte Nuovo's brigade. There at least, he was sure that he should
+see fighting. A second cousin of the Emperor Francis Joseph, brave and
+courageous, he had every interest in risking his life for the House of
+Austria, to which he belonged.
+
+Helen devoured Karl with her eyes. His dress was that which she had seen
+him wear every day when she met him going or returning from the hunt;
+but, without one being able to be precise about it, there was something
+more warlike about him; his expression was--somewhat more severe. One
+felt that he was conscious of danger at hand, and in meeting it like a
+man he met it as one who clung to life, yet who above his life put
+honour.
+
+During this time, Earl's little troop, whose second in command was
+Benedict, bivouacked a hundred paces from the railway station, just
+under the Burgomaster Fellner's windows. Not that they had anything to
+complain of from the authorities. Karl had sold one of his estates, and
+each of his men received a shilling every day for food. Each man was
+armed with a good carbine, rifle-barrelled and able, like a quick-firing
+gun, to fire eight or ten shots a minute. Each man also carried a
+hundred cartridges, and, in consequence, the hundred men could fire ten
+thousand shots. The two leaders carried double-barrelled carbines.
+
+The burgomaster returning to the Hôtel de Ville, found in front of his
+door the little detachment dressed in an unknown uniform. He stopped
+with that naïve bourgeois curiosity which we call _flânerie_. After
+staring at the soldiers he went on to their leader before whom he
+stopped, not only with simple curiosity but astonishment. It seemed to
+him that the face of the leader was not entirely unknown to him.
+
+And in fact, the officer, smiling, asked in excellent German:
+
+"May I enquire after Burgomaster Fellner's health?"
+
+"Ah! heavens and earth!" cried the burgomaster, "I was not mistaken. It
+is M. Benedict Turpin!"
+
+"Bravo! I told you that your memory was unusually well developed. It
+must be so to recognize me in this costume."
+
+"But you have become a soldier?"
+
+"An officer."
+
+"An officer! I beg your pardon."
+
+"Yes, an amateur officer."
+
+"Come up to my house; you must be in need of refreshment, and your men
+are thirsty. Aren't you, my friends?"
+
+The men laughed.
+
+"We are always more or less thirsty," one of them replied.
+
+"Very well, I will send twenty-five bottles of wine and beer down to
+you," said the burgomaster. "Come in, M. Benedict!"
+
+"Remember that my eye is upon you from the window," said Benedict, "and
+be careful."
+
+"Be easy in your mind, captain," replied he who had spoken before.
+
+"Madame Fellner," said the burgomaster on entering, "here is a captain
+of volunteers who is quartered on us. We must give him a worthy
+reception."
+
+Madame Fellner, who was doing worsted work, raised her head and looked
+at her guest. An expression resembling her husband's passed over her
+face.
+
+"Oh! it is surprising, my dear!" she cried, "how like this gentleman is
+to a young French painter...."
+
+"There!" said Fellner, "there is no need to keep your incognito. Pay
+your respects to my wife, my dear Benedict; you are recognized."
+
+Benedict held out his hand to Madame Fellner. As for the burgomaster, a
+slave to his promise, he looked out amongst a bunch of keys that of the
+cellar, and went down to choose the wine in which he wished Benedict's
+men to drink his health. A few minutes after, shouts of "Long live the
+burgomaster!" told that his wine was found to be of good quality.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE FREE MEAL
+
+
+The burgomaster was uneasy, and did not try to hide it. The Prussians
+had marched on Frankfort by way of Vogeberg: a combat was bound to take
+place on the frontiers of Bavaria, and, if the Allies' army was beaten,
+the Prussians would occupy Frankfort on the following day. Orders had
+been given of which no one knew, but which could not be kept from him,
+as burgomaster. On July 14th, that is to say on the third day, the
+Federated Assembly, the Military Commission, and the Chancellor's
+Office, had received orders to go to Augsburg, a proof that Frankfort
+was not sure of being able to preserve her neutrality. The conviction,
+held by every one in Frankfort, that this was the moment of supreme
+crisis, had raised the sympathy of the inhabitants for the defenders of
+the cause dear to all, that is to say the cause of Austria, to the
+highest pitch. So, when the dinner hour came, the great houses of
+Frankfort invited the officers, while the bourgeois and working people
+invited the privates. Some took dinner to them, others laid tables
+before their doors.
+
+Hermann Mumm, the famous wine merchant, had invited a hundred privates,
+corporals, and sergeants, and had laid an immense table before his door,
+where each man had his bottle of wine.
+
+Burgomaster Fellner, his brother-in-law, Doctor Kugler, and the other
+inhabitants of the road abutting on the railway station, took care of
+Karl's hundred men. He himself dined with Madame von Beling and Count
+Monte Nuovo. Benedict, whom good Madame Fellner would not suffer to
+depart, could not refuse her invitation. They had invited Senators von
+Bernus and Speltz, but they had each their own guests, and only M.
+Fischer, the journalist, who lived a bachelor life, could come. Prince
+Alexander of Hesse dined with the Austrian consul.
+
+The diners in the street formed strange contrasts with those inside. The
+soldiers, drinking together, careless of the morrow, looked for nothing
+but death; but death to a soldier is only a _vivandière_ in black, who
+pours him the last glass of brandy at the end of the last day. The
+soldier only fears to lose his life, because in losing his life, he
+loses all with it, and at one blow; while the merchant, the banker, even
+the bourgeois, before losing life, may lose fortune, credit, and
+position. He may see his coffers pillaged, his house ransacked, his wife
+and daughters dishonoured, his children calling him, impotent to help
+them. He may be tortured through his family, his money, his flesh, and
+his honour. It was of these things that the citizens of the free town of
+Frankfort thought, and these things prevented them from being as gay as
+they would have wished with their guests.
+
+As for Karl and Helen, they thought of nothing but their happiness. For
+them, the present was everything. They wished to forget: and, by force
+not of wishing, but of love, they did forget.
+
+But the saddest of these gatherings, despite Benedict's efforts, was
+certainly that which took place at the burgomaster's. Herr Fellner was,
+in his administrative capacity, one of the most intelligent burgomasters
+that Frankfort had ever possessed. Furthermore, he was an excellent
+father to his family, adoring his children, and adored by them. During
+fourteen years of married life not the smallest cloud had passed across
+his union. During the whole dinner, in spite of the weighty political
+preoccupation which absorbed him, he attempted, with the help of his
+brother-in-law the councillor, and his friend Fischer, to throw a little
+gaiety over the solemnity of the conversation. At dessert a servant
+entered and informed Benedict that his travelling companion, Lenhart,
+asked leave to offer him his services again. The burgomaster enquired
+who Lenhart was, and, at the moment when Benedict smilingly asked
+permission to go and shake his hand in the vestibule, the ex-livery
+stable keeper slapped the servant on the shoulder to make him give way,
+and came in saying:
+
+"Don't give yourself the trouble, M. Benedict; I'll come right into his
+worship the burgomaster's dining-room. I am not proud. Good day, your
+worship, and ladies and gentlemen."
+
+"Ah!" said the burgomaster, recognizing the old Saxon accent, "you are
+from Sachsenhausen?"
+
+"Yes, and my name is Lenhart, at your service; I am brother to Hans, who
+is in service with Madame von Beling."
+
+"Well then, my friend," said the burgomaster, "drink a glass of wine to
+the health of M. Benedict, whom you wish to see."
+
+"Two, if you like; he well deserves them! Ah! there's no
+stand-offishness with regard to the Prussians about him. Thunder and
+lightning! how he went at them at the battle of Langensalza!"
+
+"What! you were there?" asked the burgomaster of Lenhart.
+
+"On! yes, that I was, and now mad I was at not getting a slap at those
+cuckoos myself!"
+
+"Why do you call them cuckoos?" asked the journalist.
+
+"Because they take other people's nests to lay their eggs in."
+
+"But how did you know I was here?" asked Benedict, a little embarrassed
+by this unceremonious visit.
+
+"Oh!" said Lenhart, "I was walking peacefully along the road, when a dog
+came and jumped at my neck. 'There,' I said, 'it is Frisk, M. Benedict's
+dog.' Your men looked at me as if I were a curiosity, because I
+mentioned your name. 'Is M. Benedict here?' I asked them. They answered
+me: 'Yes, he is there, he is dining with your burgomaster, Herr Fellner,
+a good man, who has good wine.' 'Herr Fellner's good health,' I said to
+myself: 'Here, it's true! he is my burgomaster, because ever since
+yesterday I've been established in Frankfort, and as he is my
+burgomaster, I can go in And call on him, to say good-morning to M.
+Benedict.'"
+
+"Well now that you have said good-morning to me, my good Lenhart, and
+drunk the health of his worship the burgomaster," said Benedict--
+
+"Yes, but I haven't drunk yours, my young master, my benefactor, my
+idol! for you are my idol, M. Benedict. When I speak of you, when I talk
+about your duel, where you overcame those two men, one with a sabre cut,
+and what a one it was! M. Frederic de ----, you know the one I mean,
+don't you? Another with a pistol shot, that was a journalist, a great
+tall, ungainly fellow, like you, Herr Fischer."
+
+"Thanks, my friend."
+
+"I haven't said any harm, I hope."
+
+"No, but leave these gentlemen in peace," said Benedict.
+
+"They are very peaceful, M. Benedict; look how they are listening."
+
+"Let him go on," said the doctor.
+
+"I'd go on all the same, even if you wouldn't let me. Ah! when I'm on
+the subject of M. Benedict, I never run dry. Don't shrug your shoulders,
+M. Benedict; if you'd wanted to kill the baron, you'd have killed him,
+and if you'd wanted to kill the journalist, you'd only yourself to
+please."
+
+"As a matter of fact," said the burgomaster, "we have seen that story in
+the 'Kreuz Zeitung.' My word! I read it without ever thinking that it
+was to you it happened."
+
+"And the pretty thing is that it was he who told it you!" continued
+Lenhart. "He is as learned as a sorcerer! Only glanced at the poor King
+of Hanover's hand, and he foretold everything that's happened to him.
+First, the victory, then the pill."
+
+At the moment, when they were going from the dining-room to the
+drawing-room, the sound of trumpets and drums was heard; the trumpet
+sounded "to horse," the drum beat "the alert." Madame Fellner waited
+impatiently; but her husband, smiling, signed to her to be patient. For
+the moment, a more lively and more general preoccupation was started by
+the sound of the alarm.
+
+"This tells me, madam," said Benedict, pointing towards the street, "I
+have only time to drink your husband's health, and to the long and happy
+life you and your beautiful family will have with him."
+
+The toast was repeated by all, and even by Lenhart, who thus drank
+twice, as he had said, to the health of the burgomaster. After which,
+grasping the hands of Herr Fellner, his brother-in-law, and the
+journalist, and kissing that of Madame Fellner, Benedict ran downstairs
+and out, crying: "To arms!"
+
+The same warlike sound had surprised Karl and Helen at the end of
+dinner. Karl felt a terrible blow at his heart. Helen grew pale,
+although she did not know the meaning of the beating of the drums nor
+of the sounding of the trumpets; yet she felt it to be sinister. Then,
+at the glance exchanged between Count Monte Nuovo and Karl, she
+understood that the moment of separation had come. The count had pity on
+the two young lovers, and, to give them a minute for their last adieux,
+he took leave of Madame von Beling, and said to his young friend:
+
+"Karl, you have a quarter-of-an-hour."
+
+Karl threw a rapid glance at the clock. It was half-past four.
+
+"Thank you, general," he answered. "I will be at my post at the time you
+mention."
+
+Madame von Beling had gone to see Count Monte Nuovo off, and in order to
+be alone, the young people went into the garden, where a thick arbour of
+vines hid their adieux. One might as well try to write down the
+melancholy song of the nightingale, which burst forth a few paces from
+them, as to describe the dialogue interspersed with sighs and tears,
+with vows, with sobs, with promises of love, with passionate outbursts,
+and with tender cries. What had they said at the end of a
+quarter-of-an-hour? Nothing, and everything. The parting was inevitable.
+
+As on the first occasion, Karl's horse was waiting at the door. He
+dragged himself away, leading Helen with him, encircled by his arms,
+there he covered her face with a rain of kisses.
+
+The door was open. The two Styrians beckoned him. A quarter to five was
+striking. He threw himself upon his horse, driving the spurs into him.
+The two Styrians ran beside him, following the galloping horse. The last
+words which Karl heard were these: "Thine, in this world or in the
+next!" and with the ardour of a lover and the faith of a Christian, he
+replied: "So be it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+THE BATTLE OF ASCHAFFENBURG
+
+
+During his dinner, Prince Alexander of Hesse had received this dispatch:
+
+"The Prussian vanguard has appeared at the end of the Vogelsburg pass!"
+
+This news very much astonished the commander-in-chief, who was expecting
+the enemy to come by the pass through the Thuringian Forest. He had, in
+consequence, immediately sent a telegram to Darmstadt to order a
+detachment of three thousand men to come by rail to Aschaffenburg and
+seize the bridge. Then he had immediately sounded the bugle-call and the
+signal to saddle.
+
+Two steamboats were waiting at Hackenhausen. A hundred railway carriages
+were waiting at the station, capable of holding a hundred men each.
+
+We have already mentioned the effect produced by the double trumpet
+call.
+
+There was a moment of confusion: for a moment every one ran to and fro,
+uniforms were confused, cavalry and infantry were mixed, then as if a
+clever hand had put each man in his place, at the end of five minutes
+the cavalry were mounted and the infantry had their proper weapons.
+Everything was ready for a start.
+
+Again, Frankfort showed its sympathy, not exactly to the Austrians, but
+to the defenders of Austria. Beer was handed round in half-pints and
+wine in jugfuls. Gentlemen of the first houses in the town shook hands
+with the officers. Fashionable ladies spoke cheeringly to the soldiers.
+A hitherto unknown brotherhood, born of the common danger, reigned over
+the free town.
+
+People called from windows: "Courage! victory! long live Austria! long
+live the Allies! long live Prince Alexander of Hesse!"
+
+Marie Louise's son was greeted for his part with cries of "Long live the
+Count of Monte Nuovo!" But it must be said that, as they came for the
+most part from ladies, they were due rather to his fine figure and
+military bearing than to his royal birth.
+
+Karl's Styrian sharpshooters received orders to take their places in the
+first carriages. It was they who were to attack the Prussians. They went
+gaily into the station with no other music than the count's two flute
+players. After them came Count Monte Nuovo's Austrian brigade and lastly
+the Allies of Hesse and Würtemberg. The Italian brigade had left by the
+steamboats, protesting against what they had to do, and declaring they
+would never fire on their friends the Prussians for their enemies the
+Austrians.
+
+The train went off, carrying men, rifles, guns, ammunition, horses, and
+ambulances. An hour and a half afterwards they were at Aschaffenburg.
+Night was beginning to fall. They had not seen the Prussians.
+
+Prince Alexander of Hesse sent a party out to reconnoitre. The party
+came back towards eleven at night, after having fired a few shots at the
+Prussians at two hours' journey from Aschaffenburg.
+
+A peasant who had crossed the pass at the same time as the Prussians,
+said that they were nearly five or six thousand strong, and that they
+had stopped because they were waiting for a body of seven or eight
+thousand men which was late. The numbers promised to be nearly equal.
+
+It was found necessary to defend the passage of the Main and to protect
+Frankfort and Darmstadt by gaining the victory. The Styrian
+sharpshooters were placed on the road. Their mission was to do the
+greatest amount of damage possible to the enemy and retire, leaving the
+infantry and cavalry to work in their turn, and to rally at the head of
+the bridge, the allies only means of retreat, and to defend that bridge
+to the last.
+
+During the night each man took up his position for the next day, and
+supped and slept in the open. A reserve of eight hundred men had been
+lodged in Aschaffenburg to defend the town if it were attacked. The
+night passed without disturbance.
+
+At ten o'clock, Karl, growing impatient, mounted his horse and leaving
+the command of his men to Benedict galloped off towards the Prussians
+who at last were beginning to march.
+
+In the course of his gallop Karl went up to Count Monte Nuovo and
+brought back the guns, which were put in position across the road. Four
+felled trees made a sort of entrenchment for the artillery. Karl got on
+to this entrenchment with his two Styrians, who took their flutes from
+their pockets, as if on parade, and began to play their sweetest and
+most charming airs. Karl could resist no longer. In a minute he took his
+pipe from his waistcoat pocket and sent on the wind a last message to
+his country.
+
+The Prussians were advancing all this time. At half-range the booming of
+the two Austrian guns interrupted our three musicians, who put their
+flutes back into their pockets, and took up their rifles. The two
+volleys were well aimed, they killed or wounded a score of men. Again an
+explosion was heard, and a second messenger of death swept through the
+Prussian ranks.
+
+"They are going to try and carry the guns by assault," said Karl to
+Benedict. "Take fifty men, and I'll take fifty; we will creep through
+the little wood on each side of the road. We have time for two shots
+each. We must kill a hundred men and fifty horses. Let ten of your men
+fire at the horses and the rest at the men."
+
+Benedict took fifty men and crept along the right of the road. Karl did
+the same and crept along the left. The count was not mistaken; cavalry
+advanced from the middle on the first rank, and the gleam of the sabres
+was soon visible in the sunshine. Then was heard the thunder of three
+hundred horses, galloping forward.
+
+Now began a fusillade, on both sides of the road, which would have
+seemed a game, if, at the first two shots, the colonel and the
+lieutenant had not been shot down from their horses, and if at each shot
+that followed those two a man or a horse had not fallen. Soon the road
+was strewn with dead men and horses. The first ranks could not advance.
+The charge stopped a hundred paces from the two guns, which kept up
+their fire and completed the confusion in the column.
+
+Behind them the Prussians had brought forward the artillery, and had
+placed in position six guns to silence the two Austrian guns.
+
+But our sharpshooters had advanced to about three hundred paces from the
+battery, and, when the six artillerymen had raised the match to fire
+with the regularity of a Prussian manoeuvre, six shots were fired,
+three to the right and three to the left of the road, and the six
+artillerymen fell dead.
+
+Six others took the burning match and fell beside their comrades.
+Meanwhile the two Austrian guns had fired and demolished one of the
+Prussian guns.
+
+The Prussians did what they ought to have done at first; that is, they
+attacked the Styrian sharpshooters. They sent out five hundred Prussian
+sharpshooters with fixed bayonets.
+
+Then, on both sides of the plain began a terrible fusillade, while along
+the road the infantry advanced in columns, firing on the battery as they
+came. The artillerymen harnessed horses to the guns and retreated. The
+two guns, by retiring, left the Neuberg brigade uncovered.
+
+A hillock a little distance from Aschaffenburg was then crowned by a
+battery of six guns, the fire of which raked the Prussian masses.
+
+The count himself seeing that in spite of the fire along the whole line,
+the Prussians were advancing, put himself at the head of a regiment of
+cuirassiers and charged. Prince Alexander ordered all the Baden army to
+support him. Unfortunately, he placed the Italian regiment on his left
+wing and for the second time the Italians told him that they would
+remain neutral, exposed to the shots of both sides, but would not fire
+themselves.
+
+Whether by chance, or because they had been warned of this neutrality,
+the Prussians brought their principal effort to bear upon this left
+wing, which, by standing still, allowed the enemy to unhorse Count Monte
+Nuovo.
+
+The Styrian sharpshooters had done marvels. They had lost thirty men,
+and had killed more than three hundred of the enemy. Then, according to
+their orders, they had rallied at the head of the Aschaffenburg bridge.
+
+From that spot, Karl and Benedict heard a quick fusillade at the other
+end of the town. It was the Prussian right wing which had overthrown
+Prince Alexander's left wing and was attacking the suburbs of the town.
+
+"Listen," said Karl to Benedict, "the day is lost! Fate has overtaken
+the 'house of Austria.' I am going to kill myself, because it is my
+duty; but you, who are not tied to our fortune; you, who are fighting as
+an amateur; you, who are French when all is said and done, it would be
+folly for you to kill yourself for a cause which is not your own, and
+not even that with which you agree. Right to the last moment; then, when
+you know that all resistance is useless, get back to Frankfort, go to
+Helen; tell her that I am dead, if you have seen me die, or that I am in
+retreat on Darmstadt or Würtzburg with the remains of the army. If I
+live, I will write to her. If I die, I die thinking of her. This is my
+heart's testament, I confide it to you."
+
+Benedict pressed Karl's hand.
+
+"Now," proceeded Karl, "it seems to me that it is a soldier's duty to
+give the most service possible, to the last moment; we have a hundred
+and seventy men left. I am going to take some, I will take half to
+support the defenders of the town. You stay with the others at the
+bridge. Do your best here. I will do my best wherever I am. Do you hear
+the fusillade coming nearer? We have no time to lose. We must say
+farewell."
+
+The two young men threw themselves into each other's arms. Then Karl
+hurried into the streets and disappeared in the smoke. Benedict went to
+a little hill covered with a thicket, where he could defend himself and
+protect the bridge.
+
+He was scarcely there when he saw a cloud of dust rapidly approaching.
+It was the Baden cavalry, which had been driven back by the Prussian
+cuirassiers. The first fugitives crossed the bridge without difficulty;
+but soon the passage was obstructed with men and horses, and the first
+ranks were forced to return upon those who followed them.
+
+At that moment, a volley from Benedict and his men felled fifty men and
+twenty horses. The cuirassiers stopped astonished, and courage returned
+to the Baden infantry. A second volley followed the first, and the click
+of the balls on the cuirasses could be heard like the sound of hail on a
+roof. Thirty men and horses fell. The cuirassiers became disordered, but
+in retiring they encountered a square broken by the lancers, which fled
+before them. The square found itself between the spears of the lancers
+and the sabres of the cuirassiers. Benedict saw them coming mixed
+pell-mell with the lancers and cuirassiers.
+
+"Aim at the officers," cried Benedict, and he himself picked out a
+captain of cuirassiers and fired. The captain fell. The others had each
+chosen officers, but found it more convenient to choose the officers of
+the lancers. Death thus offered a larger target. Almost all the officers
+fell, and the horses bounding riderless joined the squadron. Men were
+still continuing to crowd the bridge.
+
+Suddenly the greater part of the allies' army arrived almost upon the
+heels of the enemy. At the same time, in the street of the burning town,
+Karl was retreating with his usual calm. He killed a man at each shot.
+He was bare-headed. A ball had carried away his Styrian cap. A trickle
+of blood was running down his cheek.
+
+The two young men greeted each other from afar. Frisk, recognizing Karl,
+whom he considered an admirable hunter, ran towards him, all delight at
+seeing him again.
+
+At that moment, a heavy gallop made the earth shake. It was the Prussian
+cuirassiers returning to the charge. Through the dust of the road and
+the smoke of the firing could be seen the glitter of their breastplates,
+helmets, and sword blades. They made a hole in the centre of the Baden
+and Hessian fugitives, and penetrated a third of the way over the
+bridge.
+
+With a last glance, Benedict saw his friend fighting against a captain,
+into whose throat he twice thrust his bayonet. The captain fell, but
+only to be succeeded by two cuirassiers who attacked Karl, sword in
+hand. Two shots from Benedict's rifle killed one and wounded the other.
+
+Then he saw Karl carried away among the fugitives crossing the bridge,
+in spite of his efforts to rally them. Enclosed on all sides, his sole
+path to hope of safety was the bridge. He threw himself upon it with the
+sixty or sixty-five men who were left. It was a terrible struggle; the
+dead were trodden under foot, the cuirassiers, like giants on their
+great horses, stabbed the fugitives with their shortened swords.
+
+"Fire on them!" cried Benedict.
+
+Those of his men who had their rifles loaded fired; seven or eight
+cuirassiers fell; the bullets rattled on the breastplates of the rest.
+
+A fresh charge brought the cuirassiers into the midst of the Styrian
+infantry. Pressed by two horsemen, Benedict killed one with his bayonet,
+the other tried to crush him with his horse against the parapet of the
+bridge. He drew his short hunting knife and thrust it up to the hilt in
+the horse's chest, the horse reared with a scream of dismay. Benedict
+left his knife with its living sheath, ran between the horse's legs,
+leapt over the parapet of the bridge and sprang, armed as he was, into
+the Main. As he fell, he cast a last look at the spot where Karl had
+disappeared, but his gaze sought his friend in vain.
+
+It was about five o'clock in the evening.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE EXECUTOR
+
+
+Benedict had jumped into the Main on the left side of the bridge; the
+current carried him towards the arches. When he came to the surface he
+looked round him and saw a boat moored to one of them. A man was lying
+in the boat. Benedict swam towards him with one hand, holding his rifle
+above the water with the other. The boatman seeing him coming raised his
+oar.
+
+"Prussian or Austrian?" asked he.
+
+"French," answered Benedict. The boatman held out his hand.
+
+Benedict, dripping as he was, jumped into the boat.
+
+"Twenty florins," he said, "if we are in Dettingen in an hour. We have
+the current with us and I will row with you."
+
+"That will be easy," said the boatman, "if you are sure you will keep
+your word."
+
+"Wait a minute," said Benedict; throwing down his Styrian tunic and cap,
+and feeling in his pocket, "here are ten."
+
+"Then, come on," said the boatman.
+
+He took one oar, Benedict took the other: the boat impelled by four
+vigorous arms went rapidly down the river.
+
+The struggle was still continuing; men and horses fell from the bridge
+into the stream. Benedict would have liked to stop and watch the
+spectacle, but time did not allow.
+
+No one paid any attention to the little boat flying down stream. In five
+minutes the oarsmen were out of range and out of danger.
+
+While passing a little wood on the edge of the river, called
+Joli-Buisson, he thought he saw Karl fighting desperately in the middle
+of a group of Prussians. But as the uniform of all the Styrians was
+alike, it might have been one of the infantry. Then Benedict fancied he
+saw a dog like Frisk in the throng, and he remembered that Frisk had
+followed Karl.
+
+At the first bend of the river, they ceased to see anything of the
+battle. Further on, they saw the smoke of the burning houses in
+Aschaffenburg. Then at the little village of Lieder, everything
+disappeared. The boat flew down the river and quickly they passed
+Menaschoft, Stockstadt, Kleim, and Ostheim. After that the banks of the
+Main were deserted down to Mainflig. On the other bank, almost opposite,
+stood Dettingen.
+
+It was a quarter-past six, the boatman had earned his twenty florins.
+Benedict gave them to him; but before parting from him he considered for
+a moment.
+
+"Would you like to earn twenty florins more?" he asked.
+
+"I should just think so!" replied the boatman. Benedict looked at his
+watch.
+
+"The train does not go until a quarter-past seven, we have more than an
+hour before us."
+
+"Besides which the trouble at Aschaffenburg will make the train another
+quarter of an hour late, if it does not stop it altogether."
+
+"The deuce it will!"
+
+"Will what I tell you fly away with my twenty florins?"
+
+"No; but go into Dettingen first of all. You are just my height, go and
+buy me a boatman's dress like yours. Complete, you know. Then come back,
+and I will tell you what remains to be done."
+
+The boatman jumped out of the boat and ran down the road to Dettingen. A
+quarter-of-an-hour later, he came back with the complete costume, which
+had cost ten florins. Benedict gave him that amount.
+
+"And now," asked the boatman, "what is to be done?"
+
+"Can you wait for me here three days with my uniform, my rifle, and my
+pistols? I will give you twenty florins."
+
+"Yes; but if at the end of three days you do not come back?"
+
+"The rifle, the pistols, and the uniform will be yours."
+
+"I will wait here eight days. Gentlemen must have time to settle their
+affairs."
+
+"You are a good fellow. What is your name?"
+
+"Fritz."
+
+"Very well, Fritz, goodbye!"
+
+In a few moments Benedict had put on the coat and trousers and covered
+his head with the boatman's cap. He walked a few steps and then stopped
+suddenly:
+
+"By the way, where will you stay at Dettingen?" he asked.
+
+"A boatman is like a snail, he carries his house on his back. You will
+find me in my boat."
+
+"Night and day?"
+
+"Night and day."
+
+"All is well then."
+
+And in his turn Benedict went towards Dettingen.
+
+Fritz had prophesied truly, the train was half an hour late. Indeed it
+was the last train which went through; hussars were sent to take up the
+rails; lest troops should be sent to Frankfort to help the allies.
+
+Benedict took a third-class ticket, as befitted his humble costume. The
+train only stopped at Manau for a few minutes, and arrived at Frankfort
+at a quarter to nine, scarcely ten minutes late.
+
+The station was full of people who had come to get news. Benedict passed
+through the crowd as quickly as possible, recognized M. Fellner,
+whispered in his ear "beaten," and went off in the direction of the
+Chandroz' house.
+
+He knocked at the door. Hans opened it. Helen was not in the house, but
+he went and asked for Emma. Helen was at the Church of Notre Dame de la
+Croix. Benedict asked the way there, and Hans, who thought he brought
+news of Karl, offered to show him. In five minutes they were there: Hans
+wished to go back, but Benedict kept him, in case there might be some
+order to be given. He left him in the porch and went in. One chapel was
+hit by the trembling light of a lamp. A woman was kneeling before the
+altar, or rather, crouching on the steps. This woman was Helen.
+
+The eleven o'clock train had brought the news that a battle would take
+place that day. At twelve o'clock Helen and her maid had taken a
+carriage, and driven by Hans had gone down the Aschaffenburg road as far
+as the Dornighem wood. There, in the country silence they had heard the
+sound of cannon. It is unnecessary to say that each shot had had an echo
+in her heart. Soon she could listen no longer to the sound which grew
+louder and louder. She went back to Frankfort, and got down at the
+Church of Notre Dame de la Croix, sending back Hans to ease the minds
+of her mother and sister. Hans had not dared to say where Helen was
+without the permission of the baroness.
+
+Helen had been praying since three o'clock. At the sound of Benedict's
+approach she turned. At first sight, and in his disguise, she did not
+recognize the young painter whom Frederic had wished her to marry, and
+took him for a Sachsenhausen fisherman.
+
+"Are you looking for me, my good man?" she said.
+
+"Yes," answered Benedict.
+
+"Then you are bringing me news of Karl?"
+
+"I was his companion in the fight."
+
+"He is dead!" cried Helen, wringing her hands with a sob, and glancing
+reproachfully at the statue of the Madonna. "He is dead! he is dead!"
+
+"I cannot tell you for certain that he is alive and not wounded. But I
+can tell you I do not know that he is dead."
+
+"You don't know?"
+
+"No, on my honour, I don't know."
+
+"Did he give you a message for me before you left him?"
+
+"Yes, these are his very words."
+
+"Oh, speak, speak!" And Helen clasped her hands and sank on a chair in
+front of Benedict as though before a sacred messenger. A message from
+those whom we love is always sacred.
+
+"Listen; he said to me: 'The day is lost. Fate has overtaken the house
+of Austria. I am going to kill myself because it is my duty.'"
+
+Helen groaned.
+
+"And I!" she murmured. "He did not think of me."
+
+"Wait." He went on, "But you who are not tied to our fortune; you, who
+are fighting as an amateur; you, who are French when all is said, and
+done, it would be folly for you to kill yourself for a cause which is
+not your own. Fight to the last moment, then when you know that all
+resistance is vain, get back to Frankfort, go to Helen, tell her that I
+am dead, if you have seen me die, or that I am in retreat for Darmstadt
+or Würtzburg with the remains of the army. If I live, I will write to
+her if I die, I die thinking of her. This is my heart's testament, I
+confide it to you.'"
+
+"Dear Karl! and then...?"
+
+"Twice we saw each other in the fray. On the bridge at Aschaffenburg,
+where he was slightly wounded in the forehead, then a quarter-of-an-hour
+later, between a little wood called Joli-Buisson and the village of
+Lieder."
+
+"And there?"
+
+"There he was surrounded by enemies, but he was still fighting."
+
+"My God!"
+
+"Then I thought of you.... The war is over. We were the last of
+Austria's vital powers, her last hope. Dead or alive, Karl is yours from
+this hour. Shall I go back to the battlefield? I will search until I get
+news of him. If he is dead, I will bring him back."
+
+Helen let a sob escape her.
+
+"If he is wounded, I will bring him back to you, recovered I assure
+you."
+
+Helen had seized Benedict by the arm, and looked fixedly at him.
+
+"You will go on to the battlefield?" she said.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And you will seek for him among the dead?"
+
+"Yes," said he, "until I find him."
+
+"I will go with you," said Helen.
+
+"You?" cried Benedict.
+
+"It is my duty. I recognize you now. You are Benedict Turpin, the French
+painter who fought with Frederic, and who spared his life."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then you are a friend and a man of honour. I can trust in you. Let us
+go."
+
+"Is that settled?"
+
+"It is settled."
+
+"Do you seriously wish it?"
+
+"I do wish it."
+
+"Very well, then, there is not an instant to lose."
+
+"How shall we go?"
+
+"The railways have been destroyed."
+
+"Hans will take us."
+
+"I have a better plan than that. Carriages can be broken, drivers can be
+forced. I have the right man, a man who would break all his carriages
+and lame all his horses for me."
+
+Benedict called, and Hans appeared.
+
+"Run to your brother Lenhart. Tell him to be here within ten minutes
+with his best carriage and horses, and wine and bread. As you pass the
+chemist's tell him to get bandages, lint, and strapping."
+
+"Oh, sir," said Hans, "I must write that down."
+
+"Very well, a carriage, two horses, bread and wine; you mustn't forget
+that. I will see to the rest. Go." Then, turning to Helen, "Will you
+tell your relatives?" asked Benedict.
+
+"Oh no!" she cried. "They would wish to prevent me from going. I am
+under the protection of the Virgin."
+
+"Pray then. I will come back here for you."
+
+Helen threw herself on her knees. Benedict went quickly out of the
+church. Ten minutes later he came back with all the necessary things
+for the dressing of wounds, and four torches.
+
+"Shall we take Hans?" asked Helen.
+
+"No, it must not be known where you are. If we bring back Karl wounded,
+a room must be ready for him, and a surgeon ready. Also, his arrival
+would cause agitation to your sister, scarcely well again, or to your
+grandmother, whose age must be taken into consideration."
+
+"What time shall we get back?"
+
+"I don't know, but we may be expected at four in the morning. You hear,
+Hans? And if they fear for your young mistress--"
+
+"You will answer," said Lenhart, "that they may be easy, because
+Benedict Turpin is with her."
+
+"You hear, dear Helen. I am ready when you are."
+
+"Let us go," she said, "and not lose a minute. My God! when I think that
+he may be there, perhaps lying on the earth under some tree or bush,
+bleeding from two or three wounds, and calling on me with his dying
+voice for help!" and in high agitation she went on: "I am coming, dear
+Karl, I am coming!"
+
+Lenhart whipped up his horses, and the carriage went off as quickly as
+the wind and as noisily as thunder.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+FRISK
+
+
+In less than an hour and a half they were in sight of Dettingen, which
+was the more easy to see because it appeared from afar as the centre of
+a vast fire. As they drew nearer, Benedict said that the light came from
+the camp fires. After the victory, the Prussians had pressed their
+outposts beyond the little town.
+
+Helen feared that they would not be allowed to continue their journey,
+but Benedict reassured her. The pity shown to the wounded, and the
+respect for the dead in all civilized countries, when once the battle is
+over, left him no doubt that Helen would be allowed to seek for her
+_fiancé_, dead or living, and that he would be allowed to aid her.
+
+In fact, the carriage was stopped at the outposts, and the chiefs of the
+watch could not take it upon themselves to let them pass, but said they
+must refer to General Sturm, who commanded the outposts.
+
+General Sturm had his quarters in the little village of Horstein, rather
+further on than Dettingen. Benedict was told where the house was, and
+went off at a gallop to make up for lost time. When he reached the house
+indicated, he found that General Sturm was away and that he would have
+to speak to the major.
+
+He went in, and an impatient voice called out, "wait a minute."
+
+Benedict had heard that voice before.
+
+"Frederic!" he cried.
+
+It was Baron Frederic von Bülow, whom the King of Prussia had made
+Staff-major to General Sturm. This rank was an advancement from
+brigade-general. Benedict explained that he was searching for Karl, who
+was dead or wounded on the field. Frederic would have liked to go with
+him, but he had work that must be done. He gave Benedict a permit to
+search the battlefield, and to take with him two Prussian soldiers as
+guards, and a surgeon.
+
+Benedict promised to send back the surgeon with news of the expedition,
+and went out to the carriage where Helen was waiting impatiently.
+
+"Well?" asked she.
+
+"I have got what we want," answered Benedict. Then in an undertone he
+said to Lenhart, "Go on twenty paces, then stop."
+
+He told Helen what had happened, and that if she wished to see her
+brother-in-law it would be easy to go back.
+
+Helen chafed at the very idea of seeing her brother-in-law. He would be
+sure to keep her from going among the dead and wounded, and the thieves
+who were on the battlefield to rob the dead.
+
+She thanked Benedict, and cried to Lenhart:
+
+"Drive on, please!"
+
+Lenhart whipped up his horses. They got back to Dettingen. Eleven
+o'clock struck as they entered the town. An immense fire was burning in
+the principal square. Benedict got down and went towards it. He went up
+to a captain who was walking up and down.
+
+"Excuse me, captain," he said, "but do you know Baron Frederic von
+Bülow?"
+
+The captain looked him up and down. It must be remembered that Benedict
+was still in his boatman's dress.
+
+"Yes," he answered, "I know him, and what then?"
+
+"Will you do him a great service?"
+
+"Willingly; he is my friend; but how came he to make you his messenger?"
+
+"He is at Horstein, and obliged to stay there by order of General
+Sturm."
+
+"He is very uneasy about a friend of his, who was killed or wounded on
+the field. He sent me and a comrade to search for this friend, the
+_fiancé_ of the lady whom you see in the carriage, and said: 'Take this
+note to the first Prussian officer you see. Tell him to read it, and I
+am sure he will have the kindness to give you what you ask for.'"
+
+The officer went to the fire, and read what follows:
+
+     "Order to the first Prussian officer whom my messenger meets, to
+     put at the disposal of the bearer two soldiers and a surgeon. The
+     two soldiers and the surgeon will follow the bearer wherever he
+     leads them.
+
+     "From the quarters of General Horstein, eleven at night:
+
+                           "By order, General Sturm.
+                              "Principal staff officer,
+                          "BARON FREDERIC VON BÜLOW."
+
+
+
+Discipline and obedience are the two chief virtues of the Prussian army.
+These are what have made it the first army in Germany. The captain had
+hardly read his superior's order when he dropped the haughty look which
+he had assumed for the poor devil of a boatman.
+
+"Hullo," he called to the soldiers round the fire. "Two volunteers to
+serve the principal staff officer, Frederic von Bülow."
+
+Six men presented themselves.
+
+"That's good, you and you," said the captain, choosing two men.
+
+"Now who is the regiment's surgeon?"
+
+"Herr Ludwig Wiederschall," answered a voice.
+
+"Where is he billeted?"
+
+"Here in the square," answered the same voice.
+
+"Tell him he is to go on an expedition to Aschaffenburg to-night, by
+order of the staff officer."
+
+A soldier got up, went across the square and knocked at the door; a
+moment after he came back with the surgeon-major.
+
+Benedict thanked the captain. He answered that he was very happy to do
+anything for the Baron von Bülow.
+
+The surgeon was in a bad temper, because he had been roused out of his
+first sleep. But when he found himself face to face with a young lady,
+beautiful and in tears, he made his excuses for having kept her waiting,
+and was the first to hasten the departure.
+
+The carriage reached the bank of the river by a gentle slope. Several
+boats were anchored there. Benedict called in a loud voice:
+
+"Fritz!"
+
+At the second call a man stood up in a boat and said:
+
+"Here I am!"
+
+Benedict issued his orders.
+
+Every one took their places in the boat; the two soldiers in the prow,
+Fritz and Benedict at the oars, and the surgeon and Helen in the stern.
+A vigorous stroke sent the boat into the middle of the stream. It was
+less easy travelling now, they had to go against the current; but
+Benedict and Fritz were good and strong rowers. The boat went slowly
+over the surface of the water.
+
+They were far from Dettingen when they heard the clock strike midnight.
+They passed Kleim, Ostheim, Menaschoft, then Lieder, then Aschaffenburg.
+
+Benedict stopped a little below the bridge, it was there that he wished
+to begin his search. The torches were lit and carried by the soldiers.
+
+The battle had not been finished until dark; the wounded alone had been
+carried away, and the bridge was still strewn with dead, against whom
+one stumbled in the dark corners, and who could be seen by their white
+coats in the light ones.
+
+Karl, with his grey tunic, would have been easily recognized, if among
+Prussians and Austrians; but Benedict was too sure of having seen him
+below the bridge to waste time in seeking for him where he was not. They
+went down to the fields, strewn with clumps of trees, and at the end of
+which was the little wood called Joli-Buisson. The night was dark, with
+no moon, there were no stars, one would have said that the dust and
+smoke of battle was hanging between the earth and the sky. From time to
+time silent flashes of lightning lifted the horizon like an immense
+eyelid: a ray of wan light leapt out and lighted up the landscape for a
+second with bluish light. Suddenly all became dark again. Between the
+flashes, the only light which appeared on the left bank of the Main was
+that of the two torches carried by the Prussian soldiers, which made a
+circle of light a dozen paces across.
+
+Helen, white as a ghost, and gliding like a ghost over the unevennesses
+of the ground as if they were non-existent, walked in the middle of the
+circle with arms outstretched, saying. "There, there, there!" wherever
+she thought she saw motionless corpses lying. When they came near they
+found them to be corpses indeed, but recognized Prussians or Austrians
+by their uniforms.
+
+From time to time also, they saw something gliding between the trees,
+and heard steps hastening away; these were of some of the miserable
+robbers of the dead who follow a modern army as wolves used to follow
+ancient armies, and whom they disturbed in their infamous work.
+
+From time to time Benedict stopped the group with a gesture; a profound
+silence fell, and in this silence he cried: "Karl! Karl!"
+
+Helen with staring eyes and holding her breath, seemed like a statue of
+suspense. Nothing replied, and the little troop moved on.
+
+From time to time Helen also stopped, and automatically, under her
+breath, as if she was afraid of her own voice, called in her turn,
+"Karl! Karl! Karl!"
+
+They drew near the little wood and the corpses became fewer. Benedict
+made one of these pauses, followed by silence, and for the fifth or
+sixth time cried:
+
+"Karl!"
+
+This time, a lugubrious and prolonged cry replied, which sent a shudder
+through the heart of the bravest.
+
+"What is that cry?" asked the surgeon.
+
+"It is a dog, howling for some one's death," answered Fritz.
+
+"Can it be?" murmured Benedict. Then he went on, "Over here! over here!"
+directing them towards the voice of the dog.
+
+"My God!" cried Helen, "have you any hope?"
+
+"Perhaps, come, come!" and without waiting for the torches he ran ahead.
+When he came to the edge of the wood, he cried again:
+
+"Karl!"
+
+The same lugubrious, lamentable cry was heard, but nearer.
+
+"Come," said Benedict, "it is here!"
+
+Helen leapt over the ditch, entered the wood, and without thinking of
+her muslin dress which was being torn to rags, she pushed on through the
+bushes and thorns. The torch-bearers had been thoughtful enough to
+follow. There in the wood they heard the sound of the robbers fleeing.
+Benedict signed a halt in order to give them time to escape. Then all
+was silent again he called a third time:
+
+"Karl!"
+
+This time a howl, as lamentable as the two first, answered, but so close
+to them that all hearts beat quickly. The men recoiled a step. The
+boatman pointed.
+
+"A wolf!" said he.
+
+"Where?" asked Benedict.
+
+"There," said Fritz pointing. "Don't you see his eyes shining in the
+dark like two coals?"
+
+At that moment a flash of lightning penetrated the trees, and showed
+distinctly a dog sitting beside a motionless body.
+
+"Here, Frisk!" cried Benedict.
+
+The dog made one bound to his master's neck and licked his face; then
+again, taking his place beside the corpse, he howled more lamentably
+than ever.
+
+"Karl is there!" said Benedict.
+
+Helen sprang forward, for she understood it all.
+
+"But he is dead!" continued Benedict.
+
+Helen cried out and fell on Karl's body.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+THE WOUNDED MAN
+
+
+The torchbearers had come up and a group, picturesque and terrible, was
+formed, by the bright light of the burning resin. Karl had not been
+plundered like the other corpses, the dog had guarded his body and
+prevented this. Helen was stretched upon him, her lips to his, weeping
+and groaning. Benedict was on his knees beside her, with the dog's paws
+on his shoulders. The surgeon stood, his arms folded, like a man
+accustomed to death and its sadness. Fritz had thrust his head through
+the leaves of a thorn-tree. Every one was silent and motionless for a
+moment.
+
+Suddenly Helen cried out, she sprang up, covered with Karl's blood, her
+face haggard and her hair wild. They all looked at her.
+
+"Ah!" she cried. "I am going mad." Then, falling on her knees, "Karl!
+Karl! Karl!" she cried.
+
+"What is it?" asked Benedict.
+
+"Oh! have pity on me," said Helen. "But I thought I felt a breath on my
+face. Did he wait for me, to give his last sigh?"
+
+"Excuse me, madam," said the surgeon, "but if he whom you call Karl is
+not dead, there is no time to be lost in looking to him."
+
+"Oh! come and look, sir," said Helen, moving quickly to one side.
+
+The surgeon knelt down, the soldiers brought the torches near, and
+Karl's pale, but still handsome face was seen. A wound in his head had
+covered his left cheek with blood, and he would have been unrecognizable
+if the dog had not licked the blood away from his face as it flowed.
+
+The surgeon loosened his collar; then he raised him to undo his tunic.
+The wound was terrible, for the back of his tunic was red with blood.
+The surgeon undid his coat, and with the swiftness of habit cut his coat
+up the back; then he called for water.
+
+"Water," repeated Helen in an automatic voice that sounded like an echo.
+
+The river was only fifty paces away, Fritz ran to it and brought back
+the wooden shoe, with which he was accustomed to bail out the boat, full
+of water. Helen gave her handkerchief.
+
+The surgeon dipped into the water and began to wash the wounded man's
+chest, while Benedict supported his body across his knees. It was only
+then that they saw a clot of blood on his arm, this was a third wound.
+That on his head was insignificant. That in his chest seemed the most
+serious at first, but an artery had been cut in his right arm, and the
+great loss of blood had led to a fainting fit during which the blood had
+ceased to flow.
+
+Helen, during this sad examination, had not ceased asking.
+
+"Is he dead? is he dead?"
+
+"We are going to see," said the surgeon. And on examination it proved
+that his blood still flowed. Karl was not dead.
+
+"He lives!" said the surgeon.
+
+Helen cried out and fell on her knees.
+
+"What must we do to bring him to life?" she asked.
+
+"The artery must be tied," said the surgeon, "will you let me take him
+to the ambulance?"
+
+"Oh, no, no!" cried Helen. "I cannot be parted from him. Do you think he
+will bear being taken to Frankfort?"
+
+"By water, yes. And I confess to you that considering the interest you
+take in this young man, I would rather some one else performed this
+operation. Now, if you have any way of taking him quickly by water--"
+
+"I have my boat," said Fritz, "and if this gentleman" (he pointed to
+Benedict) "will give me a helping hand we will be in Frankfort in three
+hours."
+
+"It remains to be seen," said the surgeon, "considering his great loss
+of blood, whether he will live three hours."
+
+"My God, my God!" cried Helen.
+
+"I don't dare to ask you to look, madam, but the earth is soaked with
+his blood!"
+
+Helen gave a cry of dismay, and put her hand before her eyes.
+
+While talking, while reassuring, while frightening Helen with the
+terrible cold-bloodedness of a man used to death, the surgeon was
+binding up the wound in Karl's chest.
+
+"You say you fear that he has lost too much blood? How much blood can
+one lose without dying?" asked Helen.
+
+"It depends, madam."
+
+"What have I to fear or hope for?" asked Helen.
+
+"You have to hope that he will live to reach Frankfort, that he has not
+lost as much blood as I fear he has, and that a clever surgeon will tie
+up the artery. You have to fear that he will have a second hæmorrhage
+to-day, or in eight or ten days, when the wound is healed."
+
+"But we can save him, can't we?"
+
+"Nature has so many resources, that we must always hope, madam."
+
+"Well," said Helen, "do not let us lose an instant."
+
+Benedict and the surgeon took the torches, the two soldiers carried the
+wounded man to the bank. They laid him in the stern of the boat on a
+mattress and blanket fetched from Aschaffenburg.
+
+"May I try to rouse him?" asked Helen, "or ought I to leave him in his
+present state?"
+
+"Do not do anything to bring him back to consciousness, madam it is this
+which stops the hæmorrhage, and if the artery is tied before he wakes,
+all may be well."
+
+They all took their places in the boat, the two Prussians stood holding
+the torches; Helen was kneeling, the surgeon supported the wounded man;
+Benedict and Fritz rowed. Frisk, who did not seem to feel pride in
+having played such a splendid part, was sitting in the prow. This time,
+well ballasted, pulled by four arms, vigorous and accustomed to the
+exercise, the boat sped like a swallow over the surface of the water.
+
+Karl remained unconscious. The doctor had thought that the air, cooler
+on the water than on the land, would rouse him, but it did not. He
+remained motionless, and gave no sign of life.
+
+They arrived at Dettingen. Benedict gave a handsome reward to the two
+Prussian soldiers, and asked the surgeon, whom Helen could only thank by
+pressing his hands, to tell Frederic all the details of the expedition.
+
+Benedict called Lenhart, who was sleeping on the box of his carriage,
+and told him to go to Frankfort as fast as possible, and tell some
+porters to wait with a litter on the banks of the Main at Frankfort. As
+for him, with Helen and Earl, he continued his journey by water, that
+being the smoothest road that one can find for a sick man.
+
+Towards Hanau the sky began to get light; a great band of rosy silver
+stretched itself above the Bavarian mountains.
+
+It seemed to Helen that the wounded man shuddered. She gave a cry that
+made the two rowers turn, then without another movement, Karl opened his
+eyes, murmured the name of Helen, and closed them again. All this was so
+rapid, that if Fritz and Benedict had not seen it with her, she would
+have doubted it. That opened eye, that gently murmured word did not seem
+a return to life, but the dream of a dying man.
+
+The sun in rising sometimes has this effect on the dying, and before
+closing for ever their eyes look for the last time upon the sun. This
+idea came to Helen.
+
+"Oh, Heaven!" she murmured, with sobs. "Is he breathing his last sigh?"
+
+Benedict left the oar for a moment and went to Karl. He took his hand,
+felt his pulse; and found it imperceptible. He listened to his heart; it
+seemed to be still.
+
+At each test Helen murmured: "Oh, Heaven!"
+
+At the last test he shared her doubts. He took out a lancet, which he
+always carried, and pricked the shoulder of the wounded man, who did not
+feel or move; but a feeble drop of blood appeared.
+
+"Be of good courage, he is still alive," he said, and again took up his
+oar.
+
+Helen began to pray.
+
+Since the evening, no one had eaten but Fritz. Benedict broke a piece of
+bread and gave it to Helen. She refused it with a smile.
+
+They reached Offenbach, and could see Frankfort in the distance
+silhouetted against the sky. They were due there at about eight o'clock.
+At eight o'clock, in fact, the boat stopped at the landing-place by the
+bridge. Soon they saw Lenhart and his carriage, and close to him a
+litter. They raised the wounded man with the same precautions as before,
+put him in the litter, and drew the curtains round him.
+
+Benedict wished Helen to go in Lenhart's carriage; the bodice of her
+dress was stained with blood. She wrapped herself in a large shawl and
+walked beside the litter. To save time she asked Benedict to go and seek
+for the same doctor who had attended the Baron von Bülow, Doctor
+Bodemacker. She herself crossed all the town from the Sachsenhausen
+Strasse to her mother's house, following the litter which bore Karl.
+People watched her pass with astonishment, and went to question Fritz
+who walked behind. And when he said it was a _fiancée_ who was following
+the body of her lover, and as every one knew that Fräulein Helen von
+Chandroz was engaged to Count Karl von Freyberg, they recognized the
+beautiful young lady, and stepped back bowing respectfully.
+
+When they reached the house the door was already open. Her grandmother
+and sister were waiting on each side of the door, and as she passed
+Helen took a hand of each.
+
+"To my room!" she said.
+
+The wounded man was taken to her room and laid on her bed. At that
+moment Doctor Bodemacker arrived with Benedict.
+
+The doctor examined Karl, and Benedict looked on with anxiety almost
+equal to Helen's.
+
+"Who saw this man before me?" asked, the doctor. "Who bound his
+wounds?"
+
+"A regimental surgeon," answered Helen.
+
+"Why did he not tie the artery?"
+
+"It was at night, by torchlight, in the open air; he did not dare. He
+told me to get a cleverer man, and I came to you."
+
+The surgeon looked at Karl uneasily. "He has lost a quarter of his
+blood," he murmured.
+
+"Well?" asked Helen.
+
+The doctor bent his head.
+
+"Doctor," cried Helen, "don't tell me there is no hope: it is always
+said that people quickly recover lost blood."
+
+"Yes," replied the doctor, "when he can eat. But never mind, a doctor
+must do all he can. Can you help me?" he asked Benedict.
+
+"Yes," he answered, "I have some idea of surgery."
+
+"You will leave the room, won't you?" the surgeon asked Helen.
+
+"Not for the world!" she cried, "no, no, I will stay to the end."
+
+The operation on the arm was finished with a cleverness which astonished
+Benedict.
+
+"Now," said the doctor, "ice water must be slowly dropped on that arm!"
+
+Some ice was procured and in five minutes was upon the arm.
+
+"Now," said the doctor, "we shall see."
+
+"What shall we see?" asked Helen anxiously.
+
+"We shall see the effect of the ice water."
+
+All three were standing by the bed, and it would be difficult to say
+which was the most interested in its success: the doctor, from
+professional pride; Helen, from her great love of the wounded man; or
+Benedict, from his friendship with Karl and Helen.
+
+At the first drops of ice water which fell on the arm, Karl shuddered
+visibly. Then his eyelids trembled, his eyes opened, and he looked round
+him with surprise until they became fixed on Helen. A faint smile
+appeared on his lips and the corners of his eyes. He tried to speak and
+breathed the name of Helen.
+
+"He must not speak," said the doctor, "until to-morrow at least."
+
+"Enough, my beloved," said Helen. "To-morrow you can tell me you love
+me."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+THE PRUSSIANS AT FRANKFORT
+
+
+In Frankfort all was sorrow and dismay at the news of the defeat. The
+inhabitants were deeply apprehensive of their treatment by the Prussians
+since seeing what had occurred in Hanover. On the evening of the battle,
+as we have said, the news of the disaster had reached Frankfort, and
+from the next day, the 15th, the conviction that its occupation would be
+immediate had cast an aspect of mourning over the town. Not a single
+person was to be seen on the fashionable promenade. The Prussians, so it
+was said, would make their entry on the 16th after midday.
+
+Night came, and with it a strange solitude in the streets, where, if one
+met a wayfarer it was evident from his hurry that he was on urgent
+business, carrying perhaps jewels or valuables for deposit at one of the
+foreign legations. At an early hour the houses had been shut up. Behind
+the bolted doors and windows one guessed that the inmates were silently
+digging holes for the concealment of their treasures.
+
+Morning came and everywhere might be seen affixed placards of the
+Senate, reading as follows:
+
+"The King of Prussia's royal troops will make their entry into Frankfort
+and its suburbs; our relations with them will therefore be materially
+changed from what they were when they were in garrison here. The Senate
+deplores this change which has been brought about in the relations in
+question, but the national sacrifices we have already made will render
+our inevitable pecuniary losses easy in comparison with what we have
+already lost. We all know that the discipline of the King of Prussia's
+troops is admirable. In circumstances of great difficulty the Senate
+exhorts all alike, of whatever rank or position, to give a friendly
+reception to the Prussian troops."
+
+The Frankfort battalion received orders to hold itself ready, with band
+in front, to march out and meet the Prussians and do them honour. From
+ten o'clock in the morning every advantageous spot, all the belfries and
+housetops from which the suburbs, and particularly the road from
+Aschaffenburg could be seen, were crowded with curious spectators.
+Towards noon the Prussians were descried at Hanau. The railway brought
+them by thousands and they were seen occupying as if by magic all the
+strategic points along the line, not without certain precautions which
+indicated their uneasiness as to what might portend.
+
+Nothing occurred, however, until four o'clock. Then successive trains
+left Hanau bearing the victorious army and rolled up to the town gates
+until seven o'clock. It was clear that General Falkenstein now waited
+the submission of the municipality, perhaps believing that the keys of
+the town would be brought him on a silver salver. He waited in vain.
+
+All was silence. None of the inhabitants moved and the Prussian
+soldiers, prominent among whom were the cuirassiers who had charged so
+vigorously in the battle, seemed spectres in their great cloaks and
+steel helmets. In the evening the Zeil is ever a melancholy place. On
+this occasion how sad it looked, despair seemed inextricably
+intermingled with its brooding shadows, in which stood out like a
+squadron of phantoms the Prussian cuirassiers. Now and again the
+trumpets sounded sinister fanfares.
+
+The fact that the Prussians were Germans was completely forgotten; their
+attitude clearly showed that they were enemies.
+
+Suddenly the music of the battalion of Frankfort broke out, coming from
+the further side of the town. It met the Prussians at the top of the
+Zeil, drew up in ranks and presented arms to the beating of the drums.
+
+The Prussians did not appear to notice these friendly advances. Two
+cannons arrived at a gallop. One was trained on the Zeil, the other on
+the Ross-market. The head of the Prussian column was formed on the
+Schiller Square and commanded the Zeil: for a quarter-of-an-hour the
+cavalry remained in line on horseback, then they dismounted and stood
+awaiting orders. This kind of encampment during which expectation grew
+tenser lasted until eleven. Then, all at once as the clocks struck,
+groups of ten, fifteen, or twenty men detached themselves, struck on the
+doors and invaded the houses.
+
+No order had been given in the town for the provision of rations and
+wine. So the Prussians, treating Frankfort as a conquered world, chose
+the most comfortable houses in which to establish themselves.
+
+The battalion remained a quarter-of-an-hour presenting arms; after which
+the commanding officer ordered muskets to be grounded. The band
+continued to play. It was ordered to cease.
+
+After two hours, as no word had been exchanged between the battalion and
+the Prussian army, the former received the order to retire, arms lowered
+as for a funeral. It was the funeral of Frankfort's liberty.
+
+The whole night passed in the same terrors as if the town had been taken
+by assault. If doors opened slowly, they were broken; cries of terror
+were heard in the houses and no one dared to ask what caused them. As
+the house of Hermann Mumm appeared one of the most important, he had to
+lodge and board two hundred soldiers and fifteen officers this first
+night. Another house, that of Madame Luttereth, lodged fifty men, who
+amused themselves with breaking the windows and furniture, on the
+alleged pretext that she had given evening parties and balls without
+inviting the Prussian officers in garrison. Accusations of this kind,
+accusations which served as the pretext for unheard of violence were
+preferred against all classes of society. And the Prussian officers said
+to their men: "You have a right to get all you can from these Frankfort
+rascals, who have lent Austria twenty-five millions without charging
+interest."
+
+It was vain to say that the town had never had twenty-five millions in
+its coffers; that had it had them such a loan could not have been made
+without a decree of the Senate and the Legislature, and that the most
+skilful investigator would fail to find a trace of such a decree. The
+officers persisted, and, as the soldiers had no need to be encouraged in
+a preliminary pillage while waiting the great day of plunder which had
+been promised them, they gave themselves up to the most brutal
+disorders, believing themselves authorized by the hatred of their chiefs
+towards the unhappy town. From this night commenced what was rightly
+called _the Prussian Terror at Frankfort_.
+
+Frederic von Bülow, who knew of the orders to treat Frankfort as a
+hostile city, had had a guard placed at the Chandroz' house to secure
+the safety of the family, his pretext being that it had been reserved
+for General Sturm and his staff.
+
+Daylight dawned and presently, few having slept, all the world was
+abroad, lamenting their misfortune and enquiring about those suffered by
+their friends. Then came the billstickers slowly and unwillingly, like
+men under constraint, fixing up the following notice:
+
+
+     "Authority having been given me over the Duchy of Nassau, the town
+     of Frankfort and its suburbs, as also over that part of Bavaria
+     which is occupied by the Prussian troops and over the Grand-duchy
+     of Hesse, all workmen and functionaries will in future take orders
+     from me. These orders will be duly and formally communicated.
+
+     "Dated at Frankfort, July 16th, 1866,
+
+    "The Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Main,
+           "Falkenstein."
+
+
+
+Two hours later the general addressed a note to the Deputies Fellner and
+Müller, in which he stated that as armies at war could procure what they
+had need of in the enemy's country, the town of Frankfort would furnish
+to the army of the Main:
+
+"1. For each soldier a pair of boots to sample.
+
+"2. Three hundred good horses ready saddled to replace those lost by the
+army.
+
+"3. The pay of the army for a year to be sent instantly to the army
+treasurer."
+
+By way of recompense the town was to be freed from all imposts, except
+cigars, the general engaging furthermore to reduce the burden of the
+military billeting as much as possible.
+
+The total claimed for army pay was 7,747,008 florins.
+
+The two members hastened to General Falkenstein's headquarters, and were
+admitted to him. His first words were:
+
+"Well, sirs, have you brought my money?"
+
+"We beg leave to submit to your Excellency," said Fellner, "that we
+have no authority to decree payment of such a sum, as the government of
+the town having been dissolved, its consent cannot be obtained."
+
+"That does not concern me," said the general, "I have conquered the
+country and I raise an indemnity. It is perfectly regular."
+
+"Will you allow me to say to your Excellency that a town which does not
+defend itself cannot be conquered. Frankfort, a free town, relies for
+its defence on its treaties, and has never thought of opposing your
+army."
+
+"Frankfort has found twenty-four millions for the Austrians," cried the
+general, "and can easily find fifteen or eighteen for us. But if it
+refuses, I myself will find them. Four hours only of pillage and we
+shall see if your street of the Jews and the coffers of your bankers do
+not produce twice as much."
+
+"I doubt, general," said Fellner coldly, "whether Germans can be got to
+treat Germans in such a way."
+
+"Who speaks of Germans? I have a Polish regiment brought expressly."
+
+"We have done no harm to the Poles; we have afforded them a refuge
+against you whenever they required it. The Poles are not our enemies;
+the Poles will not pillage Frankfort."
+
+"That is just what we are going to see," said the general, stamping his
+foot with one of those oaths of which the Prussians enjoy the monopoly.
+"I don't care a damn if I am called a second Duke of Alva, and I warn
+you that if at six o'clock to-day the money is not paid, you will be
+arrested to-morrow and thrown into a dungeon, which you will leave only
+when the last thaler of the 7,747,008 florins is paid."
+
+"We know your first minister's maxim, 'Might is right.' Dispose of us as
+you wish," answered Fellner.
+
+"At five o'clock, the men whom I shall order to receive the seven
+million florins will be at the door of the bank, in readiness to
+transport the money to my headquarters." Then he added so that the
+burgomaster could hear the orders: "Arrest and bring before me, the
+Journalist Fischer, editor in chief of the 'Post Zeitung.' I shall
+commence with him in dealing with the newspaper men and the newspapers."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Two hours later Fischer was arrested in his house where, after a
+communication from Fellner he had remained in expectation of the event,
+and brought to headquarters. General Falkenstein had contrived to keep
+himself at boiling point, so the moment he saw Fischer:
+
+"Let him enter," he said, in the third person, which in Germany is the
+sign of the most profound contempt. And, as Fischer did not enter as
+quickly as the general wished, he cried: "A thousand thunders! if he
+hangs back, shove him in."
+
+"Here I am," said Fischer; "forewarned of your intention I could have
+left Frankfort, but it is my custom to face danger."
+
+"Oh! so you knew that you would be in danger, Mr. Pocket-pen, when you
+reached me."
+
+"An unarmed man is always in danger from a powerful armed enemy."
+
+"You consider me your enemy, then?"
+
+"The indemnity you have exacted from Frankfort and your threats against
+Herr Fellner are not those of a friend, you will allow."
+
+"Oh! you have no need to await my threats and orders to declare yourself
+my enemy. We know your paper, and it is because we know it that you are
+going to sign the following declaration. Sit down there, take a pen, and
+write."
+
+"I take a pen; but, before using it, what are you about to dictate?"
+
+"You want to know? Well, here it is. I, Dr. Fischer Goullet, Councillor
+of State, editor in chief.... But you are not writing."
+
+"Finish your sentence, sir, and if I decide to write I will do so."
+
+"Editor-in-chief of the 'Post Zeitung,' acknowledge myself guilty of
+systematic and calumnious hostility towards the Prussian Government."
+
+Fischer threw down the pen.
+
+"I will never write that, sir," said he; "it is false."
+
+"Tempests and thunders!" cried the general, making a step towards him.
+"You give me the lie."
+
+Fischer took a newspaper from his pocket.
+
+"This will inform you better than I can, sir," he said; "it is the last
+issue of my paper published an hour before your entry here. This is what
+I wrote in it:
+
+     "'The history of the days which are to come is written at the point
+     of the bayonet. It is not for the citizens of Frankfort to change
+     anything. For the population of a small and weak state there is
+     nothing else to do but to succour the combatants, whether friends
+     or enemies: they must dress wounds, nurse the sick, exercise
+     charity towards all. Right behaviour is as much the duty of every
+     one as obedience towards the responsible authority.'"
+
+Then, seeing the general shrugging his shoulders, Fischer in his turn
+took a step forward and holding out his paper:
+
+"Read yourself, if you doubt me," said he.
+
+The general tore it from his hands.
+
+"You wrote that yesterday," he said white with rage, "because yesterday
+you felt us coming, because, yesterday, you were afraid of us." And
+tearing up the newspaper he crushed it into a ball and threw it in the
+Councillor's face, shouting; "You are a coward."
+
+Fischer threw a wild glance around him as if for a weapon with which to
+avenge this insult; then with his hand to his forehead he staggered,
+turned round with a strangled cry and fell in a heap, killed by the
+bursting of a blood vessel in the brain.
+
+The general went to him, pushed him with his foot, and seeing that he
+was dead:
+
+"Throw this rascal into a corner," said he to his soldiers, "until his
+family comes to fetch him."
+
+The soldiers dragged the corpse into a corner of the ante-room.
+
+Meanwhile, Fellner, fearing that harm would befall his friend, had run
+to Hannibal Fischer, the journalist's father, and had told him of the
+general's orders. Hannibal Fischer was an old man of eighty, he went to
+the headquarters and asked for his son. The son had been seen going up
+to the first floor where General Falkenstein held his audiences, but no
+one had seen him leave. The old man went up and asked for the general.
+He had gone to lunch and his door was closed.
+
+"Sit down there," said some one, "he may return."
+
+"Cannot you tell him that it is a father who claims his son?"
+
+"What on?" asked one of the soldiers.
+
+"My son, Councillor Fischer, who was arrested this morning."
+
+"Why, it is the father," said the soldier to his comrade.
+
+"If he wants his son, let him take him," said the other.
+
+"How, take him?" said the old man, bewildered.
+
+"Certainly," answered the soldier. "There he is waiting for you." And
+he pointed to the corpse in the corner.
+
+The father approached the body, knelt on one knee and raised his son's
+head.
+
+"Then they have killed him?" he asked the soldiers.
+
+"No, indeed, he died of his own accord."
+
+The father kissed the corpse on the forehead.
+
+"These are unhappy days," he said, "in which fathers bury their
+children."
+
+Then he went down, called a street porter, sent him for three of his
+mates, mounted again to the ante-chamber and showing them the body:
+
+"Take my son," he said, "and bear him to my house." The men took the
+body on their shoulders and bore him to a barrow. The father walked
+before it bare-headed and pale, his eyes bathed in tears; and to all who
+questioned him about this strange procession, carrying a dead man
+through the town without a priest, replied: "It is my son, Councillor
+Fischer, whom the Prussians have killed." And thus the news spread over
+Frankfort.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+GENERAL MANTEUFFEL'S THREATS
+
+
+At five o'clock in the afternoon of July 17th, as the general had said,
+he sent to the bank a squad of eight men under the command of a
+sergeant-major, accompanied by two men with wheel-barrows for the seven
+million florins. His notion of the weight of the coin, which in gold
+would amount to more than fifty tons, must have been a curious one.
+Seeing his men return without the money, General Falkenstein declared
+that if it were not forthcoming the next day he would permit pillage and
+bombardment. Meanwhile the members Bernus and Speltz were arrested and
+conducted to the guard-room, when, having left them in view behind the
+bars for two hours to convince every one of his power over the town
+authorities, he sent them off to Cologne with four soldiers and a letter
+for the governor.
+
+This act of brutality had its effect. It alarmed a great many
+influential people who went to find the bank manager and urge him to
+advance the seven millions demanded. The directors of the bank gave way
+and the money was paid to the last florin on July 19th.
+
+The same day the city battalion was disbanded in the presence of the
+Prussian Colonel von der Goltz. The soldiers had not expected this, and
+some of the oldest of them shed tears.
+
+At the same time, the Prussians took their fill of the townspeople's
+horses. They requisitioned seven hundred, including two little ponies of
+Madame de Rothschild. The carriages were then seized, and if a lady
+happened to take a cab she was obliged when she met an officer in search
+of one, to get out in the mud and leave him to take her place.
+
+Two orders were circulated. The first enjoined the presentation at the
+police station every morning, before eight o'clock, of a list of all
+travellers who had arrived in the hotels and boarding-houses.
+
+Many societies formed for divers purposes such as gymnastics, education,
+and the like, were called before the commander-in-chief and dissolved.
+Such of them as had for object military exercises were invited to
+deposit their arms. Finally the general addressed to the presidents of
+the societies some kindly words upon the necessity of the measures
+taken, and upon the actual situation in general. You ask me how kindly
+words could be uttered by M. de Falkenstein. Reassure yourself, the
+illustrious general had not altered his habits. Having received his
+millions at two o'clock he had at once left Frankfort. General Wranzel
+acted as his deputy for two or three hours and showed a smiling face
+between two morose ones, for at five o'clock, General Manteuffel
+arrived. He at once issued the following order:
+
+     "To assure the subsistence of the Prussian troops a storehouse will
+     be at once established in this town of Frankfort-on-the-Main, by
+     order of His Excellency the Lieutenant-General Manteuffel,
+     commander-in-chief of the army of the Main. It will be provisioned
+     as follows:
+
+  15.000 loaves of bread of 5 lbs. 9 ozs.
+   1,480 hundredweight of sea biscuits.
+     600      "        of beef.
+     800      "        of smoked bacon.
+     450      "        of rice.
+     450      "        of coffee.
+     100      "        of salt.
+   5,000      "        of hay.
+
+     "A third part of these quantities is to be placed at our disposal
+     in convenient places between now and the morning of the 21st. The
+     second third on the 21st in the evening, and the last third on July
+     22nd at the latest.
+
+     "Frankfort, July 20th, 1866.
+
+     "The Military Superintendent of the army of the Main.
+
+                         "KASUISKIL"
+
+
+
+The unhappy townspeople had believed themselves free from these imposts
+according to General Falkenstein's promise--except, indeed, as regards
+cigars, of which both the Prussian officers and men required nine
+provided each day.
+
+The next day, while at breakfast with his family towards ten o'clock,
+Fellner received a letter from the new commander. It was addressed: "To
+the Very Illustrious Herren Fellner and Müller, proxies of the town of
+Frankfort." He turned it and turned it about between his hands without
+unsealing it. Madame Fellner trembled, Herr Kugler, his brother-in-law,
+grew pale, and seeing the drops of perspiration on their father's
+forehead as he sighed deeply, the children began to cry. At last he
+opened it, but seeing his pallor as he read, all rose to their feet
+awaiting his first words. But he said nothing, he let his head fall on
+his breast and dropped the letter on the floor. His brother-in-law
+picked it up and read:
+
+     "To the Very Illustrious Herren Fellner and Müller, proxies of the
+     government in this town.
+
+     "You are invited by these presents to take the necessary measures
+     for a war indemnity of twenty-five millions of florins to be paid
+     within twenty-four hours to the pay office of the Army of the Main
+     in this town.
+
+     "The Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Main,
+
+                         "MANTEUFFEL"
+
+
+
+"Oh!" murmured Fellner, "my poor Fischer, you are fortunate."
+
+
+Within two hours bills which Messrs. Fellner and Müller had had printed
+were posted all over the town. They consisted of General Manteuffel's
+letter to them with this addition:
+
+"The Burgomasters Fellner and Müller declare that they will die rather
+than assist in the spoliation of their fellow citizens."
+
+The blow to the city was the more terrible because it was entirely
+unexpected. The city had just paid more than six millions of florins,
+had contributed in goods an equivalent sum, and was billeting soldiers
+at a crushing expense. Some had ten, others twenty, thirty, or even
+fifty soldiers. General Falkenstein had prescribed the soldiers' rations
+as for the officers, they were entitled to anything they asked for. A
+soldier's daily rations comprised, coffee and accessories in the
+morning; a pound of meat, vegetables, bread, and half a bottle of wine
+at noon; a collation with a pint of beer in the evening, in addition
+eight cigars. These cigars had to be specially bought from the dealers
+coming with the army. Usually the soldiers demanded and got an extra
+meal at ten in the morning of bread-and-butter and brandy, and after
+lunch they got coffee. The sergeant-majors had to be treated like
+officers, being provided with roast meat and a bottle of wine at dinner,
+with coffee to follow. Havana cigars, eight in number, were insisted on.
+
+The citizens dared not complain, for the soldiers whatever they did were
+always found to be in the right. But when they heard of this new
+exaction of General Manteuffel, used as they were to theft and rapine on
+the part of the Prussians, the Frankfortians, mute with astonishment,
+looked at each other, not being able to grasp the extent of their
+misfortune. As soon as the news was actually billed they rushed in
+crowds to see it with their own eyes. Hours were spent in deploring the
+enemy's greed, but nothing was done towards obeying the order.
+Meanwhile, some of the chief citizens, M. de Rothschild among them, had
+gone to seek General Manteuffel. In reply to their observations he said:
+
+"To-morrow my cannon will be trained upon all the chief points of the
+town, and if in three days I have not half of the contribution, and the
+rest in six, I double it."
+
+"General," answered M. de Rothschild, "you know the range of your
+cannons I do not doubt, but you do not know that of the measures you are
+taking--if you ruin Frankfort, you ruin the neighbouring provinces."
+
+"Very well, gentlemen," answered Manteuffel, "the contribution, or
+pillage and bombardment."
+
+In spite of the intervention of the foreign legations, those of France,
+Russia, England, Spain, and Belgium, on July 23rd, masses of troops were
+put in movement with loaded cannon. These were ranged on the chief
+spaces in the town. At the same time batteries were established on the
+Muhlberger and the Roederberg, as also on the left bank of the Main.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+GENERAL STURM
+
+
+Brigadier-General Roeder, who had replaced General Manteuffel, had
+brought with him General Sturm and his brigade. Baron von Bülow was the
+principal staff officer of this brigade, and, as we have related, on the
+day the Prussians entered Frankfort he had safeguarded the Chandroz
+family, by placing four men and a serjeant-major in their house. The
+serjeant-major bore a letter for Madame von Beling, informing her why
+she was thus garrisoned and urging her to prepare the best rooms on her
+first floor for General Sturm and his suite. Madame von Beling acted on
+these instructions, and the men had better rations and cigars supplied
+to them than if the municipality had catered for them.
+
+After the surgeon's departure Karl lay still unconscious, but his
+breathing gradually became more perceptible. Towards evening he uttered
+a sigh, opened his eyes, and by a slight movement of his left hand
+seemed to beckon Helen. She rushed to him, seized his hand and placed
+her lips upon it. Benedict wished her to retire, promising to watch over
+Karl, but Helen refused, saying that no one but herself should nurse
+him.
+
+Benedict being desirous of ridding himself of the sailor's clothes in
+which he had descended the river before General Sturm arrived, and
+having no other suit, left the house to get a new outfit. Lenhart was at
+the front door with his carriage and, driving to the port, he soon found
+Fritz and his boat. There was his uniform, with his pistols and carbine.
+He took them and put them in the carriage. Frisk, who had spent the day
+incessantly watching for his master, joyfully jumped in. Benedict gave
+Fritz twenty florins and sent him back to Aschaffenburg. Then Lenhart
+took him to a tailor where he had no difficulty in obtaining an outfit.
+Next he took a bath. He had fought during the whole of the 14th and had
+not closed his eyes during thirty-six hours, so he found it refreshing.
+Afterwards he allowed Lenhart to take him to his own house, and there he
+got between the sheets.
+
+When he awoke it was ten o'clock; he had slept for six hours. He rushed
+to the Chandrozes. He found Helen as he had left her kneeling by Karl's
+bed. She raised her head and smiled. She also had not slept for thirty
+hours, but the devotion of women knows no bounds. Nature has intended
+them for sisters of charity. Love is as strong as life itself.
+
+Karl seemed to sleep; it was evident that, as no blood flowed to it, the
+brain was in a state of torpor; but every time a spoonful of syrup of
+digitalis was placed in his mouth he absorbed it better. Benedict's work
+was to renew the ice which dripped upon the arm, washing the wound made
+first by the cuirassier's sabre and then by the doctor's lancet.
+
+Towards eight in the morning Emma came into the room for news of the
+wounded man. She found Helen asking Benedict for more ice. He was an
+entire stranger to Emma, but by a flash of intuition she guessed him to
+be the man who had spared her husband's life. She was thanking him when
+Hans came to announce Fellner. The worthy man was afraid that the
+Prussians would break into the house, and came to offer his services.
+
+While they were talking, Frederic arrived with the news that his general
+was only five minutes behind him.
+
+Nothing can describe Emma's joy and happiness in seeing Frederic. The
+war was nearly over, rumours of peace became stronger, her Frederic was
+then out of danger. Love is egoistic, scarcely had she thought of what
+was happening in the city; the entry of the Prussians, their exactions,
+their imposts, their brutalities, the death of Herr Fischer; all these
+seemed vague--a letter from Frederic had been the important event.
+Frederic: it was he whom she embraced. He was safe and sound, unwounded,
+and no longer in danger. Keenly interested as she was in her sister and
+Karl and their mutual love, she felt how fortunate Frederic was that he
+was not Karl.
+
+Frederic went up to Karl, who recognized him and smiled.
+
+While General Sturm ate a splendid dinner, Frederic, to whom Benedict
+had whispered a few words about the behaviour of the Prussians at
+Frankfort, went out to judge for himself. He was told that the Senate
+was sitting and he went in. The Senate declared that the demand made
+upon it being impossible of fulfilment it submitted itself to the
+general's clemency.
+
+On leaving the Senate, Frederic saw the cannon trained on the town, the
+crowds round all the posted bills. He saw besides, entire families
+driven from their homes by the Prussians, bivouacking on the open
+spaces. The men were swearing, the women were in tears. A mother was
+calling for vengeance, as she tended her child of ten, through whose arm
+a bayonet had been thrust. Without knowing what he did the unfortunate
+child had followed a Prussian, singing the song that the people of
+Sachsenhausen had made on the Prussians:
+
+     Warte, kuckuck, warte
+     Bald kommt Bonaparte
+     Der wird alles wieder holen
+     Was ihr hobt bei uns gestohlen.[1]
+
+The Prussian had used his bayonet on the lad. But instead of consoling
+the mother and calling for vengeance with her, the passers-by had signed
+to her to be quiet, to dry her tears and wipe the blood away; so great
+was the general terror.
+
+The Prussians, however, had not everywhere had a like experience. One of
+them lodging with a man of Sachsenhausen, to frighten him had drawn his
+sabre and placed it on the table. The man without offering any remark
+had gone out and returned within five minutes with an iron trident,
+which he in his turn put on the table. "What does this signify?" the
+Prussian had asked. "Well," was the reply, "you wanted to show me that
+you had a fine knife, and I have wanted to convince you that I have a
+fine fork." The Prussian had taken the joke badly, he had tried to make
+play with his sabre and had been transfixed to the wall with the
+trident.
+
+Passing by Hermann Mumm's house, the baron noticed him sitting at his
+door, his head buried in his hands. He touched him on the shoulder. Mumm
+looked up.
+
+"Is that you?" he said, "and have you pillagers also?"
+
+"Pillagers?" asked Frederic.
+
+"Come and see! Look at my china which my family for three generations
+has collected--all broken. My cellar is empty, and naturally so, for I
+have been lodging two hundred soldiers and fifteen officers. Listen to
+them!" And Frederic heard shouts from within of "wine, more wine! or we
+blow the place to pieces with cannon balls!"
+
+He went into the house. Poor Mumm's fine house looked like a stable. The
+floors were covered with wine, straw, and filth. Not a window remained
+whole, not an article of furniture was unbroken.
+
+"Look at my poor tables," said the unhappy Mumm. "At them have sat for
+over a century the best people of Frankfort; yes, the king, many
+princes, and the members of the Diet have dined at them. Not a year ago
+Frau and Fräulein von Bismarck complimented me on the collation I gave
+them. And now, days of horror and desolation have come, and Frankfort is
+lost."
+
+Frederic was powerless and could only leave the place. He well knew that
+neither General Roeder nor General Sturm would stop the pillaging.
+Roeder was ruthless, Sturm was mad. He was an old style Prussian
+general, who when opposed struck down the obstacle.
+
+Presently he met Baron von Schele, the postmaster-general. Since the
+entry of the Prussians he had received the order to institute a
+censorship, unsealing letters and drawing up reports upon those who
+discovered hostile feelings to the Prussian government. He had refused
+to obey, and, his successor having arrived from Berlin, the censorship
+was in operation. Von Schele, who looked on Frederic as a Frankfortian
+rather than a Prussian, told him all this and invited him and his
+friends to resist.
+
+He reached Fellner's with a broken heart and found all the family in
+despair. Fellner had just received the official intimation of the
+refusal of the chief commercial houses to pay the millions demanded by
+the Prussians and the decree of the Senate in the matter. Although as a
+member of the Senate he knew its contents, he was re-reading it
+mechanically, while his wife and children sobbed around him, for all
+feared what excesses the Prussians might commit on receipt of the
+refusal. While they sat together, Fellner was informed of the decision
+just come to by the Legislative Assembly, that a deputation should be
+sent to the king to obtain the remission of the imposition of
+twenty-five millions of florins exacted by General Manteuffel.
+
+"Ah," said Frederic, "if only I could see the King of Prussia."
+
+"Why not?" said Fellner, catching at a straw.
+
+"Impossible, my dear Fellner, I am only a soldier. When a general
+commands I must obey. But, if the millions are going to be found, my
+family will contribute its share."
+
+Being powerless to assist Fellner, he left him and had walked a few
+steps when a soldier saluted and asked him to proceed to General Sturm
+who was waiting for him.
+
+General Sturm was a biggish, strongly made man of about two and fifty.
+He had a small head, with a high brow. His round face was red and when
+he was angry, which was often, it became crimson. His large eyes were
+almost always injected with blood, and he glared with fixed pupils when,
+as invariably was the case, he wished to be obeyed. All this, with his
+big mouth, thin lips, yellow teeth, menacing eyebrows, aquiline nose,
+and thick, short red neck, made him a formidable looking man. His voice
+was loud and penetrating, his gestures commanding, his movements
+brusque and rapid. He walked with long strides, he despised danger, but
+nevertheless seldom encountered any unless it was worth his while.
+
+He had a passion for plumes, red, waving colours, the smell of powder,
+of gaming; he was as brusque in his words as in his movements; violent
+and full of pride he brooked contradictions ill and readily flew into a
+passion. Then his face grew a crimson-violet, his grey eyes became
+golden and seemed to emit sparks. At such times, he completely forgot
+all the decencies of life, he swore, he insulted, he struck.
+Nevertheless he had some common sense, for knowing that he must from
+time to time have duels to fight, he spent his spare time in sword
+exercise and pistol shooting with the _maître-d'armes_ of the regiment.
+And it must be allowed that he was a first-rate performer with both
+weapons; and, not only so, he had what was called "an unfortunate hand,"
+and where another would have wounded slightly he wounded badly, and
+frequently he killed his adversary. This had happened ten or twelve
+times. His real name was _Ruhig_, which means peaceful, so inappropriate
+to its owner that he received the surname of _Sturm_, meaning storm or
+tempest. By this name he was always known. He had made a reputation for
+ferocity in the war against the Bavarians in 1848-49.
+
+When Frederic presented himself he was relatively calm. Sitting in a
+great chair, and it was rare for him to be seated, he almost smiled.
+
+"Ah, it is you," he said. "I was asking for you. General Roeder was
+here. Where have you been?"
+
+"Excuse me, general," Frederic answered. "I had gone to my mother-in-law
+for news of one of my friends, who was seriously wounded in the battle."
+
+"Ah! yes," said the general, "I heard about him--an Austrian. It is too
+good of you to enquire about such imperial vermin. I should like to see
+twenty-five thousand of them lying on the battlefield, where I would let
+them rot from the first man to the last."
+
+"But, your Excellency, he was a friend--"
+
+"Oh, very well--the matter is not in question. I am satisfied with you,
+baron," said General Sturm, in the same voice in which another man would
+have said "I loathe you!" "and I wish to do something for you."
+
+Frederic bowed.
+
+"General Roeder was asking for a man with whom I am well pleased, to
+carry to His Majesty King William I, whom God preserve, the two Austrian
+and Hessian flags taken by us in the battle of Aschaffenburg. I have
+thought of you, dear baron. Will you accept the mission?"
+
+"Your Excellency," replied Frederic, "nothing could honour or delight me
+more. If you recollect, it was the king who placed me near you; to bring
+me into contact with the king in such circumstances is to do me a favour
+and to do him, I dare hope, a pleasure."
+
+"Well, you must leave within the hour and not come to me with 'my little
+wife,' or 'my grandmother.' An hour suffices for embracing all the
+grandmothers and all the wives in the world, all sisters and children
+into the bargain. The flags are in the ante-room there. Within the hour
+jump on the train on your way to Bohemia, and to-morrow you will be with
+the king at Sadowa. Here is your letter of introduction to His Majesty.
+Take it."
+
+Frederic took the letter and saluted, his heart full of joy; he had not
+had to ask for leave; as if the general had read, had known his dearest
+wish, he had offered it, and with it had done him a favour of which he
+had not dreamt.
+
+In two bounds he had reached Benedict.
+
+"My dear friend," he said, "I leave for Sadowa in an hour, but hesitate
+to say with what object."
+
+"Tell me all the same," said Benedict.
+
+"Well, I am taking the flags captured from the Austrians."
+
+"And you can take them without grieving me; for, if all Prussians were
+like yourself, I should have fought with them and not with the
+Hanoverians and Austrians," said Benedict. "Now go and say your adieux."
+
+He was still embracing his wife and little child, when the same soldier
+who had already been sent to him, called to ask him not to take the
+flags without exchanging a last word with the general.
+
+
+[1]
+
+     Wait, wait a bit, cuckoo,
+     Bonaparte is coming, who
+     Soon will force you
+     to restore
+     All you stole from us before.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+THE BREAKING OF THE STORM
+
+
+The general received Frederic with the same calm and gracious expression
+as before.
+
+"Excuse me for delaying," he said, "after I was so anxious to speed you;
+but I have a little service to ask."
+
+Frederic bowed.
+
+"It is about General Manteuffel's subsidy of twenty-five millions of
+florins. You know about it, don't you?"
+
+"Yes," said Frederic, "and it is a heavy impost for a poor city with
+some 40,000 inhabitants."
+
+"You mean 72,000," said Sturm.
+
+"No, there are only about 40,000 Frankfortians, the remainder of the
+72,000 counted as natives are strangers."
+
+"What does that matter?" said Sturm, becoming impatient. "The statistics
+say 72,000 and General Manteuffel has made his calculation accordingly."
+
+"But if he has made an error, it seems to me that those who are charged
+with the execution of his order should point it out."
+
+"That is not our affair. We are told 72,000 inhabitants, and 72,000
+there therefore are. We are told 25 million florins, and 25 million
+florins there are also. That is all! Just fancy! the senators have
+declared, that we can burn the town, but they will not pay the subsidy."
+
+"I was present," said Frederic quietly, "and the sitting was admirably
+conducted, with much dignity, calm, and sorrow."
+
+"Ta ta ta ta," said Sturm. "General Manteuffel before leaving gave
+General Roeder the order to get in these millions. Roeder has ordered
+the town to pay them. The Senate has chosen to deliberate; that is its
+own affair. Roeder came round to me about it, it is true; but I told him
+that it was nothing to worry about. I said. 'The chief of my staff
+married in Frankfort; he knows the town like his own land, everyone's
+fortune even to shillings and half-pence. He will indicate five and
+twenty millionaires.' There are twenty-five of them here, are there
+not?"
+
+"More than that," answered Frederic.
+
+"Good; we will commence with them, and if there is a balance the others
+shall supply it."
+
+"And have you reckoned on me to give you the names?"
+
+"Certainly. All I require is twenty-five names and five and twenty
+addresses. Sit down there, my dear fellow, and write them out."
+
+Frederic sat down, took a pen and wrote;
+
+     "Honour obliging me to decline to denounce my fellow citizens, I
+     beg the illustrious Generals von Roeder and Sturm to obtain the
+     desired information elsewhere than from myself.
+
+      "Frankfort, July 22nd, 1866.
+           "FREDERIC BARON VON BÜLOW."
+
+
+
+
+Then, rising and bowing low, he put the paper in the general's hands.
+
+"What is this?" he asked.
+
+"Read, it, general," said Frederic.
+
+The general read it, and gave his chief of the staff a side glance.
+
+"Ah! ah!" he said, "I see how I am answered when I ask a favour; let me
+see how I am answered when I command. Sit there and write--"
+
+"Order me to charge a battery, and I will do it, but do not order me to
+become a tax collector."
+
+"I have promised General Roeder to get him the names and addresses and
+have told him that you will supply them. He will send for the list
+directly. What am I to say to him?"
+
+"You will tell him that I have refused to give it."
+
+Sturm crossed his arms and approached Frederic.
+
+"And do you think that I will allow a man under my orders to refuse me
+anything?"
+
+"I think you will reflect that you gave me not only an unjust but a
+dishonouring order and you will appreciate the reason of my refusal. Let
+me go, general, and call a police officer; he will not refuse you, for
+it will be all in his work."
+
+"Baron," replied Sturm, "I considered I was sending the king a good
+servant for whom I asked a reward. I cannot reward a man of whom I have
+to complain. Give me back His Majesty's letter."
+
+Frederic disdainfully tossed the letter on the table. The general's face
+grew purple, livid marks appeared upon it, his eyes flamed.
+
+"I will write to the king," he cried furiously, "and he will learn how
+his officers serve him."
+
+"Write your account, sir, and I will write mine," answered Frederic,
+"and he will see how his generals dishonour him."
+
+Sturm rushed and seized his horsewhip.
+
+"You have said dishonoured, sir. You will not repeat the word, I
+trust?"
+
+"Dishonoured," said Frederic coldly.
+
+Sturm gave a cry of rage and raised his whip to strike his young
+officer, but observing Frederic's complete calm he let it fall.
+
+"Who threatens strikes, sir," Frederic answered, "and it is as if you
+had struck me."
+
+He turned to the table and wrote a few lines. Then he opened the door of
+the ante-room and calling the officers who were there:
+
+"Gentlemen, he said, I confide this paper to your loyalty. Read what it
+says aloud."
+
+     "I tender my resignation as chief of General Sturm's staff and
+     officer in the Prussian army.
+
+     "Dated at noon July 22nd, 1866.
+
+               "FREDERIC VON BÜLOW."
+
+
+
+"Which means?" asked Sturm.
+
+"Which means that I am no longer in His Majesty's service nor in yours,
+and that you have insulted me. Gentlemen, this man raised his horsewhip
+over me. And having insulted me, you owe me reparation. Keep my
+resignation, gentlemen, and bear witness that I am free from all
+military duty at the moment I tell this man that he is no longer my
+chief, and consequently that I am not his inferior. Sir, you have
+injured me mortally, and I will kill you, or you will kill me."
+
+Sturm burst out laughing.
+
+"You give your resignation," he said, "well, I do not accept it. Place
+yourself in confinement. Sir," said he, stamping his foot and walking
+towards Frederic, "to prison for fifteen days with you."
+
+"You have no longer the right to give me an order," said Frederic,
+detaching his epaulettes.
+
+Sturm, exasperated, livid, foaming at the mouth, again raised his whip
+upon the chief of his staff, but this time he slashed his cheek and
+shoulder with it. Frederic, who until now had held himself in, uttered a
+cry of rage, made a bound aside and drew his sword.
+
+"Imbecile," shouted Sturm, with a burst of laughter, "you will be shot
+after a court martial."
+
+At this Frederic lost his head completely and threw himself upon the
+general, but he found four officers in his path. One whispered to him:
+"Save yourself; we will calm him."
+
+"And I," said Frederic, "I who have been struck; who will calm me?"
+
+"We give you our word of honour that we have not seen the blow," said
+the officers.
+
+"But _I_ have _felt_ it. And as I have given my word of honour that one
+of us must die, I must act accordingly. Adieu, gentlemen."
+
+Two of the officers trying to follow him:
+
+"Thunders and tempests! gentlemen," called the general after them. "Come
+back; no one leaves this room except this madman who will be arrested by
+the provost marshal."
+
+The officers came back hanging their heads. Frederic burst out of the
+room. The first person he met on the stairs was the old Baroness von
+Beling.
+
+"Gracious heavens! what are you doing with a drawn sword?" she asked.
+
+He put the sword in its scabbard. Then he ran to his wife and embraced
+her and the baby.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Ten minutes later an explosion was heard in Frederic's room. Benedict,
+who was with Karl, rushed to it and burst open the door.
+
+Frederic was lying on the floor dead, his forehead shattered by a
+bullet. He had left this note on the table:
+
+     "Struck in the face by General Sturm, who has refused to give me
+     satisfaction, I could not live dishonoured. My last wish is that my
+     wife in her widow's dress should leave this evening for Berlin, and
+     there beg from Her Majesty the Queen the remission of the subsidy
+     of twenty-five million florins, which the town as I testify is
+     unable to pay.
+
+     My friend, Benedict Turpin, will, I know, avenge me.
+
+                "FREDERIC, BARON VON BÜLOW."
+
+
+
+Benedict had just time to read this when he turned at a cry behind him.
+It was from the poor widow.
+
+Benedict, leaving Emma in her mother's care, went to his room and wrote
+four notes, each in these terms:
+
+     "Baron Frederic von Bülow has just shot himself in consequence of
+     the insult offered him by General Sturm, who has refused to give
+     him satisfaction. His body lies in the house of the Chandroz
+     family, and his friends are invited to pay their last respects
+     there.
+
+                            "His executor,
+                              "BENEDICT TURPIN.
+
+     "P.S.--You are asked to make the news of his death known as widely
+     and publicly as possible."
+
+Having signed them he sent them by Hans to four of Frederic's most
+intimate friends. Then he went down to General Sturm's rooms and sent in
+his name.
+
+The name, "Benedict Turpin," was entirely unknown to General Sturm; he
+had with him the officers who had witnessed the quarrel with Frederic,
+and at once said: "Ask him to come in." Although he knew nothing of what
+had passed the general's face plainly showed traces of furious passion.
+
+Benedict came in.
+
+"Sir," he said, "probably you are ignorant of the sequel to the
+occurrence between you and my friend, Frederic von Bülow--the incident
+which led to your insult. I have to inform you that my friend, since you
+refused to give him satisfaction, has blown out his brains."
+
+The general started in spite of himself. The officers, dismayed, looked
+at each other.
+
+"My friend's last wishes are recorded on this piece of paper. I will
+read them."
+
+The general, seized with nervous tremor, sat down.
+
+Benedict read, speaking courteously and calmly.
+
+"Struck in the face by General Sturm, who has refused to give me
+satisfaction, I could not live dishonoured."
+
+"You hear me, sir?" Benedict asked.
+
+The general made a sign of assent.
+
+"My last wish is that my wife in her widow's dress should leave this
+evening for Berlin, and there beg from Her Majesty the Queen the
+remission of the subsidy of twenty-five million florins which the town,
+as I testify, is unable to pay."
+
+"I have the honour to inform you, sir," added Benedict, "that I am going
+to conduct Madame von Bülow to Berlin."
+
+General Sturm got up.
+
+"One moment," said Benedict. "There is a final line to read, and you
+will see it is of some importance."
+
+"My friend, Benedict Turpin, will, I know, avenge me."
+
+"Which means, sir?" said, the general, while the officers stood
+breathlessly by.
+
+"Which means, that you shall hear from me immediately respecting the
+time and place and weapons, for I mean to kill you and so avenge
+Frederic von Bülow."
+
+And Benedict, saluting first the general and then the young officers,
+left the room before they had recovered from their surprise.
+
+When he gained the other room, Emma, who had read her husband's last
+words, was already making her preparations for her journey to Berlin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+THE BURGOMASTER
+
+
+Two things had principally struck Sturm in Frederic's short will. First;
+the legacy to Benedict of vengeance; but we must do him the justice to
+say that this was a minor consideration. There is an unfortunate error
+amongst military men that courage is only to be found under a uniform,
+and that one must have seen death at close quarters in order not to fear
+it. Now we know that Benedict in this respect was on a level with the
+bravest soldier. Under whatever aspect he encountered death, whether it
+might be at the point of the bayonet, by the talons of a tiger, the
+trunk of an elephant, or the poisonous fang of a serpent; still it was
+death--the farewell to sunshine, life, love; to all that is glorious and
+all that makes the breast beat high; and in its place, that dark mystery
+which we call the grave. But Sturm did not recognize the threat of
+death, for he was protected by his individual temperament and character
+from perceiving it. He could only recognize an actual menace accompanied
+by shouts, gesticulations, threats, and oaths. And Benedict's extreme
+politeness gave him no idea of serious danger. He supposed, as all
+vulgarians do, that any one who goes duelling with the courtesy of the
+ordinary forms of life is arming at preserving by his politeness a means
+of retreat.
+
+Therefore Frederic's legacy to Benedict troubled him little. But it was
+also prescribed that Madame von Bülow should start for Berlin to beg of
+the queen the remission of the fine imposed upon Frankfort. He decided
+to see General von Roeder without a moment's delay and tell him what had
+occurred.
+
+He found Roeder furious at the Senate's decision. After listening to
+Sturm he determined to have recourse again to his old tactics. He took a
+pen and wrote:
+
+     "To Herren Fellner and Müller, burgomasters of Frankfort and
+     government administrators.
+
+     "I have to request you to supply me by ten o'clock to-morrow
+     morning with a list of the names and addresses of all members of
+     the Senate, of the permanent house of representation, and of the
+     Legislative Assembly, house-property owners being identified as
+     such.
+
+                               "VON ROEDER.
+
+     "P.S.--Scales for weighing gold are waiting at General von Roeder's
+     address. An answer to this despatch is requested."
+
+Then he directed an orderly to deliver the document to Fellner as the
+senior burgomaster. Fellner was not at home. He had just received
+Benedict's sad tidings; and being one of Frederic's most intimate
+friends had hastened to the Chandroz' house, telling the news to all
+whom he met on the way.
+
+In less time than it takes to relate, the fact of Frederic's death burst
+upon the town, and its leading citizens, scarcely able to credit it,
+flocked to the room where his body lay.
+
+Fellner was astonished at not seeing Emma; heard that she had gone to
+Berlin, and was asking the cause of this incomprehensible step when
+Councillor Kugler burst in, General Roeder's letter in his hand.
+Fellner opened it at once, read it, meditated; and approaching the bier
+gazed at his dead friend. After a few seconds of contemplation, he
+stooped, kissed the forehead, and murmured: "It is not only the soldier
+who knows how to die."
+
+Then he slowly left the house, crossed the town with bent head, reached
+the house and shut himself up in his room. Supper time came. Supper is
+an important meal in Germany. It is the cheerful repast, at which, in
+commercial towns especially, the head of the family has time to enjoy
+the society of his wife and children; for dinner at two o'clock is only
+an interval hastily snatched in business hours. But by eight, o'clock
+business people have thrown off their harness; the hour of domestic
+pleasure has come. Before refreshing sleep descends to prepare men for
+another day there is an interval in which to enjoy all that they hold
+dear within the four walls of home.
+
+Nothing of the sort was possible on this evening of July 22nd at the
+Fellners'. The burgomaster showed perhaps even more than his customary
+fondness for his children, but it was touched with melancholy. His wife,
+whose gaze never left him, was unable to speak a word; tears stood in
+her eyes. The elder children observing their mother's sadness sat
+silent; and the little ones' voices like the chirping of birds, drew for
+the first time no smiling response from their parents.
+
+Herr von Kugler was mournful. He was one of those men who act promptly
+and vigorously, without deviating from the straight course of honour. No
+doubt he had already said to himself: "Were I in his place, this is what
+I should do."
+
+Supper dragged on. All seemed reluctant to rise from the table. The
+children had dropped asleep, no summons having come from the nurse. At
+last, Mina, the eldest girl, went to the piano to close it for the night
+and unconsciously touched the keys.
+
+The burgomaster shivered.
+
+"Come Mina," he said, "play Weber's 'Last Thought'; you know it's my
+favourite."
+
+Mina began to play, and the pure melancholy notes poured forth like
+golden beads dropped on a salver of crystal. The burgomaster propped his
+bowed head in his hands as he listened to that sweet poetic melody, the
+final note of which expired like the last sigh of an angel exiled to
+earth.
+
+Fellner rose and kissed the girl. She exclaimed in alarm:
+
+"What is the matter with you, father? you are crying."
+
+"I?" said Fellner quickly. "What nonsense, my child," and he tried to
+smile.
+
+"Oh!" murmured Mina, "you can say what you like, father, but I felt a
+tear; and see," she added, "my cheek is wet."
+
+Fellner put a hand on her mouth. Mina kissed it.
+
+At this the father nearly gave way, but Kugler murmured in his ear:
+
+"Be a man, Fellner!" He grasped his brother-in-law's hand.
+
+Eleven o'clock struck--never except for a dance or evening party had the
+family sat up so late. Fellner kissed his wife and the children.
+
+"But, surely you are not going out?" said Madame Fellner.
+
+"No, my dear."
+
+"Your kiss was like a goodbye."
+
+"Goodbye for a little while," said the burgomaster, trying to smile.
+"Don't be uneasy, I am going to work with your brother, that is all."
+
+Madame Fellner looked at her brother and he gave a sign of assent. Her
+husband took her to her bed-room door:
+
+"Go to sleep, dear one," he said, "we have much work before us that must
+be done before morning." She stood where she was until she had seen him
+enter her brother's room.
+
+Madame Fellner spent the night in prayer. This simple woman, whose only
+eloquence was to say "I love you," found words to implore God for her
+husband. She prayed so long and ardently, that at length sleep came to
+her where she knelt; for great was her need of it.
+
+When she opened her eyes the first light of the dawn was filtering
+through the window blinds. Everything seems strange, fantastic, at such
+an hour. It is neither night nor day and nothing looks as it does at any
+other time. She gazed around. She felt weak and chilly and afraid. She
+glanced at the bed--her husband was not there. She rose, but everything
+danced before her eyes. "Is it possible," she thought, "that sleep
+overtook him also while he worked? I must go to him." And, groping her
+way through the passages, which were darker than her own room, she
+reached his. She knocked on the door. There was no answer. She knocked
+louder, but all was silent. A third time she knocked and called her
+husband's name.
+
+Then, trembling with anguish, under a premonition of the sight that
+awaited her, she pushed open the door. Between her and the window, black
+against the sun's first rays, hung her husband's body suspended above an
+overturned chair.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+QUEEN AUGUSTA
+
+
+All through the night that was so sorrowful for the Fellner family the
+Baroness von Bülow was travelling rapidly to Berlin, where she arrived
+about eight o'clock in the morning.
+
+In any other circumstances she would have written to the queen, asked
+for an audience, and fulfilled all the requirements of etiquette. But
+there was no time to lose; General von Roeder had allowed only
+four-and-twenty hours for the payment of the indemnity. It was due at
+ten o'clock, and in case of refusal the city was threatened with
+immediate pillage and bombardment. Notices at the corners of all the
+streets proclaimed that at ten o'clock on the morrow the general with
+his staff would be waiting in the old Senate Hall to receive the levy.
+There was, indeed, not a moment to lose.
+
+On leaving the train, therefore, Madame von Bülow took a cab and drove
+straight to the Little Palace, where the queen had been living since the
+beginning of the war. There Madame von Bülow asked for the chamberlain,
+Waals, who, as has been said already, was a friend of her husband's; he
+came instantly, and seeing her dressed all in black, cried out:
+
+"Good God! has Frederic been killed?"
+
+"He has not been killed, my dear count, he has killed himself,"
+answered the baroness, "and I want to see the queen without a moment's
+delay."
+
+The chamberlain made no objections. He knew how highly the king valued
+Frederic; he knew, also, that the queen was acquainted with his widow.
+He hastened to go and beg the desired audience. Queen Augusta is known
+throughout Germany for her extreme kindness and her distinguished
+intelligence. No sooner had she heard from her chamberlain that Emma had
+come, dressed in mourning, probably to implore some favour, than she
+exclaimed:
+
+"Bring her in! Bring her in!"
+
+Madame von Bülow was immediately summoned and, as she left the room in
+which she had been waiting, she saw the door of the royal apartments
+open and Queen Augusta waiting for her in the doorway. Without advancing
+another step the baroness bent one knee to the ground. She tried to
+speak, but the only words that escaped her lips were:
+
+"Oh, Your Majesty!"
+
+The queen came to her and raised her up.
+
+"What do you want, my dear baroness?" she asked. "What brings you, and
+why are you in mourning?"
+
+"I am in mourning, Your Majesty, for a man and for a city very dear to
+me, for my husband who is dead, and for my native city which is at
+death's door."
+
+"Your husband is dead! Poor child! Waals told me so, and he added that
+he had killed himself. What can have driven him to such a deed? Some
+injustice must have been done him. Speak, and we will redress it."
+
+"It is not that which brings me, madam; I am not the person to whom my
+husband has left the duty of avenging him; in that respect I need only
+leave God's will and his to take their course; what brings me, madam,
+is the despair of my city upon whose ruin your armies, or rather your
+generals, seem to be resolved."
+
+"Come, my child, and tell me about it," said the queen.
+
+She led Emma into her drawing-room and seated herself beside her; but
+Emma slipped from the sofa and knelt once more before the queen.
+
+"Madam, you know the city of Frankfort."
+
+"I was there last year," said the queen, "and had the kindest possible
+reception."
+
+"May the remembrance of it help my words! General Falkenstein when he
+came to our city began by laying upon it a tax of seven million florins;
+that levy was paid, together with one, about equally heavy, in kind.
+That made fourteen millions already, for a small town of seventy-two
+thousand inhabitants, half of whom were foreigners, and consequently did
+not contribute to the payment."
+
+"And did Frankfort pay it?" asked the queen.
+
+"Frankfort paid it, madam, for that was still possible. But General
+Manteuffel arrived and put on a tax, in his turn, of twenty-five million
+florins. Such a tax, if imposed upon eighteen million subjects, madam,
+would yield more milliards of coin than the whole world contains. Well,
+and at this very hour cannon are planted in the streets and on the
+positions that command the town. If the sum is not paid at ten o'clock
+to-day--and it will not be paid, madam, it is impossible--the city will
+be bombarded and given over to pillage, a neutral unwalled city, which
+has no gates, which has not defended itself and cannot defend itself."
+
+"And how comes it, my child," asked the queen, "that you, a woman, have
+taken upon yourself to ask justice for this city? It has a Council."
+
+"It has one no longer, madam; the Council has been dissolved, and two of
+the councillors arrested."
+
+"And the burgomasters?"
+
+"They do not dare to take any step for fear of being shot. God is my
+witness, madam, that I did not put myself forward to come and plead for
+that unhappy city. It was my dying husband who said to me 'Go!' and I
+came."
+
+"But what can be done?" said the queen.
+
+"Your Majesty needs no adviser but your heart. But, I repeat, if by ten
+o'clock to-day, no counter-order comes from the king, Frankfort is
+lost."
+
+"If only the king were here," said the queen.
+
+"Thanks to the telegraph, Your Majesty knows that there are no distances
+now. A telegram from Your Majesty can receive an answer in half-an-hour,
+and in another half-hour that answer can be sent to Frankfort."
+
+"You are right," said Queen Augusta as she went towards a little bureau
+loaded with papers.
+
+She wrote:
+
+     "To His Majesty the King of Prussia.
+
+                    "BERLIN, _July 23rd_, 1866.
+
+     "Sire, I approach you to entreat humbly and earnestly that the
+     indemnity of twenty-five million florins arbitrarily imposed upon
+     the city of Frankfort, which has already paid fourteen millions in
+     money and in kind, may be withdrawn.
+
+     "Your very humble servant and affectionate wife,
+
+                        "AUGUSTA.
+
+     "P.S. Please reply immediately."
+
+She handed the paper to Emma who read and returned it. Herr von Waals
+was summoned and came instantly.
+
+"Take this telegram to the telegraph office and wait for the answer. And
+you, my child," continued the queen, "let us think about you. You must
+be worn out, you must be starving."
+
+"Oh, madam!"
+
+A second time the queen touched her bell.
+
+"Bring my breakfast here," said she; "the baroness will take some with
+me."
+
+A collation was brought in, which the baroness scarcely touched. At
+every footstep she started, believing it to be that of Herr von Waals.
+At length hurried steps were heard, the door opened and Herr von Waals
+appeared, holding a telegram in his hand.
+
+Emma, forgetful of the queen's presence, rushed towards him, but paused
+half-way, ashamed.
+
+"Oh, madam, forgive me," said she.
+
+"No, no," replied the queen, "take it and read it."
+
+Emma, trembling, opened the despatch, glanced at it and uttered a cry of
+joy. It contained these words:
+
+     "At the request of our beloved consort, the indemnity of
+     twenty-five million florins levied by General Manteuffel is
+     countermanded. WILLIAM."
+
+"Well," said the queen, "to whom should this despatch be sent in order
+that it may arrive in time? You, dear child, are the person who has
+obtained this favour, and the honour of it ought to rest with you. You
+say it is important that the king's decision should be known in
+Frankfort by ten o'clock. Tell me to what person it should be
+addressed."
+
+"Indeed, madam, I do not know how to make any answer to so much
+kindness," said the baroness, kneeling and kissing the queen's hands. "I
+know that the proper person to whom to send it would be the
+burgomaster; but who can tell whether the burgomaster may not have fled
+or be in prison? I think the safest way--excuse my egoism, madam--but if
+you do me the honour of consulting me, I would beg that it may be
+addressed to Madame von Beling, my grandmother; she, very certainly,
+will not lose a moment in putting it into the proper hands."
+
+"What you wish shall be done, my dear child," said the queen, and she
+added to the despatch:
+
+     "This favour has been granted to Queen Augusta by her gracious
+     consort, King William; but it was asked of the queen by her
+     faithful friend, Baroness Frederic von Bülow, her principal
+     lady-in-waiting."
+
+                                  "AUGUSTA."
+
+
+
+The queen raised Emma from her knees, kissed her, unfastened from her
+own shoulder the Order of Queen Louisa and fastened it on the baroness's
+shoulder.
+
+"As for you," she said, "you need some hours' rest, and you shall not go
+until you have taken them."
+
+"I beg Your Majesty's pardon," replied the baroness, "but two persons
+are waiting for me, my husband and my child."
+
+Nevertheless, as no train left until one in the afternoon, and as the
+hour could neither be hastened nor retarded, Emma resigned herself to
+waiting.
+
+The queen gave orders that she should receive the same attentions as
+though she were already a lady-in-waiting, made her take a bath and some
+hours' rest, and engaged a carriage for her in the train for Frankfort.
+
+That city, meanwhile, was in consternation. General Roeder, with his
+staff, was waiting in the Council Hall for the payment required; scales
+were ready for the weighing. At nine o'clock the gunners, match alight
+and in hand, came to take their places at the batteries.
+
+The deepest terror prevailed throughout the town. From the arrangements
+which they saw being made, the Frankforters judged that no mercy was to
+be expected from the Prussian generals. The whole population was shut up
+indoors waiting anxiously for the stroke of ten o'clock to announce the
+town's doom.
+
+All at once a terrible rumour began to circulate, that the burgomaster,
+rather than denounce his fellow-citizens, had ended his life--had hanged
+himself. At a few minutes before ten, a man dressed in black came out of
+Herr Fellner's house; it was his brother-in-law, Herr von Kugler, and he
+held in his hand a rope. He walked straight on, without speaking to
+anybody, or stopping till he reached the Roemer, pushed aside with his
+arm the sentinels who attempted to prevent his passing, and, entering
+the hall in which General von Roeder was presiding, he advanced to the
+scales and threw into one of them the rope that he had been carrying.
+
+"There," said he, "is the ransom of the city of Frankfort."
+
+"What does this mean?" asked General von Roeder.
+
+"This means that, rather than obey you, Burgomaster Fellner hanged
+himself with this rope. May his death fall upon the heads of those who
+caused it."
+
+"But," returned General von Roeder brutally, while he continued to smoke
+his cigar, "the indemnity must be paid all the same."
+
+"Unless," quietly said Benedict Turpin, who had just come in, "King
+William should withdraw it from the city of Frankfort."
+
+And, unfolding the despatch that Madame von Beling had just received,
+he read the whole of it in a loud voice to General von Roeder.
+
+"Sir," said he, "I advise you to put the twenty-five million florins
+into your profit and loss account. I have the honour to leave you the
+despatch as a voucher."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+THE TWO PROCESSIONS
+
+
+Two very different pieces of news, one terrible, one joyful, ran
+simultaneously through Frankfort. The terrible news was that the
+burgomaster, who had filled two of the highest positions in the little
+republic now extinct, who was the father of six children and a model of
+the household virtues, had just hanged himself rather than yield to a
+greedy and brutal soldier the secrets of private wealth. The joyful news
+was that, thanks to Madame von Bülow's intervention and to the appeal
+made by the queen to her husband, the city of Frankfort had been
+relieved from the tax of twenty-five million florins.
+
+It will easily be understood that nobody in the town talked of any other
+subject. Astonishment and curiosity were even more aroused owing to the
+occurrence of two mysterious deaths at the same time. People wondered
+how it happened that Frederic von Bülow, after having been insulted by
+his superior officer, should before he shot himself have charged his
+wife with her pious errand to Berlin, seeing that he was no citizen of
+Frankfort, but belonged, body and soul, to the Prussian army. Had he
+hoped to redeem the terrible deeds of violence committed by his
+countrymen? Moreover, the young officers who had been present at the
+quarrel between Frederic and the general had not observed entire silence
+about that quarrel. Many of them were hurt in their pride at being
+employed to execute a vengeance of which the cause lay far back amid the
+obscure resentments of a minister who had once been an ambassador. Those
+who felt this said among themselves that they were acting the part not
+of soldiers but of bailiffs and men-in-possession. They had repeated
+some words of the dispute that had taken place before them and had left
+the rest to be guessed.
+
+Orders had been given prohibiting the printing of any placard without
+the authorization of the officer in command; but every printer in
+Frankfort was ready to contravene the order, and at the very moment when
+Councillor Kugler threw the burgomaster's rope into the scale, a
+thousand unseen and unknown hands were pasting upon the walls of
+Frankfort the following notice.
+
+"At three o'clock our worthy burgomaster Fellner hanged himself and
+became the martyr of his devotion to the city of Frankfort. Citizens,
+pray for him."
+
+Benedict, on his part, had visited the printer of the "Journal des
+Postes" who engaged to furnish, within two hours, two hundred copies of
+the telegrams interchanged by the king and queen. He further undertook,
+on condition that the notices were not unduly large, to get them posted
+by his usual billstickers, who were ready to take the risk of officially
+announcing the good news to their neighbours. Accordingly, two hours
+later, two hundred bills were stuck beside the former ones. They
+contained the following words:
+
+     "Yesterday, at two in the afternoon, as is already known, Baron von
+     Bülow blew out his brains, in consequence of a quarrel with General
+     Sturm, in the course of which the general had insulted him. The
+     causes of this quarrel will remain a secret for such people only as
+     do not care to solve it.
+
+     "One clause of the baron's will instructed Madame von Bülow to go
+     to Berlin, and to beg of Her Majesty Queen Augusta that the levy of
+     twenty-five million florins, imposed by General Manteuffel, might
+     be withdrawn. The baroness paused only long enough to put on
+     mourning garments before setting out.
+
+     "We are happy to be able to communicate to our fellow-citizens the
+     two royal despatches which she sent to us."
+
+The crowds that collected before these notices can be imagined. For one
+moment the stir that passed through the whole population assumed the
+aspect of a riot; drums beat, patrols were organized, and the citizens
+received an order to stay at home.
+
+The streets became deserted. The gunners, whose matches, as we have said
+already, had been lighted at ten in the morning, once more stood by
+their cannon with their lighted matches in hand. This sort of threat
+continued for thirty hours. However, as at the end of that time the
+crowds were no longer collecting, as no conflicts took place, and no
+shot was fired, all these hostile demonstrations ceased between the 25th
+and the 26th.
+
+Next morning fresh placards had been stuck up. They contained the
+following notice:
+
+     "To-morrow, July 26th, at two in the afternoon the funerals will
+     take place of the late burgomaster, Herr Fellner, and of the late
+     chief staff officer, Frederic von Bülow.
+
+     "Each party will start from the house of mourning and the two will
+     unite at the cathedral, where a service will be held for the two
+     martyrs.
+
+     "The families believe that no invitation beyond the present notice
+     will be necessary, and that the citizens of Frankfort will not fail
+     in their duty.
+
+     "The funeral arrangements for the burgomaster will be in the hands
+     of his brother-in-law, Councillor Kugler, and those of Major
+     Frederic von Bülow in the hands of M. Benedict Turpin, his
+     executor."
+
+We will not endeavour to depict the homes of the two bereaved families.
+Madame von Bülow arrived about one o'clock on the morning of the 24th.
+Everybody in the house was up, and all were praying round the deathbed.
+Some of the principal ladies of the town had come and were awaiting her
+return; she was received like an angel bearing the mercies of heaven.
+
+But after a few minutes the pious duty that had brought her so swiftly
+to her husband's side was remembered. Everybody withdrew, and she was
+left alone. Helen, in her turn, was watching by Karl. Twice in the
+course of the day she had gone downstairs, knelt by Frederic's bedside,
+uttered a prayer, kissed his forehead, and gone up again.
+
+Karl was better; he had not yet returned to life, but he was returning.
+His eyes reopened and were, able to fix themselves upon Helen's; his
+mouth murmured words of love, and his hand responded to the hand that
+pressed it. The surgeon, only, still remained anxious, and, while
+encouraging the wounded man, would give Helen no reply; but, when he was
+alone with her, would only repeat in answer to all her questions:
+
+"We must wait! I can say nothing before the eighth or ninth day."
+
+The house of Herr Fellner was equally full of mourning. Everybody who
+had filled any post in the old republic, senators, members of the
+Legislative Assembly, etc., came to salute this dead and just man, and
+to lay on his bed wreaths of oak, of laurel, and _immortelles_.
+
+From early in the morning of the 26th, as soon as the cannon were
+perceived to have disappeared and the town to be no longer threatened
+with slaughter at any unexpected moment, all the inhabitants congregated
+about the two doors that were hung with black. At ten o'clock all the
+trade guilds met together in the Zeil with their banners, as if for some
+popular festivity of the free town. All the dissolved societies of the
+city came with flags flying--although they had been forbidden to display
+these ensigns--determined to live again for one more day. There was the
+Society of Carabineers, the Gymnastic Society, the National Defence
+Society, the new Citizens' Society, the young Militia Society, the
+Sachsenhausen Citizens' Society, and the Society for the Education of
+the Workers. Black flags had been hung out at a great number of houses,
+among others at the casino in the street of Saint Gall, which belonged
+to the principal inhabitants of Frankfort; at the club of the new
+Citizens' Union, situated in the Corn Market, at that of the old
+Citizens' Union in Eschenheim Street, and, finally, at the Sachsenhausen
+Club--a club of the people, if there ever was one--belonging to the
+inhabitants of that often mentioned suburb.
+
+A gathering, almost as considerable, was collecting at the corner of the
+Horse Market, near to the High Street. Here, it may be remembered, the
+house was situated which was generally known in the town as the Chandroz
+house, although nobody of that name now existed in it except Helen,
+whose maiden name had not yet been changed for that of a husband. But in
+the street that led to the burgomaster's house, the middle and
+working-classes were assembled, while opposite to the Chandroz house the
+crowd was made up mainly of that aristocracy of birth to which the house
+belonged.
+
+The strangest feature of this second crowd was the number of Prussian
+officers who had assembled to render the last honour to their comrade at
+the risk of displeasing their superiors, Generals Roeder and Sturm.
+These latter had had the good sense to leave Frankfort without making
+any attempt whatever to suppress the display of public feeling.
+
+When Councillor Kugler emerged from the burgomaster's house, following
+the coffin and holding the dead man's two sons by the hand, cries of
+"Hurrah for Madame Fellner! Hurrah for Madame Fellner and her children!"
+rang out, in expression to her of the gratitude felt to her husband. She
+understood this outburst rising to her from so many hearts at once, and
+when she appeared, dressed in black, upon the balcony with her four
+daughters, dressed likewise in black, sobs broke forth and tears flowed
+from every eye.
+
+The same thing happened as Frederic's coffin began its journey; it was
+to Frederic's widow that Frankfort owed its escape from ruin. The cry of
+"Hurrah for Madame von Bülow!" rose from hundreds of throats, and was
+repeated until the fair young widow, wrapped in her draperies of black
+crape, came forward to accept the expression of gratitude offered her by
+the whole town.
+
+Although the officers had received no order to attend Frederic's
+funeral, although neither the drummers who usually precede the coffin of
+a superior officer, nor the soldiers who usually follow it, had been
+commanded to do so, yet, either from their military training or their
+sympathy for the dead man, the drummers were present and so was the
+escort of soldiers when the procession started, and it advanced towards
+the cathedral to the sound of muffled drums. At the agreed point the two
+processions united and went forward side by side, occupying the whole
+width of the street. Only, like two rivers which run parallel, but of
+which the waters do not mingle, the leaders of the two parties walked
+forward. Behind the burgomaster's hearse followed the burghers and the
+populace; behind that of Baron von Bülow the aristocracy and the
+military. For the moment peace appeared to have been made between these
+two populations, one of which weighed so cruelly upon the other that
+only the death of a man universally esteemed could hold them together
+for a few instants, leaving them to fall asunder immediately afterwards
+into mutual hostility.
+
+At the great door of the cathedral the coffins were lifted from the
+hearses and laid side by side. Thence they were borne into the choir,
+but the church had been so filled since early morning by a crowd, eager,
+as the dwellers in large towns always are, for a spectacle, that there
+was scarcely room for the two coffins to pass to the nave. The military
+escort, the drums, and the company of soldiers followed them, but when
+the crowd that accompanied the coffins tried to enter and find a place
+in the building, it was impossible to do so, and more than three
+thousand persons were left in the porch and in the street.
+
+The ceremony began, solemn and lugubrious, accompanied by the occasional
+roll of drums and the sound of gun stocks touching the ground; no one
+could have said to which of the dead these military honours were being
+paid, so that the unfortunate burgomaster had his share in the funeral
+honours bestowed by the very body of men who had caused his death. It is
+true that from time to time the Choral Society sang funeral hymns and
+that the voices of the congregation, rising like a wave, stifled these
+other sounds.
+
+The service was long, and, although it lacked the impressive Roman
+Catholic pomp, it did not fail to produce an immense effect upon those
+who were present. Then the two processions set out for the cemetery, the
+burgomaster attended by funeral chants, the officer by martial music.
+
+The vault of the Chandroz family and that of the burgomaster were at a
+distance from each other, so that the two parties separated. At the
+grave of the civilian there were hymns, speeches, and wreaths of
+_immortelles_, at that of the officer, firing and wreaths of laurel. The
+double ceremonies were not entirely concluded until the evening, nor did
+the gloomy and silent crowd return until then into its usual channels,
+while the drummers, privates, and officers went to their quarters, if
+not like a hostile troop, at least like a body altogether apart from the
+inhabitants.
+
+Benedict had had in his mind throughout the ceremony the idea of
+presenting himself on the morrow to General Sturm in the character of
+Frederic's executor, and, as such, demanding satisfaction for the insult
+offered to his friend. But when he returned to the house he found Emma
+so overcome, Karl so weak, and the old Baroness von Beling so exhausted
+by age and woe together, as to make him think that the unhappy Chandroz
+family still needed him. Now in such a duel as that which he meant to
+propose to General Sturm, one of the results must inevitably ensue;
+either he would kill the general or the general would kill him. If he
+killed the general, he would clearly have to leave Frankfort that very
+moment, in order to escape the vengeance of the Prussians. If he were
+killed he would become completely useless to the family which seemed in
+need even more of his moral protection than of his material support. He
+determined, therefore, to wait for some days, but promised himself, to
+send his card daily to General Sturm--and he kept his word. General
+Sturm could thus be sure, every morning, that though he might forget
+Benedict, Benedict did not forget him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+THE TRANSFUSION OF BLOOD.
+
+
+Three days had elapsed since the events just narrated. The first bursts
+of grief in the two bereaved households were appeased, and though there
+were still tears there were no longer sobs.
+
+Karl grew better and better; for two days past he had raised himself in
+his bed and had been able to give signs of consciousness, not only by
+broken utterances, tender exclamations, and endearing words, but by
+taking part in conversation. His brain, which like the rest of his body
+had been greatly enfeebled, was gradually recovering the supremacy which
+it exercises over the rest of the body in health.
+
+Helen, who beheld this resurrection, and was at the age when youth gives
+one hand to love and one to hope, rejoiced in this visible recovery as
+though heaven itself had promised that no accident should come to
+disturb it. Twice a day the surgeon visited the wounded man, and without
+destroying Helen's hopes he persisted in withholding any assurance of
+complete safety. Karl saw her hope; but he remarked, too, the reserve
+with which the surgeon received all her joyful schemes for the future.
+He, also, was making schemes, but of a sadder kind.
+
+"Helen," said he, "I know all you have done for me. Benedict has told me
+of your tears, your despair, your weariness. I love you with so selfish
+a love, Helen, that I wish, before I die--"
+
+And as Helen made a movement, he added:
+
+"If I die, I wish first to call you my wife, so that in case there
+exists--as they tell us, and as our own pride leads us to believe--a
+world beyond this, I may find my wife there as here. Promise me, then,
+my sweet nurse, that if any one of those accidents that trouble the
+doctor's mind should occur, promise me that you will instantly send for
+a priest, and with your hand in mine say: 'Give us your blessing,
+father, Karl von Freyberg is my husband.' And I swear to you, Helen,
+that my death will be as easy and calm then as it would be full of
+despair if I could not say: 'Farewell, my beloved wife.'"
+
+Helen listened with that smile of hope upon her lips with which she made
+answer to all Karl's words, whether sad or happy. From time to time,
+when she saw her patient becoming excited, she would sign to him to be
+still, and taking down from her bookshelves Uhland, or Goethe, or
+Schiller, would read aloud to him, and almost always Karl would close
+his eyes and presently fall asleep to the sound of her melodious, liquid
+voice. His need of sleep, after so great a loss of blood, was enormous;
+and then, as though she could see the sleep-bringing shadows thickening
+over his brain, she would let her voice grow dim, little by little, and
+with her eyes half upon the sick man and half upon her page would cease
+to speak at the very moment when he began to sleep.
+
+At night she allowed Benedict to take her place by Karl for two or three
+hours, because Karl entreated it, but she did not go out of the room. A
+curtain was drawn across the recess in which her bed--now brought into
+the middle of the room for the patient, previously stood, and behind the
+curtain she slept on a couch, slept so lightly that at the least
+movement in the room, or the first word uttered, the curtain would be
+lifted and her voice would ask anxiously:
+
+"What is it?"
+
+Helen was a sister of those delightful creations that are to be found on
+every page of Germany's popular poetry. We attribute great merit to
+those poetic dreamers who perceive Loreleis in the mist of the Rhine and
+Mignons in the foliage of thickets, and do not remind ourselves that
+there is, after all, no such great merit in finding these charming
+images, because they are not the visions of genius, but actual copies,
+whose originals the misty nature of England and of Germany sets before
+them as models weeping or smiling, but always poetical. Observe, too,
+that on the shores of the Rhine, the Main, or the Danube, it is not
+necessary to seek these types--rare, if not unknown among ourselves--in
+the ranks of the aristocracy, but they may be seen at the citizen's
+window or the peasant's doorway, where Schüler found his Louisa, and
+Goethe his Margaret. Thus Helen accomplished deeds that seem to us the
+height of devotion with the most entire simplicity, and never knew that
+her loving toil deserved a glance of approval from man, or even from
+God.
+
+On the nights when Helen sat up, Benedict rested in Frederic's room,
+throwing himself fully dressed upon the bed, so as to be ready at the
+first call to run to Helen's assistance or to go for the surgeon. We
+have already said that a carriage ready harnessed was always at the
+door, and, oddly enough, the further recovery progressed, the more the
+doctor insisted that this precaution should not be neglected.
+
+July 30th had been reached, when, after having watched by Karl during a
+part of the night, Benedict had yielded his post to Helen, had returned
+to Frederic's room and flung himself upon the bed, when, all at once he
+thought he heard himself loudly called. Almost at the same moment his
+door opened, and Helen, pale, dishevelled, and covered with blood,
+appeared in the doorway making inarticulate sounds that seemed to stand
+for "Help!"
+
+Benedict guessed what had happened. The doctor, less reserved towards
+him than towards the young girl, had told him what possibilities he
+feared, and evidently one of these possibilities had come to pass.
+
+He rushed to Karl's room; the ligature of the artery had burst and blood
+was flowing in waves and in jets. Karl had fainted.
+
+Benedict did not lose an instant; twisting his handkerchief into a rope
+he tied it round Karl's upper arm, broke the bar of a chair with a kick,
+slipped the bar into the knot of the handkerchief, and turning the stick
+upon its axis, made what is known in medical language as a _tourniquet_.
+The blood stopped instantly.
+
+Helen flung herself distractedly upon the bed, she seemed to have gone
+mad. She did not hear Benedict calling to her: "The doctor! the doctor!"
+
+With his free hand--the other was pressing upon Karl's arm--Benedict
+pulled the bell so violently that Hans, guessing something unusual to be
+the matter, arrived quite scared.
+
+"Take the carriage and fetch the doctor," cried Benedict. Hans
+understood everything, for in one glance he had seen all. He flung
+himself downstairs and into the carriage, calling out in his turn: "To
+the doctor's!"
+
+As it was scarcely six o'clock in the morning, the doctor was at home,
+and within ten minutes walked into the room.
+
+Seeing the blood streaming over the floor, Helen, half fainting, and,
+above all, Benedict compressing the wounded man's arm, he understood
+what had happened, the rather that he had dreaded this.
+
+"Ah, I foresaw this!" he exclaimed, "a secondary hæmorrhage, the artery
+has given way."
+
+At his voice Helen sprang up and flung her arms about him.
+
+"He will not die! he will not die!" she cried, "you will not let him
+die, will you?"
+
+The doctor disengaged himself from her grasp, and approached the bed.
+Karl had not lost nearly so much blood as last time, but to judge from
+the pool that was spreading across the room he must have lost over
+twenty-eight ounces, which in his present state of weakness was
+exorbitant.
+
+However, the doctor did not lose courage; the arm was still bare; he
+made a fresh incision and sought with his forceps for the artery, which,
+fortunately, having been compressed by Benedict, had moved only a few
+centimetres. In a second the artery was tied, but the wounded man was
+completely unconscious. Helen, who had watched the first operation with
+anxiety, followed this one with terror. She had then seen Karl lying
+mute, motionless, and cold, with the appearance of death, but she had
+not seem him pass, as he had just done, from life to death. His lips
+were white, his eyes closed, his cheeks waxen; clearly Karl had gone
+nearer to the grave than even on the former occasion. Helen wrung her
+hands.
+
+"Oh, his wish! his wish!" she cried, "he will not have the joy of seeing
+it fulfilled. Sir," she said to the doctor, "will he not reopen his
+eyes? Will he not speak again before he dies? I do not ask for his
+life--only a miracle could grant that. But, make him open his eyes,
+doctor. Doctor! make him speak to me! Let a priest join our hands! Let
+us be united in this world, so that we may not be separated in the
+next."
+
+The doctor, despite his usual calm, could not remain cold in the
+presence of such sorrow; though he had done all that was in the power of
+his art and felt that he could do no more, he tried to reassure Helen
+with those commonplaces that physicians keep in reserve for the last
+extremities.
+
+But Benedict, going up to him, and taking him by the hand, said:
+
+"Doctor, you hear what she asks; she does not ask for her lover's life,
+she asks for a few moments' revival, long enough for the priest to utter
+a few words and place a ring upon her finger."
+
+"Yes, yes!" cried Helen, "only that! Senseless that I was not to have
+yielded when he asked and sent at once for the priest. Let him open his
+eyes, let him say 'Yes,' so that his wish may be accomplished and I may
+keep my promise to him."
+
+"Doctor," said Benedict, pressing the hand which he had retained in his,
+"how, if we asked from science the miracle that Heaven seems to deny?
+How if we were to try transfusion of blood?"
+
+"What is that?" asked Helen.
+
+The doctor considered for a second and looked at the patient: then he
+said:
+
+"There is no hope; we risk nothing."
+
+"I asked you," said Helen, "what is transfusion of blood?"
+
+"It consists," replied the doctor, "in passing into the exhausted veins
+of a sick man enough warm, living blood to give him back, if only for a
+moment, life, speech, and consciousness. I have never performed the
+operation, but have seen it once or twice in hospitals."
+
+"So have I," said Benedict, "I have always been interested in strange
+things, so I attended Majendie's lectures, and I have always seen the
+experiment succeed when the blood infused belonged to an animal of the
+same species."
+
+"Well," said the doctor, "I will go and try to find a man willing to
+sell us some twenty or thirty ounces of his blood."
+
+"Doctor," said Benedict, throwing off his coat, "I do not sell my blood
+to my friends, but I give it. Your man is here."
+
+At these words Helen uttered a cry, flung herself violently between
+Benedict and the doctor, and proudly holding out her bare arm to the
+surgeon, said to Benedict:
+
+"You have done enough for him already. If human blood is to pass from
+another into the veins of my beloved Karl it shall be mine; it is my
+right."
+
+Benedict fell on his knees before her and kissed the hem of her skirt.
+The less impressionable doctor merely said:
+
+"Very well! We will try. Give the patient a spoonful of some cordial. I
+will go home and get the instruments."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+THE MARRIAGE _IN EXTREMIS_
+
+
+The doctor rushed from the room as rapidly as his professional dignity
+would allow.
+
+During his absence Helen slipped a spoonful of a cordial between Karl's
+lips while Benedict rang the bell. Hans appeared.
+
+"Go and fetch a priest," said Helen.
+
+"Is it for extreme unction?" Hans ventured to ask.
+
+"For a marriage," answered Helen.
+
+Five minutes later the doctor returned with his apparatus, and asked
+Benedict to ring for a servant.
+
+A maid came.
+
+"Some warm water in a deep vessel," said the doctor, "and a thermometer
+if there is one in the house."
+
+She came back with the required articles.
+
+The doctor took a bandage from his pocket and rolled it round the
+wounded man's left arm, the right arm being injured. After a few moments
+the vein swelled, proving thereby that the blood was not all exhausted,
+and that circulation still continued, although feebly. The doctor then
+turned to Helen.
+
+"Are you ready?" he enquired.
+
+"Yes," said Helen, "but make haste. Oh, God, if he should die!"
+
+The doctor compressed her arm with a bandage, placed the apparatus upon
+the bed so as to bring it close to the patient, and put it into water
+heated to 35 degrees centigrade, so that the blood should not have time
+to cool in passing from one arm to the other. He placed one end of the
+syringe against Karl's arm and almost simultaneously pricked Helen's so
+that her blood spurted into the vessel. When he judged that there were
+some 120 to 130 grammes he signed to Benedict to staunch Helen's
+bleeding with his thumb, and making a longitudinal cut in the vein of
+Karl's arm he slipped in the point of the syringe, taking great care
+that no air-bubble should get in with the blood. While the operation,
+which lasted about ten minutes, was going on, a slight sound was heard
+at the door. It was the priest coming in, accompanied by Emma, Madame
+von Beling, and all the servants. Helen turned, saw them at the door,
+and signed to them to come in. At the same moment Benedict pressed her
+arm; Karl had just quivered, a sort of shudder ran through his whole
+body.
+
+"Ah!" sighed Helen, folding her hands, "thank God! It is my blood
+reaching his heart!"
+
+Benedict had ready a piece of court-plaster, which he pressed upon the
+open vein and held it closed.
+
+The priest approached; he was a Roman Catholic who had been Helen's
+director from her childhood up.
+
+"You sent for me, my child?" he asked.
+
+"Yes," answered Helen; "I desire, if my grandmother and elder sister
+will allow, to marry this gentleman, who, with God's help, will soon
+open his eyes and recover his senses. Only, there is no time to lose,
+for the swoon may return."
+
+And, as though Karl had but awaited this moment to revive, he opened his
+eyes, looked tenderly at Helen and said, in a weak, but intelligible
+voice:
+
+"In the depth of my swoon, I heard everything; you are an angel, Helen,
+and I join with you in asking permission of your mother and sister that
+I may leave you my name."
+
+Benedict and the doctor looked at each other amazed at the
+over-excitement which for the moment restored sight to the dying man's
+eyes and speech to his lips. The priest drew near to him.
+
+"Louis Karl von Freyberg, do you declare, acknowledge, and swear, before
+God and in the face of the holy Church, that you now take as your wife
+and lawful spouse, Helen de Chandroz, here present?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You promise and vow to be true to her in all things as a faithful
+husband should to his wife according to the commandments of God?"
+
+Karl smiled sadly at this admonition of the Church; meant for people who
+expect to live long and to have time for breaking their solemn vow.
+
+"Yes," said he, "and in witness of it, here is my mother's wedding-ring,
+which, sacred already, will become the more sacred by passing through
+your hands."
+
+"And you, Helen de Chandroz, do you consent, acknowledge, and swear,
+before God and the holy Church, that you take for your husband and
+lawful spouse, Louis Karl von Freyberg, here present?"
+
+"Oh, yes, yes, father," exclaimed the girl.
+
+In place of Karl, who was too weak to speak, the priest added:
+
+"Take this token of the marriage vows exchanged between you."
+
+As he spoke he placed upon Helen's finger the ring given him by Karl.
+
+"I give you this ring as a sign of the marriage that you have
+contracted."
+
+The priest made the sign of the cross upon the bride's hand, saying in a
+low voice:
+
+"In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen!"
+
+Stretching out his right hand towards the pair, he added, aloud:
+
+"May the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob join you together and
+bestow His blessing upon you. I unite you in the name of the Father, the
+Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen!"
+
+"Father," said Karl to the priest, "if you will now add to the prayers
+that you have just uttered for the husband the absolution for the dying,
+I shall have nothing more to ask of you."
+
+The priest, raising his hand, pronounced the consecrated words, as if
+Karl's soul had delayed until this solemn moment to depart from the
+body. Helen, who had raised him in her arms, felt herself drawn to him
+by an irresistible power. Her lips clung to those of her lover, and
+between them escaped the words:
+
+"Farewell, my darling wife; your blood is my blood. Farewell."
+
+His body fell back upon the pillow. Karl had breathed his last breath
+upon Helen's mouth. One sob only was heard from the poor girl, and the
+complete prostration with which she fell back upon his body showed
+everybody that he was dead. The spectators rose from their knees. Emma
+threw herself into Helen's arms, exclaiming:
+
+"Now we are doubly sisters, by birth and by affliction." Then, feeling
+that this sorrow required solitude, one after another slipped away,
+slowly, gently, and on tiptoe, leaving Helen alone with her husband's
+body.
+
+At the end of a couple of hours, Benedict, growing uneasy, ventured to
+go to her and knocked slowly at the door, saying.
+
+"It is I, sister."
+
+Helen, who had locked herself in, came to open the door. With amazement
+he beheld her dressed completely in bridal attire. She had put on a
+wreath of white roses, diamond earrings hung from her ears, and the
+costliest of necklaces surrounded her neck. Her fingers were loaded with
+valuable rings. Her arm from which the blood had been drawn to perform
+the miracle of resurrection was covered with bracelets. A magnificent
+lace shawl was thrown over her shoulders and covered a satin gown
+fastened with knots of pearls.
+
+"You see, my friend," she said to Benedict, "that I have tried to fulfil
+his wishes completely. I am dressed not as his betrothed but as his
+wife."
+
+Benedict looked at her sadly--the rather that she did not weep--on the
+contrary, she smiled. It seemed as though she had given all her tears to
+the living Karl and had none left for the dead. Benedict saw with
+profound surprise that she went to and fro in the room, busied with a
+number of little matters relating to Karl's burial and every moment
+showed him some fresh article.
+
+"Look!" she would say, "he liked this; he noticed that; we will put it
+beside him in his coffin. By the way," she added suddenly, "I was just
+forgetting my hair which he liked so much."
+
+She unfastened her wreath, took hold of her hair, which hung below her
+knees, cut it off, and made a plait which she knotted round Karl's bare
+neck.
+
+Evening came. She talked at length with Benedict of the hour at which
+the funeral should take place on the morrow. As it was now but six in
+the evening, she begged him to see to all the details that would be so
+painful to the family, and indeed, almost as painful to him who had
+loved Frederic and Karl like two brothers. He was to order a wide oak
+coffin, himself:
+
+"Why a wide one?" Benedict asked.
+
+Helen only answered:
+
+"Do as I ask you, dear friend, and blessings will be upon you."
+
+She gave orders herself for the body of her husband to be placed in its
+shroud at six the next morning.
+
+Benedict obeyed her in everything. He spent his whole evening over these
+funeral preparations and did not return to the house until eleven
+o'clock. He found Helen's room transformed, a double row of candles
+burning around the bed. Helen was sitting on the bed and looking at
+Karl.
+
+Even as she no longer wept she now no longer prayed. What had she left
+to ask of Heaven now that Karl was dead? Towards midnight her mother and
+sister, who had been praying, and who understood her calmness no more
+than Benedict did, went to their own rooms. Helen embraced them sadly
+but without tears and asked that the little child might be brought, so
+that she might kiss him too. She held him some time in her arms and then
+gave him back to his mother. When she was left alone with Benedict she
+said to him:
+
+"Pray take some hours' rest, either here or at home; do not be uneasy
+about me. I will be down, dressed, and sleep beside him."
+
+"Sleep!" said Benedict, more and more amazed.
+
+"Yes," said Helen simply, "I feel tired. While he was alive, I could not
+sleep. Now--" She did not finish the sentence.
+
+"When shall I come back?" asked Benedict.
+
+"When you please," said Helen. "Let it be about eight in the morning."
+
+Then, looking through the open casement towards the sky, she said:
+
+"I think there will be a storm to-night."
+
+Benedict pressed her hand and was going, but she called him back.
+
+"Excuse me, dear friend," said she, "have you been told that they are
+coming at six in the morning to wrap him in his shroud?"
+
+"Yes," said Benedict, his voice choked with tears.
+
+Helen guessed at his feelings.
+
+"You do not mean to kiss me then, my friend?" she observed.
+
+Benedict pressed her to his heart and broke into sobs.
+
+"How weak you are!" said she. "Look how calm _he_ is; so calm that one
+would think he was happy." And as Benedict was about to answer, she
+added: "Go, go; to-morrow at eight."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As Helen had foretold, the night was stormy; with morning a terrible
+tempest broke out; rain fell in torrents, accompanied by such flashes of
+lightning as are only seen in storms that announce or cause great
+misfortunes.
+
+At six o'clock the women who were to perform the last offices for Karl
+arrived. Helen had looked out the finest sheets she could find, and had
+spent a part of the night in embroidering them with Karl's monogram and
+her own. Then, when her pious task was completed she did as she had
+said, lay down beside Karl on his bed and encircled by the double row of
+lighted candles, slept with as sound a sleep as though she were already
+in her grave. The two women, knocking at the door, awoke her. Seeing
+them come in, the material aspect of death was forcibly presented to
+her, and she could not abstain from shedding tears. Stolid as these
+poor creatures who live by the services that they render to the dead
+generally are, when they saw the young girl so beautiful, so adorned, so
+pale, they could not help feeling an emotion unknown to them until then.
+They trembled as they took the sheets from Helen's hands and asked her
+to withdraw while they fulfilled their funeral office.
+
+Helen uncovered Karl's face, over which the two Ministers of Fate had
+already thrown the shroud, kissed his lips, murmured into his ear some
+words that the women did not hear, then, addressing one of them, said:
+
+"I am going to pray for my husband in the Church of Notre Dame de la
+Croix. If between now and eight o'clock a young man named Benedict comes
+here, please give him this note."
+
+She drew from her bosom a paper already folded, sealed, and addressed to
+Benedict, and went away. The storm was roaring in all its violence. At
+the door she found Lenhart's carriage and Lenhart himself. He was
+astonished to see her coming out so early, dressed in so elegant a
+costume; but when she had directed him to the church of Notre Dame de la
+Croix, to which he had driven her two or three times before, he
+understood that she was going to pray at her usual shrine.
+
+Helen entered the church. The day was so dark that it would have been
+impossible to find one's way if the flashes of lightning had not shot
+their snakes of fire through the coloured panes.
+
+Helen went straight to her accustomed chapel. The statue of the Virgin
+stood in its place, silent, smiling, decked with gold lace and jewels,
+and crowned with diamonds. At her feet Helen recognized the wreath of
+white roses that she had hung there on the day when she had come with
+Karl and sworn to him to love him always and to die with him. The day
+to keep her vow had come, and she was here to tell the Virgin of her
+readiness to keep her promise, as though that promise were not an
+impiety. Then, as if that were all that she had to do, she made a short
+prayer, kissed the Holy Mother's feet, and went out again to the porch
+of the church.
+
+The weather had cleared a little. For the moment rain had ceased to
+fall, and a gleam of blue shone between two clouds. The air was full of
+electricity. The thunder was roaring in noisy outbursts and the flashes
+threw their blue light almost uninterruptedly upon the pavement and the
+houses. Helen left the church. Lenhart hurried forward with his carriage
+for her to get in.
+
+"I feel stifled," said she, "let me walk a little."
+
+"I will follow you, madam," said Lenhart.
+
+"As you please," she answered.
+
+Eight o'clock was chiming from the cathedral.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the same hour Benedict was just entering Helen's room where Karl lay
+in his shroud. The two women, who had been entrusted with that pious
+duty, were praying by the bed, but Helen was absent. Benedict began by
+looking in every direction, expecting to see her praying in some corner,
+but not perceiving her in any, he enquired where she could be.
+
+One of the women replied:
+
+"She went out an hour ago, saying that she would go to the Church of
+Notre Dame de la Croix."
+
+"How was she dressed?" asked Benedict. "And," he added, with an uneasy
+presentiment, "did she not say anything or leave any message for me?"
+
+"Are you the gentleman called M. Benedict?" returned the woman who had
+answered his previous questions.
+
+"Yes," said he.
+
+"Then here is a letter for you."
+
+She handed him the note that Helen had left. He opened it hastily. It
+contained only these few lines:
+
+     "MY BELOVED BROTHER,
+
+     "I promised Karl, before Notre Dame de la Croix, not to outlive
+     him; Karl is dead, and I am about to die.
+
+     "If my body is recovered, see, my dear Benedict, that it is placed
+     in my husband's coffin; this was the reason why I asked you to have
+     it made wide. I hope that God will permit me to sleep in it by
+     Karl's side throughout eternity.
+
+     "I bequeath a thousand florins to the person who finds my body, if
+     it should be some boatman or fisherman, or poor man with a family.
+     If it should be some person who cannot or will not accept the
+     money, I leave him my last blessing.
+
+     "The morrow of Karl's death is the day of mine.
+
+     "My farewells to all who love me."
+
+                                 "HELEN."
+
+
+
+Benedict was finishing the reading of this letter when Lenhart appeared
+in the doorway, pale and dripping with water, and calling out:
+
+"Oh, how shall I tell you, M. Benedict! Madame Helen has just thrown
+herself into the river. Come, come at once!"
+
+Benedict looked round, seized a handkerchief that was lying on the bier,
+still perfumed and damp with the poor girl's tears, and rushed from the
+room. The carriage was at the door; he sprang into it.
+
+"To your house," he called sharply to Lenhart. The latter, accustomed to
+obey Benedict without asking why, put his horses to the gallop;
+moreover, his house was on the way to the river. The house being
+reached, he leaped from the carriage, took the staircase in three
+strides, and opening the door, called:
+
+"Here! Frisk!"
+
+The dog rushed out after his master and was in the carriage as soon as
+he.
+
+"To the river!" cried Benedict.
+
+Lenhart began to understand; he whipped up his horses and they galloped
+on as quickly as before. As they drove, Benedict divested himself of his
+coat, waistcoat, and shirt, retaining only his trousers. When they
+arrived at the river bank, he saw some sailors with boathooks who were
+raking the water for Helen's body.
+
+"Did you see her throw herself into the water?" he enquired of Lenhart.
+
+"Yes, your honour," he answered.
+
+"Where was it?"
+
+Lenhart showed him the spot.
+
+"Twenty florins for a boat!" shouted Benedict.
+
+A boatman brought one. Benedict, followed by Frisk, sprang into it.
+Then, having steered it into the line along which Helen's body had
+disappeared, he followed the current, holding Frisk by the collar, and
+making him smell the handkerchief that he had taken up from Karl's bed.
+
+They came to a place in the river where the dog gave a melancholy howl.
+Benedict let him loose, he sprang out and disappeared at once. An
+instant later he came to the surface and swam about above the same place
+howling dismally.
+
+"Yes," said Benedict, "yes, she is there."
+
+Then he, in his turn, dived, and soon reappeared bearing Helen's body on
+his shoulder.
+
+As Helen had wished, her body was, by Benedict's care, laid in the same
+coffin as Karl's. Her bridal garments were allowed to dry upon her and
+she had no other shroud.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+"WAIT AND SEE"
+
+
+When Karl and Helen had been laid in their place of eternal rest,
+Benedict considered that the time had now arrived when, having no more
+services to perform for the family to which he had devoted himself, he
+might remind Sturm that he was Frederic von Bülow's executor.
+
+Always obedient to convention he dressed himself with the greatest care,
+hung the Cross of the Legion of Honour and the Guelphic Order to his
+buttonhole by a line gold chain and sent in his name to General Sturm.
+The general was in his study. He ordered Benedict to be shown in at
+once, and as he entered rose from his seat, showed him a chair, and sat
+down again. Benedict indicated that he preferred to stand.
+
+"Sir," said he, "the succession of misfortunes which has befallen the
+Chandroz family leaves me free, earlier than I expected, to come and
+remind you that Frederic, when he was dying, bequeathed to me a sacred
+duty--that of vengeance."
+
+The general bowed and Benedict returned his bow.
+
+"Nothing now keeps me in Frankfort but my wish to fulfil my friend's
+last injunction. You know what that injunction was, for I have told you;
+from this moment I shall have the honour of holding myself at your
+disposal."
+
+"That is to say, sir," said General Sturm, striking his fist upon the
+writing-table before him, "that you come here to challenge me?"
+
+"Yes, sir," answered Benedict. "A dying man's wishes are sacred, and
+Frederic von Bülow's wish was that one of us--either you or I--should
+disappear from this world. I deliver it to you the more readily because
+I know you, sir, to be brave, skilful in all bodily exercises, and a
+first-rate swordsman and shot. I am not an officer in the Prussian army;
+you are in no sense my chief. I am a Frenchman, you are a Prussian; we
+have Jena behind us and you have Leipzig; we are therefore enemies. All
+this makes me hope that you will place no difficulty in my way, and will
+consent to send me two seconds to-morrow, who will find mine at my house
+between seven and eight in the morning, and will do me the pleasure of
+announcing to them the hour, place, and weapons that you have chosen.
+Everything will be acceptable to me; make what conditions you like in
+the best way you can. I hope that you are satisfied."
+
+General Sturm had shown frequent signs of impatience during Benedict's
+speech; but had controlled himself like a well-bred man.
+
+"Sir," said he, "I promise you that you shall hear from me by the hour
+you name, and perhaps earlier."
+
+This was all that Benedict wanted. He bowed and withdrew, delighted that
+everything had passed off so properly. He was already at the door when
+he remembered that he had omitted to give the general his new address,
+at Lenhart's. He went to a table and wrote the street and number below
+his name on his card.
+
+"Excuse me," said he, "I must not fail to let your Excellency know where
+I am to be found."
+
+"Are you not my neighbour?" asked the general.
+
+"No," said Benedict. "I have left this house since the day before
+yesterday."
+
+On the same evening, since he expected to leave Frankfort immediately
+after next day's duel--unless, indeed, some wound should detain
+him--Benedict left cards of farewell at all the houses where he had
+visited, withdrew his money from the bank, and, his banker having
+detained him, remained at his house until eleven o'clock, and then took
+leave to return to Lenhart's. But, as he was crossing the corner of the
+Ross Market an officer accosted him and, saying that he had a
+communication to make on behalf of the officer in command of the town,
+begged Benedict to accompany him. The latter made no difficulty about
+entering the market place where military were quartered, and there, at a
+sign from the officer, soldiers surrounded him.
+
+"Sir," said the officer, "will you kindly read this paper, which
+concerns you."
+
+Benedict took the paper and read it:
+
+     "By order of the colonel in command of the town and as a measure of
+     public safety, M. Benedict Turpin is instructed to leave Frankfort
+     instantly upon receipt of the present order. Should he refuse to
+     obey willingly, force is to be employed. Six privates and an
+     officer will accompany him to the station, enter the same carriage
+     in the Cologne train and only leave him at the frontier of the
+     Prussian territory.
+
+     "This order to be carried out before midnight.
+
+                        "Signed ***."
+
+
+
+Benedict looked round; he had no possible means of resistance.
+
+"Sir," said he, "if I had any way of escaping from the order that I have
+just read, I declare to you that I would do anything in the world to get
+out of your hands. The great man who is your minister, and whom I
+admire although I do not like him, has said 'Might is right.' I am ready
+to yield to force. But I should be greatly obliged if one of you would
+go to 17, Beckenheim Street, to a man who lets out carriages, named
+Lenhart, and kindly ask him to bring me my dog, of which I am very fond.
+I will take occasion to give him some orders in your presence that are
+of no particular consequence, but rather important to a man who has been
+living in a town for three months and is leaving when he had no
+expectation of doing so."
+
+The officer ordered a soldier to fulfil Benedict's wish.
+
+"Sir," said he, "I know that you were intimate with a man to whom we
+were all attached, Herr Frederic von Bülow; although I have not the
+honour of your personal acquaintance, I should be sorry that you should
+carry away a bad impression of me. I was ordered to arrest you in the
+manner that I have done. I hope you will pardon an action entirely
+outside my own wishes, and which I have tried to perform with as much
+courtesy as possible."
+
+Benedict held out his hand.
+
+"I have been a soldier, sir; and therefore I am obliged to you for an
+explanation that you might easily have refrained from making."
+
+A minute or so later Lenhart arrived with Frisk.
+
+"My dear Lenhart," said Benedict, "I am leaving Frankfort unexpectedly;
+be so kind as to collect any things belonging to me that you may have
+and send them to me, in two or three days, unless you prefer to bring
+them yourself to Paris, which you do not know and where I would try to
+make you spend a pleasant fortnight. I do not offer any terms; you know
+that you may safely leave such matters in my hands."
+
+"Oh, I will go, sir, I will go," said. Lenhart. "You may be sure of
+that."
+
+"And now," said Benedict, "I think it must be time for the train; no
+doubt you have a carriage waiting; let us go if you have nothing more to
+wait for, and if you have not a travelling companion to give me."
+
+The soldiers lined up and Benedict passed between them to the carriage
+that was waiting. Frisk, always delighted to go from one place to
+another, leapt in first, as if to invite his master to follow. Benedict
+stepped in, the officer followed him; four privates followed the
+officer, a fifth seated himself beside the driver, a sixth jumped up
+behind, and the conveyance set out for the station.
+
+The engine was just ready to start as the prisoner arrived; he had not
+even the trouble of waiting a few minutes. At the carriage door Frisk
+was, as usual, the first to jump in, and although it is not customary,
+especially in Prussia, for dogs to travel first-class, Benedict obtained
+for him the favour of remaining with them. Next morning they were at
+Cologne.
+
+"Sir," said Benedict to the officer, "I am accustomed, every time that I
+pass through this town, to provide myself with Farina's eau-de-Cologne
+for my dressing-table. If you are not pressed for time I would propose
+two things to you: in the first place my word of honour to play fair and
+not give you the slip before reaching the frontier; in the second place,
+a good breakfast for these gentlemen and you, all breakfasting together
+at the same table without any distinction of rank, like brothers. Then
+we will take the midday train, unless you prefer to trust my word that I
+will go straight to Paris."
+
+The officer smiled.
+
+"Sir," said he, "we will do what you please. I should like you to carry
+away the impression that we are only uncivil and tormentors when we are
+ordered to be. You want to stay; then let us stay! You offer me your
+word; I accept it. You wish to have us all breakfast with you; although
+it does not conform either to Prussian habits or Prussian discipline, I
+accept. The only precaution we will take--and that rather to do you
+honour than because we doubt your word--will be to see you off at the
+station. Where do you wish us to meet you again?"
+
+"At the Rhine Hotel, if you please, gentlemen, in an hour's time."
+
+"I need not say," added the officer, speaking in French that the
+soldiers should not understand him, "that after the way I have behaved
+to you I ought to be cashiered."
+
+Benedict bowed with an air that seemed to say "You need be under no
+uneasiness, sir."
+
+Benedict went away to the cathedral square, where Jean Marie Parina's
+shop is situated, and the officer took off his men in another direction.
+
+Benedict supplied himself with eau-de-Cologne, which he could the more
+easily do because, having no other luggage, he could carry his purchase
+with him, and then proceeded to the Rhine Hotel, where he was accustomed
+to stay. He ordered the best breakfast that the proprietor could promise
+him, and awaited his guests, who appeared at the agreed time.
+
+The breakfast was a thoroughly cheerful one; the prosperity of France
+and the prosperity of Prussia were toasted, the Prussians courteously
+setting the example; and after breakfast Benedict was escorted to the
+station, and, by military order, had a carriage to himself, instead of
+sharing one with six private soldiers and an officer.
+
+At the moment of the train's starting the officer put into Benedict's
+hand a letter, which the traveller opened as soon as the train had
+passed out of the station. He gave a glance at the signature. It came,
+as he expected, from General Sturm and contained these words:
+
+     "MY DEAR SIR,
+
+     "You will understand that it does not become a superior officer to
+     set a bad example by accepting a challenge of which the object is
+     to avenge an officer who was punished for disobedience to his
+     chief. If I were to fight you for a reason so contrary to all
+     military discipline I should be setting a fatal example to the
+     army. I refuse, therefore, for the present, to meet you, and in
+     order to avoid a scandal, I employ one of the most courteous
+     measures at my disposal. You, yourself, were so good as to
+     acknowledge that I had a reputation for courage, and you added that
+     you knew me to be a first-rate shot and swordsman. You cannot,
+     therefore, attribute my refusal to any fear of facing you. A
+     proverb, common to all countries, says: 'Mountains do not meet, but
+     men do.' If we meet anywhere else than in Prussia, and if you are
+     still desirous of killing me, we will see about settling this
+     little matter; but I warn you that the result is by no means a
+     foregone conclusion, and that you will have more trouble than you
+     expect in keeping your promise to your friend Frederic."
+
+Benedict refolded the letter with the utmost care, placed it in his
+pocket-book and slipped his pocket-book into his pocket, arranged
+himself as comfortably as he could in a corner, and closing his eyes for
+sleep, murmured: "Well, well, we will wait and see!"
+
+
+
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+
+The presence of the Prussians in Frankfort and the terror that they
+caused there did not end with the events which have just been related,
+and to which the present narrative ought to confine itself. A few lines
+only must be added that our work may close as it opened, by a page of
+politics.
+
+Towards the end of September 1866 it was announced that the city of
+Frankfort, losing its nationality, its title of a free town, its
+privilege of having the Diet held there, and finally its rights as a
+member of the Confederation, was to be united on October 8th to the
+kingdom of Prussia.
+
+The morrow was gloomy and rainy; no house had hung out the
+black-and-white flag; no citizen, sad or cheerful, was in the streets,
+every window was shuttered, every door closed. It seemed a city of the
+dead. The flag flew only over the barracks, the Exchange, and the post
+office.
+
+But in the Roemer Square there was an assemblage of some three or four
+hundred men, all belonging to the suburb of Sachsenhausen. It was a
+curious thing that each of these men had a dog of some description with
+him: a bulldog, mastiff, spaniel, hound, griffon, greyhound, or poodle.
+Amidst these bipeds and quadrupeds, Lenhart went up and down relating
+what fine things he had seen in Paris, and holding everybody's
+attention. He it was who had devised this meeting of his fellow
+inhabitants of Sachsenhausen, and who, by whispered instructions, had
+invited them to bring their dogs. Men and dogs alike gazed towards the
+window from which the proclamation was to be made. They had been waiting
+there since nine in the morning.
+
+At eleven the members of the Senate, the Christian and Jewish clergy,
+the professors, the chief officials, and Major-General Boyer, with the
+officers of the garrison, were gathered together in the Hall of the
+Emperors in the Roemer, to witness the taking possession of the formerly
+free town of Frankfort by His Gracious Majesty, the King of Prussia.
+
+The civil governor, Baron Patow, and the civil Commissioner, Herr von
+Madaï, came from the Senate Hall (once the hall in which the Emperors of
+Germany were elected) into the great hall. After some little preamble on
+Baron Patow's part he read to the persons present the patent by which
+the former free town of Frankfort was taken into possession, and then
+the royal proclamation which announced that the town had been added to
+the Prussian dominions.
+
+The same documents were now to be read to the people of Frankfort. The
+window was opened to an accompaniment of joyful murmurs and mocking
+acclamation from the men of Sachsenhausen and the yawns of their dogs.
+The square was occupied, we forgot to mention, not only by the men from
+Sachsenhausen but by a company of the 34th regiment of the line and its
+band.
+
+Herr von Madaï read aloud the following proclamation:
+
+"The very high and very powerful proclamation of His Majesty the King
+of Prussia to the inhabitants of the former free town of Frankfort."
+
+Either because the voice of Herr von Madaï was particularly disagreeable
+to his hearers or because the words "former free town of Frankfort"
+aroused their sensibility, several dogs howled dismally. Herr von Madaï
+paused until silence was restored, and continued, still in the king's
+name:
+
+"By the patent that I cause to be published to-day I unite you,
+inhabitants of the city of Frankfort-on-the-Main and its suburbs, to my
+subjects, your German neighbours and brothers."
+
+Five or six howls protested against this union. Herr von Madaï seemed to
+give no heed to them and proceeded.
+
+"By the decision of the war and the reorganization of our common German
+Fatherland, you are deprived of the independence which you have hitherto
+enjoyed, and now enter the union of a great country, whose population is
+sympathetic to you by language, customs, and identity of interests."
+
+This news did not appear agreeable to the prejudices of some hearers;
+there were complaints, growls, and a certain number of lamentations.
+Herr von Madaï seemed to understand these sad protestations.
+
+"If," said he, "it is not without pain that you resign former
+connections that were dear to you, I respect such feelings and esteem
+them as a guarantee that you and your children will be faithfully
+attached to me and my house."
+
+An enormous bulldog replied by a single bark, which appeared, however,
+to speak the opinion of the two or three hundred companions around him.
+The interruption did not disturb Herr von Madaï, and he went on:
+
+"You will recognize the force of accomplished facts; if the fruits of an
+obstinate war and of bloody victories are not to be lost to Germany, the
+duty of self-preservation and care for national interests imperatively
+demand that the town of Frankfort shall be joined to Prussia, solidly
+and for ever."
+
+At this moment a dog broke its chain and despite shouts of "Arrest the
+rebel! Arrest the rebel!" and the pursuit of some five or six
+Sachsenhausen urchins, disappeared into the Jewry.
+
+"And, as my father of blessed memory declared," resumed Herr von Madaï,
+"it is solely for the profit of Germany that Prussia has enlarged its
+boundaries. I offer this for your serious reflection, and I confide in
+your upright German good sense to swear allegiance to me with the same
+sincerity as my own people. May God grant it!"
+
+                                  "WILLIAM"
+
+"Given at my castle of Babelsberg, October 3rd, 1866."
+
+
+And raising his voice, Herr von Madaï added, by way of peroration:
+
+"Hurrah for King William! Hurrah for the King of Prussia!"
+
+At the same instant the black-and-white flag was hoisted on the topmost
+gable of the Roemer. No shout replied to Herr von Madaï's, only the
+voice of Lenhart was heard like that of a drill sergeant:
+
+"And now, my little doggies, as you have the honour to be Prussian dogs,
+shout 'Hurrah for the King of Prussia!'"
+
+Then every man pressed his toe upon the tail, the ear, or the paw of his
+dog, and there arose such frightful uproar, including the deepest and
+the shrillest notes, as could only be covered by the band of the 34th
+Prussian Regiment playing "_Heil dir im Siegeskranze_," which means
+"Hail to thee in the crown of victory."
+
+Thus was the former free town of Frankfort united to the kingdom of
+Prussia. But many people say that it is not stitched, but only tacked
+on.
+
+
+
+
+EPILOGUE
+
+
+On June 5th, in the year 1867, a young man of some twenty-five to
+twenty-seven years of age, elegantly dressed, and wearing at his
+buttonhole a ribbon half red and half blue-and-white, had just finished
+his cup of chocolate at the Café Prévôt, which was at the corner of the
+Boulevard and the Rue Poissonière. He asked for the "Étandard"
+newspaper.
+
+He had to repeat the name twice to the waiter, who, not having the paper
+on the premises, went out to the Boulevard for a copy and brought it to
+his customer. The latter cast his eyes rapidly over it, looking
+evidently for some article that he knew to be there. His glance settled
+at last upon the following lines:
+
+     "To-day, Wednesday, June 6th, the King of Prussia will enter Paris.
+     We give a complete list of the persons who will accompany His
+     Majesty:
+
+     "M. de Bismarck.
+
+     "General de Moltke.
+
+     "Count Puckler, Lord Marshal.
+
+     "General de Treskow.
+
+     "Count de Goltz, Brigadier-General.
+
+     "Count Lehendorff, Aide-de-Camp to the king.
+
+     "General Achilles Sturm--"
+
+Doubtless the young man had seen all that he wanted to see, for he
+carried no further his investigations into the persons accompanying His
+Majesty.
+
+But he tried, to discover at what hour King William was to arrive, and
+found that he was expected at a quarter-past four at the Gare du Nord.
+
+He immediately took a carriage and placed himself upon the road which
+the king would have to follow in going to the Tuileries.
+
+The king and his escort were some minutes behind their time. Our young
+man was waiting at the corner of the Boulevard de Magenta; he placed
+himself at the end of the procession, and accompanied it to the
+Tuileries, keeping his eyes particularly, as he did so, upon the
+carriage which contained General von Treskow, Count von Goltz, and
+General Achilles Sturm. That carriage entered the courtyard of the
+palace with the King of Prussia's, but came out again, almost
+immediately, with the three generals who occupied it, in order to go to
+the Hôtel du Louvre.
+
+There the three generals alighted; they were clearly intending to lodge
+in the neighbourhood of the Tuileries where their sovereign was staying.
+Our young man, who also had alighted, saw a waiter lead them to their
+several rooms. He waited a moment, but none of them came out again. He
+got into his carriage again and disappeared round the corner of the Rue
+des Pyramides. He knew all that he wanted to know.
+
+Next morning, about eleven o'clock, the same young man was walking in
+front of the café belonging to the hotel, and smoking a cigarette. At
+the end of ten minutes his expectation was satisfied. General Sturm came
+from the Hôtel du Louvre into the restaurant, sat down at one of the
+marble tables arranged just inside the windows and asked for a cup of
+coffee and a glass of brandy. This was just opposite the Zouave
+Barracks.
+
+Benedict entered the barracks and came out a minute later, with two
+officers. He led them in front of the window and showed them General
+Sturm.
+
+"Gentlemen," said he, "that is a Prussian general with whom I have so
+serious a quarrel that one of us must be left upon the field. I have
+applied to you to do me the favour of acting as my seconds, because you
+are officers, because you do not know me, and do not know my adversary,
+and consequently, will not have any of those little delicate
+considerations for us that fashionable people have towards those for
+whom they act as seconds. We will go in and sit down at the same table
+with him. I will reproach him with what I have to reproach him with, and
+you will see whether the matter is serious enough for a duel to the
+death. If you judge it to be so, you will do me the honour of being my
+seconds. I am a soldier like yourselves; I went through the Chinese war
+with the rank of lieutenant, I fought at the battle of Langensalza as
+orderly to Prince Ernest of Hanover, and, finally, I fired one of the
+last shots at the battle of Aschaffenburg. My name is Benedict Turpin,
+and I am a knight of the Legion of Honour and of the Guelphic Order."
+
+The two officers stepped back a pace, exchanged a few words in a low
+voice, and returned to Benedict's side, to tell him that they were at
+his command.
+
+All three then entered the café and went to seat themselves at the
+general's table. The latter looked up and found himself face to face
+with Benedict, whom he recognized at the first glance.
+
+"Ah, it is you, sir," said he, growing rather pale.
+
+"Yes, sir," answered Benedict. "And here are these gentlemen who are
+still unacquainted with the explanation that I am about to have with you
+and are here to hear what I say, and will be kind enough to assist me in
+our combat. Will you allow me to explain to these gentlemen, in your
+presence, the cause of our meeting, and afterwards will you give them
+details of our antecedents as we go together to the place decided upon?
+You remember, sir, that, nearly a year ago you did me the honour of
+writing to me that mountains did not meet, but that men did, and that
+whenever I had the honour of meeting you outside the kingdom of His
+Majesty, King William, you would put no difficulty in the way of giving
+me satisfaction."
+
+The general rose.
+
+"It is useless," said he, "to prolong an explanation in a café where
+everybody can hear what we say; you can give any explanations to these
+gentlemen of the grounds of complaint which you consider yourself to
+have against me, and which I am not in any degree bound to disclaim to
+you. I wrote to you that I was ready to give you satisfaction; I am.
+Give me time to go into the hotel and fetch two friends. That is all I
+ask of you."
+
+"Do so, sir," said Benedict, bowing.
+
+Sturm left the café. Benedict and the two officers followed him. He went
+into the Hôtel du Louvre. The three gentlemen waited at the door.
+
+In the ten minutes during which they waited Benedict told them the whole
+story, and was just concluding it as the general reappeared with his
+seconds--two officers of the king's retinue. All three came towards
+Benedict and bowed to him. Benedict introduced his own seconds to those
+of the general by a wave of the hand. All four drew apart a little.
+Presently Benedict's seconds came back to him.
+
+"You have left the choice of weapons to the general?" said he.
+
+"Yes, sir, and he has chosen the sword; we are to go to a sword cutler
+and choose a couple of blades that neither of you will have seen
+before; then we are to go to the nearest convenient spot for the
+meeting. We suggested the fortifications, and these gentlemen have
+agreed; they are to take an open carriage, we are to take another; and,
+as they do not know the way and we do, we shall guide them along the
+boulevard, and at the first sword-cutler's we will buy the swords."
+
+Everything was arranged accordingly. Two waiters were sent for two
+carriages. The seconds suggested that the surgeon-major of the Zouaves
+should accompany the party, and the suggestion being accepted, one of
+the officers went to fetch him. He joined Benedict and the two
+Frenchmen, while General Sturm and his seconds followed at some
+distance.
+
+At the sword-cutler's--which was Claudin's, Benedict said in an aside to
+the shopman, whom he knew:
+
+"The swords are to be charged to me; let the gentlemen who are in the
+second carriage choose them."
+
+Three different swords were shown to General Sturm, who selected the one
+that best suited his hand, and asked its price; he was told that they
+were paid for. The two carriages went as far as the Étoile turnpike by
+way of the Maillot gate. Thence they followed the line of the
+fortifications for a short distance, then, when they had reached a
+tolerably deserted spot, the two Zouave officers alighted from their
+chaise, looked up and down the fosse, and finding it empty beckoned
+their adversaries to join them. In another minute the whole party was
+standing at the base of the walls. The ground was level and offered
+every facility for a combat of the kind that was now to take place.
+
+The general's seconds presented the two swords to Benedict who had not
+previously seen them; he cast a quick glance at them and saw that they
+were _montées en quarte_, a circumstance which suited his designs
+admirably. Apparently it suited General Sturm's, also, since he had
+chosen the swords.
+
+"When is the fight to stop?" asked the seconds.
+
+"When one of us is killed," answered the two antagonists together.
+
+"Coats off, gentlemen!" said the seconds.
+
+Benedict threw aside his jacket and waistcoat, displaying his shirt.
+
+"Are you ready, gentlemen?" asked the seconds.
+
+"Yes," replied both at the same time.
+
+One of the Zouave officers took one sword and put it into Benedict's
+hands; one of the Prussian officers took the other and put it into
+General Sturm's hands.
+
+The seconds crossed the two swords at a distance of three inches from
+the points, and, moving aside to leave the combatants face to face,
+said:
+
+"Now, gentlemen!"
+
+The words were scarcely uttered when the general swiftly made himself
+master of his opponent's sword by a double engagement, making as he did
+so a stride forward with all the usual impetuosity of a man who knows
+himself an adept in fencing.
+
+Benedict leapt back; then, looking at the general's guard:
+
+"Ah, ah!" he murmured, "a quick fellow on his feet. Attention!"
+
+He exchanged a quick glance with his seconds, to tell them not to be
+uneasy.
+
+But at the same moment, and without any interval, the general, while
+entangling the sword by a skilful pressure advanced in a crouching
+attitude, and lunged with so rapid a _dégagement_ that it needed all
+Benedict's close handling to parry by a _counter quarte_, which, quick
+though it was, could not save his shoulder from a graze. The shirt tore
+upon the sword's point and became slightly tinged with blood.
+
+The return thrust came so swiftly that the Prussian by luck or by
+instinct had not time to resort to a circular parry and mechanically
+employed the _parade de quarte_ and was now on the defensive. The thrust
+was parried, but it had been given with such energy that General Sturm
+staggered on his legs and could not deliver his counter thrust.
+
+"He is a pretty fencer, after all," thought Benedict. "He gives one
+something to do."
+
+Sturm stepped back and lowered his point.
+
+"You are wounded," said he.
+
+"Come, come," returned the young man, "no nonsense! Here's a fuss about
+a scratch. You know very well, general, that I have got to kill you. One
+must keep one's word, even to a dead man." He put himself in position
+again.
+
+"You? Kill me! Upstart!" exclaimed the general.
+
+"Yes, I, greenhorn as you think me," replied Benedict. "Your blood for
+his, although all yours is not equal to one drop of his."
+
+"Cursed rascal!" swore Sturm, growing crimson. And, rushing upon
+Benedict, he made as he came, two successive _coups de seconde_, so
+hasty and so furious that Benedict had barely time to parry them, by
+twice retiring, and then a _parade de seconde_ delivered with such
+precision and energy that the loose shirt was torn above the waistband,
+and Benedict felt the cold steel. Another stain of blood appeared.
+
+"What! Are you trying to tear off my shirt?" said Benedict, sending his
+enemy a high _thrust de quarte_, which would have run him through, but
+that, feeling himself in danger, he flung himself forward in such a
+manner that the hilts touched, and the two adversaries stood with their
+swords up face to face.
+
+"Here!" cried Benedict, "this will teach you to steal my thrust."
+
+And before the seconds could interpose their swords to separate them,
+Benedict, freeing his arm like a spring, drove the two hilts like the
+blow of a fist in his adversary's face, who staggered back, his face
+lacerated and bruised by the blow.
+
+Then followed a scene which made those who beheld it shudder.
+
+Sturm drew back for an instant, his mouth half-open and foaming, his
+teeth clenched and bleeding, his lips turned back, his eyes gleaming,
+bloodshot and almost starting from their sockets, his whole countenance
+reddish purple.
+
+"Blackguard! Dog!" he yelled, waving his stiff-held sword and crouching
+back for his guard like a jaguar ready to spring.
+
+Benedict stood calm, cold, contemptuous. He extended his sword towards
+him.
+
+"You belong to me, now," he said in a solemn voice. "You are about to
+die."
+
+He fell back to his guard, exaggerating the pose as a sort of challenge.
+He had not to wait long.
+
+Sturm was too good a fencer to throw himself unprotected upon his enemy.
+He advanced sharply one pace, making _un double engagement_, of which
+Benedict turned aside the second by a _dégagement fait comme on les
+passe au mur_.
+
+Anger had disturbed Sturm's guard, he was lunging with his head down--an
+attitude which, for this once at least, saved him. The _dégagement_
+merely grazed his shoulder by the neck. Blood appeared.
+
+"A sleeve for a sleeve," retorted Benedict, falling back quickly to his
+guard, and leaving a great distance between the general and himself.
+"Now for it!"
+
+The general found himself too far off, took a step forward, gathered all
+his powers, made a frenzied beating with his sword and struck straight,
+lunging at the full stretch of his body. All his soul, that is to say,
+all his hope, was in that blow.
+
+This time Benedict, planted firmly on his feet, did not yield an inch;
+he caught the sword _par un demi cercle_, executed in due form, with his
+nails held upwards as though he were in a fencing school, and standing
+over the point of his sword inclined towards his feet:
+
+"Now then," he said, delivering his thrust.
+
+The sword entered the upper part of the chest and disappeared completely
+in the general's body where Benedict left it, as he sprang back--as a
+bull fighter leaves his dagger in the breast of the bull. Then, folding
+his arms, he waited.
+
+The general remained standing for a second, staggered, tried to speak;
+his mouth became full of blood, he made a movement with his sword and
+the sword fell from his hand; then he, himself, like an uprooted tree,
+fell full length upon the turf.
+
+The surgeon rushed to the body of Sturm; but he was already dead.
+
+The point of the sword had gone in below the right shoulder blade, and
+come out on the left hip, after passing through the heart.
+
+"_Sapristi!_" muttered the surgeon, "that's a man well killed."
+
+Such was Sturm's funeral oration.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Prussian Terror, by Alexandre Dumas
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Prussian Terror, by Alexandre Dumas
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Prussian Terror
+
+Author: Alexandre Dumas
+
+Translator: R.S. Garnett
+
+Release Date: May 2, 2011 [EBook #36016]
+[Last updated: October 18, 2014]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRUSSIAN TERROR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Andrea Ball & Marc D'Hooghe at
+http://www/freeliterature.org (From images generously made
+available by the Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<h1>THE PRUSSIAN TERROR</h1>
+
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<h2>ALEXANDRE DUMAS</h2>
+
+
+<h3>A FIRST TRANSLATION FROM THE FRENCH</h3>
+
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<h3>R.S. GARNETT</h3>
+
+
+<h4>WITH AN INTRODUCTION</h4>
+
+
+<h5>LONDON: STANLEY PAUL &amp; CO</h5>
+
+<h5>PHILADELPHIA: DAVID MCKAY COMPANY</h5>
+
+<h5>1916</h5>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 380px;">
+<img src="images/dumas.jpg" width="380" alt="ALEXANDRE DUMAS." title="Alexandre Dumas" />
+<span class="caption">Alexandre Dumas.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4>"L'ennemi, c'est le Prussien"</h4>
+
+<h5>GAMBETTA.</h5>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p class="caption">CONTENTS</p>
+
+<p class="small"><a href="#INTRODUCTION">TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION</a></p>
+
+<p class="small">
+CHAPTER <a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.</a> BERLIN<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II.</a> THE HOUSE OF HOHENZOLLERN</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.</a> COUNT VON BISMARCK</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a> IN WHICH BISMARCK EMERGES FROM AN IMPOSSIBLE POSITION</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.</a> A SPORTSMAN AND A SPANIEL</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a> BENEDICT TURPIN</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII.</a> KAULBACH'S STUDIO</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII.</a> THE CHALLENGE</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX.</a> THE TWO DUELS</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X.</a> WHAT WAS WRITTEN IN A KING'S HAND</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI.</a> BARON FREDERIC VON BÃœLOW</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII.</a> HELEN</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII.</a> COUNT KARL VON FREYBERG</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">XIV.</a> THE GRANDMOTHER</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">XV.</a> FRANKFORT-ON-MAIN</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">XVI.</a> THE DEPARTURE</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">XVII.</a> AUSTRIANS AND PRUSSIANS</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">XVIII.</a> THE DECLARATION OF WAR</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">XIX.</a> THE BATTLE OF LANGENSALZA</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">XX.</a> IN WHICH BENEDICT'S PREDICTION CONTINUES TO BE FULFILLED</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">XXI.</a> WHAT PASSED AT FRANKFURT BETWEEN THE BATTLES OF LANGENSALZA AND SADOWA</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">XXII.</a> THE FREE MEAL</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">XXIII.</a> THE BATTLE OF ASCHAFFENBURG</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">XXIV.</a> THE EXECUTOR</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">XXV.</a> FRISK</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">XXVI.</a> THE WOUNDED MAN</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">XXVII.</a> THE PRUSSIANS AT FRANKFORT</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">XXVIII.</a> GENERAL MANTEUFFEL'S THREATS</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">XXIX.</a> GENERAL STURM</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">XXX.</a> THE BREAKING OF THE STORM</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">XXXI.</a> THE BURGOMASTER</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">XXXII.</a> QUEEN AUGUSTA</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">XXXIII.</a> THE TWO PROCESSIONS</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">XXXIV.</a> THE TRANSFUSION OF BLOOD</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV">XXXV.</a> THE MARRIAGE <i>IN EXTREMIS</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI">XXXVI.</a> "WAIT AND SEE"</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 8em;"><a href="#CONCLUSION">CONCLUSION</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 8em;"><a href="#EPILOGUE">EPILOGUE</a></span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION</h3>
+
+
+<p>"The enemy passed beneath our window and then out of view. A moment
+afterwards we heard the sound as it were of a hurricane; the house
+trembled to the gallop of horses. At the end of the street the enemy had
+been charged by our cavalry; and, not knowing our small numbers, they
+were returning at full speed hotly pursued by our men. Pell-mell they
+all passed by&mdash;a whirlwind of smoke and noise. Our soldiers fired and
+slashed away, the enemy on their side fired as they fled. Two or three
+bullets struck the house, one of them shattering a bar of the
+window-shutter through which I was looking on. The spectacle was at once
+magnificent and terrible. Pursued too closely the enemy had decided to
+face about, and there, twenty paces from us, was going on a combat life
+for life. I saw five or six of the enemy fall, and two or three of our
+men. Then, defeated after a ten minutes' struggle, the enemy trusted
+themselves again to the swiftness of their horses, and cleared off at
+full gallop. The pursuit recommenced, the whirlwind resumed its course,
+leaving, before it disappeared, three or four men strewn on the
+pavement. Suddenly we heard the drum beating to the charge. It was our
+hundred infantry soldiers who were coming up in their turn. They marched
+with fixed bayonets and disappeared at the bend of the road. Five
+minutes later we heard a sharp platoon firing. Then we saw our hussars
+reappearing, driven by five or six hundred cavalry; they reappeared the
+pursued, as they had started the pursuers. Amid this second tempest of
+men it was impossible to see or distinguish anything; only, when it was
+past, three or four dead bodies more lay stretched on the ground."</p>
+
+<p>The boy who saw these scenes, to record them in his Memoirs many years
+later, was living with his mother at Villers-Cotterets, on the Soissons
+road in the Aisne, where fierce fighting between our little army and our
+allies the French on the one hand, and the Germans on the other, is
+taking place as these lines are being written. The time was 1814.
+Napoleon had retreated from Moscow and had lost the battle of Leipzig,
+and the Russians, Prussians, and Austrians in alliance were gradually
+closing in on France. All confidence in Napoleon's star had disappeared.
+Every hour was bringing the roar of cannon nearer to Paris: in a few
+days the Allies were to enter it and Napoleon to sign the decree of
+abdication and leave for Elba.</p>
+
+<p>The name of the boy was Alexandre Dumas. His mother had filled her
+cellar with furniture, bedding, and household goods, and had then had a
+new plank floor made for the room above, so that treasure seekers might
+look in vain, and had buried her little store of money in a box in the
+middle of the garden. She was as much in terror of Napoleon as she was
+of the Prussian and Russian troops. If her own countrymen, the French,
+were beaten, she and her son might be killed, but if Napoleon was
+victorious he would want her son as a soldier. Now Alexandre was twelve
+and conscription began at sixteen.</p>
+
+<p>The boy's father, General Alexandre Dumas, was dead, and as on account
+of his republican principles the First Consul had disgraced, exiled, and
+ruined him, so by the Emperor the widow and her son were disowned,
+forgotten and left to starve. In spite of this Madame Dumas's neighbours
+called her a Bonapartist, her husband having fought under Bonaparte, and
+the term Bonapartist was one which was presently to amount to an
+accusation as Louis XVIII neared the throne.</p>
+
+<p>The enemy seen by the boy fighting in the street were
+Prussians&mdash;Prussians long expected by his mother, who had made three
+successive enormous dishes of haricot mutton for their pacification.
+Although young Alexandre had partaken of the mutton and thought very
+little of the threatened danger before it occurred, he never forgot the
+sudden Prussian inroad and the dead men left outside this door. And he
+often said that the Valley of the Aisne might see the Prussians again.</p>
+
+<p>In 1848, when a candidate for the Chamber of Deputies, Dumas lost many
+votes by making a speech in the course of which, when passing the state
+of Europe in review, he said. "Geographically, Prussia has the shape of
+a serpent, and like a serpent it seems always to sleep and prepare to
+swallow everything around it&mdash;Denmark, Holland, and Belgium; and when it
+has engulfed them all you will see that Austria will pass in its turn
+and perhaps, alas! France also."</p>
+
+<p>In June 1866 Prussia's rapid campaign against Austria startled Europe.
+Every thoughtful man was calculating the consequences of the
+preponderance of Prussia in Germany, and Dumas was one of those
+Frenchmen who were seized with sad presentiments of the future for their
+own country. Particularly does he appear to have been struck with the
+barbarous conduct of the Prussians in the free city of Frankfort<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>
+which the newspapers were daily reporting. Unable to remain at home
+while such events were occurring, he travelled to Frankfort and observed
+them for himself. Then he went to Gotha, Hanover, and Berlin; he visited
+the battlefields of Langensalza and Sadowa and returned to Paris with
+his notebooks crammed with precious details, his pockets bulging with
+unpublished documents.</p>
+
+<p>Then M. Hollander, the owner of the political journal "The Situation,"
+came running to the author of "The Three Musketeers," "Queen Margot,"
+and of so many other famous historical romances to ask for one to be
+called "The Prussian Terror." Dumas, who like M. Hollander was anxious
+to do all he could to arouse France, fast crumbling under the Second
+Empire, to a sense of her danger from Prussia, gladly complied. Such is
+the genesis of this book in which on every page the author seems to
+say&mdash;"Awake! the danger is at hand."</p>
+
+<p>To render it more easily intelligible to readers of the present day who
+appear to us to know very little of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, let
+us glance at the important events which the newspaper proprietor and the
+historical romancer had in mind.</p>
+
+<p>The death of the King of Denmark occurred in 1863<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> and North Germany
+buzzed like a swarm of angry bees over the Duchies of Schleswig,
+Holstein, and Luxemburg. By the treaty of London (1852), which fixed the
+succession to the Danish Crown, Austria and Prussia, although
+signatories to it, denied the right of the new king to those duchies and
+claimed them as part of Germany. In February 1864 Austrian and Prussian
+troops crossed the Danish border. The Danes fought well, but were forced
+to submit and eventually the duchies were made over to their enemies.</p>
+
+<p>Then Prussia, which had long looked with jealousy on the power of
+Austria and considered a war with her inevitable sooner or later,
+opposed her desire to form the duchies into a separate state under the
+Duke of Augustenburg. Austria referred the matter to the Frankfort Diet,
+which decided in favour of the duke, but Bismarck, as Prussia's Prime
+Minister, to secure the complete control of North Germany, required
+that, not only the duchies but the whole of Hanover, Hesse Cassel, Hesse
+Nassau, and the city of Frankfort should be absorbed in Prussia. Both
+Prussia and Austria prepared for war, Prussia entering into an alliance
+with Victor Emanuel. On June 7th Prussian troops entered Holstein.</p>
+
+<p>On June 14th, in regard to the decisive question whether the federal
+army should be mobilized, Hanover voted in the Diet with Austria, and by
+so doing irrevocably declared on which side she would range herself in
+the approaching struggle. Prussia at once issued an ultimatum to
+Hanover, requesting her to maintain neutrality and to accept her scheme
+for the reformation of the Confederation. Hanover immediately rejected
+these demands and Prussian troops at once crossed the frontier. The
+resulting battles are known as those of Langensalza and Aschaffenburg.
+The Austrians were disastrously defeated in the terrific battle of
+Sadowa or Königsrätz, and Bismarck was thus nearer to the formation of
+German Unity under Prussia.</p>
+
+<p>After Sadowa, the first act of the Prussians was to enter the "free"
+city of Frankfort, which did not attempt any defence, relying as it did
+on its treaties, and terrorise its inhabitants. It was these "acts of
+terror," then, of which M. Hollander and Dumas were particularly
+thinking, hoping that the recital of them in a popular romance would do
+something to awaken France.</p>
+
+<p>It has been repeatedly stated that before the Franco-German War of 1870
+the German soldiers were guiltless of acts of atrocity. This story
+proves the contrary, and it is not a little curious that no work in the
+English language, save books of reference, covering the ground traversed
+by "The Prussian Terror," appears to be now accessible. For this reason
+alone Dumas's book, which, though in story form, is an authoritative
+contribution to history, deserves attention at the present time. Apart
+from this, it is so spirited and interesting that it is quite surprising
+that at so late a date&mdash;forty-seven years after its original issue&mdash;I
+should be the first to offer a version<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> to the British public.</p>
+
+<p>Dumas was still living in Paris when, in the summer of 1869, war was
+declared with Germany. His health was now bad, and his son, the author
+of "La Dame aux Camélias," did not wish him to remain during the siege.
+In the autumn he took his father with him to Puys near Dieppe, where he
+had a villa. There Dumas died on December 5th, 1870.</p>
+
+<p>He did not know it&mdash;news being kept from him&mdash;but during his last days
+his worst prognostications had been verified. A detachment of the
+Prussian army was actually taking possession of Dieppe as he breathed
+his last. While the soldiers marched along the streets, their bands
+playing German airs and the inhabitants hid in their houses behind
+shuttered windows, the news flew round the town that the country had
+lost Alexandre Dumas, the most typically French writer who has ever
+existed. The coffin was borne to the grave at Neuville, where the
+German soldiers were in occupation, before a Prussian patrol. In 1872
+the body was exhumed, and buried in the family tomb at Villers-Cotterets.
+Hard by, where as a boy of twelve Dumas heard the Prussian cannon, three
+nations are now fighting.</p>
+
+<p>R.S. GARNETT.</p>
+
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Dumas knew Frankfort well, having lived there for some time
+in 1838 with Gérard de Nerval, the author of "Les Filles de Feu."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> These facts are taken from the "Encyclopædia Britannica."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> It should be stated that M. Hollander, who wished the
+brilliant name of Dumas to shine on as many issues of his newspaper as
+possible, stipulated for not less than sixty <i>feuilletons</i>. Dumas
+complied, but was forced to include some hunting stories which he puts
+into the mouth of his hero, Benedict Turpin. These stories will not be
+found in the present volume.</p></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3>THE PRUSSIAN TERROR</h3>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h4>
+
+<h3>BERLIN</h3>
+
+
+<p>The architect of Berlin appears to have carefully designed his plan
+according to line and rule in order to produce a capital of dullness as
+far removed from the picturesque as his ingenuity could accomplish. Seen
+from the cathedral, which is the loftiest point attainable, the place
+suggests an enormous chess-board on which the Royal Palace, the Museum,
+Cathedral, and other important buildings fairly represent kings, queens,
+and castles. And, much as Paris is intersected by the Seine, so is
+Berlin divided by the Spree, except that instead of surrounding one
+island, as does the former river, two artificial canals branch out right
+and left like the handles of a vase, and form two islands of unequal
+size in the centre of the town. Berlin being the capital of Privilege,
+one of these islands is distinguished by possessing the Royal Palace,
+the Cathedral, the Museum, the Bourse, most other public buildings, and
+a score of houses which in Turin, the Berlin of Italy, would certainly
+be called palaces; the other contains nothing remarkable, corresponding
+to the Parisian Rue Saint-Jacques and the quarter Saint-André-des-Arts.</p>
+
+<p>The aristocratic, the smart Berlin lies to the right and left of the
+Friedrich Strasse, which extends from the Place de La Belle Alliance by
+which one enters Berlin to that of Oranienburg by which one leaves it,
+and which is crossed nearly in the middle by the Unter den Linden. This
+famous promenade traverses the fashionable quarter and extends from the
+Royal Palace to the Place d'Armes. It owes its name to two rows of
+magnificent lime trees which form a charming promenade on each side of
+the broad carriage-way. Both sides abound in cafés and restaurants,
+whose crowds of customers, overflowing in summer on to the public road,
+cause a considerable amount of lively motion. This, however, never rises
+into noisy horse-play or clamour, for the Prussian prefers to amuse
+himself <i>sub rosa</i>, and keeps his gaiety within doors.</p>
+
+<p>But on June 7th, 1866, as beautiful a day as Prussia can produce, Unter
+den Linden, at about six in the evening, presented a scene of most
+unusual commotion. The excitement was caused in the first place by the
+increasingly hostile attitude assumed by Prussia towards Austria, in
+refusing to allow the States of Holstein to proceed to the election of
+the Duke of Augustenburg, also by the general arming on all sides, by
+reports concerning the immediate calling up of the Landwehr and the
+dissolution of the Chamber, and finally by rumours of telegrams from
+France containing threats against Prussia, said to have been made by
+Louis Napoleon himself.</p>
+
+<p>It is necessary to travel in Prussia before one can in the least
+comprehend the sort of hatred therein cherished against the French. It
+is a species of monomania which distorts even the very clearest vision.
+No minister can be popular, no orator will gain a hearing unless the one
+lets it be supposed his policy is for war, and the other can produce
+some brilliant epigram or clever <i>sous-entendu</i> levelled against France.
+Nor will the title of poet be allowed, unless the claimant can qualify
+by being the author of some popular rhyme, entitled "The Rhine,"
+"Leipzig," or "Waterloo."</p>
+
+<p>Whence comes this hatred for France&mdash;a deep, inveterate, indestructible
+hatred which seems to pervade the very earth and air? It is impossible
+to say. Can it date from the time when a legion from Gaul, the advanced
+guard of the Roman army, first entered Germany? Abandoning this idea we
+come down to the battle of Rosbach as a possible cause, in which case
+the German national character must be an uncommonly bad one, seeing they
+beat us there. Still later, it might possibly be explained by the
+military inferiority shown by the pupils of Frederic the Great ever
+since the Duke of Brunswick's famous manifesto threatening that not one
+stone of Paris should be left on another! One battle, that of Valmy,
+expelled the Prussians from France in 1792; and another, that of Jena,
+opened the gates of Berlin to us in 1806. Still, to these dates, our
+enemies&mdash;no, our rivals&mdash;can oppose the names of Leipzig and of
+Waterloo. Of Leipzig, however, they cannot claim more than a quarter,
+seeing their army was combined with those of Russia, Austria, and
+Sweden, to say nothing of that of Saxony, which also deserves to be
+remembered. Nor is more than one-half of Waterloo to their credit, for
+Napoleon, who till then had the advantage, was already exhausted by a
+six hours' struggle with the English when they arrived.</p>
+
+<p>Consequently, remembering this heritage of hate, which, indeed, they
+have always shown quite openly&mdash;one could not be surprised at the
+popular emotion caused by a rumour, non-official but widely spread, that
+France would throw down the gauntlet and join in the impending conflict.
+Many, however, doubted the news, as not a word of it had appeared in the
+"Staat's Anzeiger" that morning. Berlin, like Paris, has its faithful
+adherents to the Government and the "Moniteur," who believe that the
+latter cannot lie, and that a paternal Government would never, never
+keep back news interesting to its affectionate subjects. These were
+joined by the readers of the "Tages Telegraphe" ("Daily Telegraphic
+News"), certain that their special organ would have known whatever was
+to be known, and also by those of the ministerial and aristocratic
+"Kreuz Zeitung," who equally declined to believe anything not contained
+in its usually well-informed columns. And besides these one heard the
+names of a dozen other daily or weekly issues bandied from side to side
+in the excited crowd, until suddenly a harsh cry of "French news! French
+news! Telegraphic News" "One kreutzer," succeeded in dominating the din.</p>
+
+<p>The effect produced on the crowd may be imagined. Despite the proverbial
+Prussian economy, every hand sought its pocket and drawing forth a
+kreutzer, proceeded to exchange it for the square bit of paper
+containing the long-desired news. And indeed the importance of the
+contents made amends for the delay in obtaining it. The dispatch ran as
+follows:</p>
+
+<p>"June 6th, 1866. His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon III, having gone to
+Auxerre, in order to be present at the provincial assembly, was met at
+the gates of the town by the mayor, who presented an address, offering
+the respectful homage of himself and the inhabitants. His Majesty
+replied in the following terms, which do not require to be explained to
+our countrymen. Their meaning must be sufficiently clear to all.</p>
+
+<p>"I see with much pleasure that Auxerre still remembers the First Empire.
+Let me assure you that I, on my side, have inherited the feelings of
+affection entertained by the Chief of our family for the patriotic and
+energetic communities which supported him alike through good and evil.
+And I myself owe a debt of gratitude to the department of the Yonne as
+being one of the first to declare for me in 1848. It knew, as indeed the
+greater part of the nation knew, that its interests and mine were
+identical and that we both equally detested those treaties of 1815,
+which are used to-day as a means of controlling our external policy."</p>
+
+<p>Here the dispatch broke off, the sender evidently not considering the
+remainder of the emperor's discourse worth transcribing. Certainly his
+meaning was sufficiently clear without it. Nevertheless some minutes
+elapsed before the sense of the communication was understood by the
+readers, and evoked the display of hatred which naturally followed.</p>
+
+<p>When at last they began to comprehend and to see the hand of the nephew
+of Napoleon the Great overshadowing their beloved Rhine, there arose
+from one end of Unter den Linden to the other such a tempest of threats,
+howls, and hurrahs, that, to borrow Schiller's lively expression, one
+would have thought the encircling hoops of the heavenly concave must all
+be burst asunder. Threatening toasts were called, curses shouted, and
+fists shaken against offending France. A Göttingen student springing on
+a table began to recite with due emphasis Rückert's ferocious poem
+entitled "The Return," in which a Prussian soldier, having returned home
+in consequence of peace being declared, bitterly regrets the various
+outrages he is in consequence debarred from committing. Needless to say,
+this recital was enthusiastically applauded. Shouts of "Bravo!" and
+"Hurrah!" mixed with cries of "Long live King William!" "Hurrah for
+Prussia!" "Down with France!" formed an accompaniment which would
+doubtless have been continued to the next piece, the reciter proposing
+to give a lyric by Theodor Körner. The announcement was received with
+loud applause.</p>
+
+<p>It was, however, by no means the only safety valve at which the passion
+of the surging crowd, now at white heat, sought and found a vent. A
+little lower down, at the corner of the Friedrich Strasse, a well-known
+singer happened to be returning from rehearsal, and as he chanced on one
+occasion to have made a hit by singing "The German Rhine" some one who
+remembered this raised a cry of "The German Rhine! the German Rhine!
+Heinrich! sing 'The German Rhine!'" The crowd instantly recognized and
+surrounded the artist, who, owning a fine voice, and being familiar with
+the piece demanded, did not wait to be asked twice, but gratified his
+audience by singing his very best, thereby far surpassing the Return in
+the tremendous reception he obtained.</p>
+
+<p>But all at once a loud and furious hiss which might have issued from the
+throttle of a steam engine was heard above all the wild applause, and
+produced the effect of a blow in the face bestowed on the singer. A bomb
+suddenly exploding in the crowd could hardly have been more effective;
+the hiss was answered by a dull roar something like that which precedes
+a hurricane and every eye was turned towards the quarter whence it
+proceeded.</p>
+
+<p>Standing by a solitary table was a handsome young man, apparently about
+five-and-twenty, fair-haired, fair-skinned, rather slightly built, and
+in face, moustache and costume somewhat resembling the portrait of
+Vandyke. He had just opened a bottle of champagne and held a foaming
+glass aloft. Undisturbed by angry looks and threatening gestures he drew
+himself up, placed one foot on his chair, and raising his glass above
+his head cried loudly, "Vive la France!" then swallowed the contents at
+one draught.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h4>
+
+<p>THE HOUSE OF HOHENZOLLERN</p>
+
+
+<p>The immense crowd surrounding the young Frenchman remained for a moment
+dumb with stupefaction. Many, not understanding French, failed to
+comprehend his meaning, and others who did understand, appreciating his
+courage in thug braving a furious crowd, surveyed him with more
+astonishment than anger. Others again, who realized that a dire insult
+had been offered them, would nevertheless with typical German
+deliberation have allowed him time to escape had he wished. But the
+young man's demeanour showed that, whatever the consequences of his
+bravado, he intended to face them. Presently a threatening murmur of
+"Franzose, Franzose," arose from the crowd.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said he, in as good German as might be heard anywhere between
+Thionville and Memel. "Yes, I am French. My name is Benedict Turpin. I
+have studied at Heidelberg and might pass for a German since I can speak
+your language as well as most of those here, and better than some. Also
+I can use a rapier, pistol, sword, sabre, single-stick, boxing gloves,
+or any other weapon you like to choose. Any one wishing for satisfaction
+may find me at the Black Eagle."</p>
+
+<p>The young man had hardly finished his audacious defiance when four men
+of the lower class advanced upon him. The crowd kept silence, and the
+contemptuous words, "What! four to one? Leipzig again! Come on! I am
+ready!" were distinctly heard. Then, not waiting to be attacked, the
+young Frenchman sprang at the nearest and broke the bottle of champagne
+over his head, blinding him with foam. The second he tripped up,
+throwing him a good ten paces off, and disposed of the third with a
+vigorous blow in the ribs which hurled him against a chair. Then,
+seizing the fourth by the collar and grasping his waist he actually held
+him aloft in the air for a moment, then flinging him on the ground he
+placed a foot on his chest.</p>
+
+<p>"Is not Leipzig avenged?" said he.</p>
+
+<p>Then at last the tempest burst. A rush was made for the Frenchman, but
+he, still keeping a foot on his fallen enemy, seized a chair and whirled
+it round him so vigorously that for a moment the crowd was held at bay
+and only ventured on threats. But the circle drew closer, some one
+grasped the chair and succeeded in stopping it. A few moments more and
+the audacious Frenchman would probably have been torn to pieces had not
+two or three Prussian officers intervened. They forced their way through
+the crowd and formed a guard around the young man, one of them addressed
+the crowd thus:</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come, my friends, don't murder a brave young man because he does
+not forget he is a Frenchman and has cried 'Vive la France!' He will now
+cry 'Vive Guillaume IV!' and we will let him off." Then, whispering to
+Benedict, "Cry 'Vive Guillaume IV!' or I can't answer for your life."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes!" bawled the crowd, "let him cry 'Vive Guillaume IV!&mdash;Vive la
+Prusse!' and we will let him go."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said Benedict, "but I prefer to do so freely, and without
+compulsion. Leave me alone and let me speak from a table."</p>
+
+<p>"Stand aside and let him pass," said the officers, releasing Benedict
+and leaving him free. "He wishes to address you."</p>
+
+<p>"Let him speak! let him speak!" cried the crowd.</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen!" said Benedict, mounting the table nearest to the open
+windows of the café, "oblige me by listening. I cannot cry 'Vive la
+Prusse,' because at this very moment my country may be at war with
+yours, in which case a Frenchman would disgrace himself if he cried
+anything except 'Vive la France.' Nor can I very well cry 'Vive le roi
+Guillaume,' because, not being my king, it does not matter to me whether
+he lives or dies. But I will recite some charming verses in answer to
+your 'German Rhine!'"</p>
+
+<p>The audience heard him impatiently, not knowing what he meant to recite.
+They had another disappointment in discovering that the lines in
+question were not German but French. However, they listened with all the
+more attention. In enumerating his accomplishments Benedict had omitted
+those of amateur actor and elocutionist. The lines were those written by
+de Musset in response to the "German Rhine," and they lost nothing in
+his impassioned delivery. Those among his hearers able to follow the
+reciter soon perceived that they had been tricked into listening to
+truths they had no desire to hear. Once this was understood, the storm,
+momentarily lulled, burst forth with redoubled violence.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing that there would be no further chance of protection, Benedict
+was carefully considering the distance between his table and the nearest
+window, when suddenly the attention of the crowd was diverted by the
+report of several pistol-shots rapidly fired in the immediate vicinity.
+Turning towards the sound they perceived a well-dressed young civilian,
+struggling desperately with a much older man in colonel's uniform. The
+young man fired again, with the only result of further exasperating his
+adversary, who seized him with a grasp of iron, and, disdaining to call
+for help, shook him as a terrier shakes a rat. Then, throwing him down,
+he knelt upon the would-be murderer's chest, tore the now useless
+revolver from his hand, and placed the barrel against his forehead.
+"Yes, fire, fire!" gasped the young man. But the colonel, in whom the
+bystanders now recognized the powerful minister, Count von Bismarck,
+changed his mind. He pocketed the revolver, and beckoning to two
+officers, "Gentlemen," said he, "this young man is probably mad, or at
+any rate he is a clumsy fool. He attacked me without the slightest
+provocation and has fired five times without hitting me. You had better
+consign him to the nearest prison whilst I acquaint the king with what
+has happened. I think I need hardly mention my name&mdash;Count von
+Bismarck."</p>
+
+<p>Then, wrapping his handkerchief round his hand which had been slightly
+scratched in the conflict, the count retraced his steps towards the
+royal palace hardly a hundred yards distant, while the two officers
+handed the assassin over to the police. One of them accompanied him to
+the prison, where he was at once incarcerated. The crowd having now time
+to remember Benedict Turpin found that he had vanished. However, this
+did not trouble them much, for the excitement of the more recent event
+had changed the course of their ideas. Let us profit by the interval and
+glance at the characters who are destined to appear in our recital. But,
+first let us examine the stage on which they will play their several
+parts.</p>
+
+<p>Least German of all Germanic states, Prussia is inhabited by a mixture
+of races. Besides Germans proper, numbers of Slavonians are found there.
+There are also descendants of the Wends, Letts, Lithuanians, Poles, and
+other early tribes, and a mixture of Frankish refugees. The prosperity,
+though not perhaps the grandeur of the House of Hohenzollern, began with
+Duke Frederic, the greatest usurer of his day. It is as impossible to
+calculate the enormous sums wrung from the Jews as to narrate the means
+by which they were extorted. At first a vassal of the Emperor
+Wenceslaus, when that monarch's impending fall became evident Frederic
+deserted his camp for that of his rival Otho, and when Otho's crown
+began to totter, he passed over to Sigismund, brother of Wenceslaus.</p>
+
+<p>In 1400 A.D., the same year in which Charles VI ennobled the goldsmith
+Raoul, as a reward for financial help, Sigismund, equally embarrassed,
+borrowed 100,000 florins from Frederic, giving him the Margravate of
+Brandenburg as security. Fifteen years later, Sigismund having had to
+provide for the extravagance of the Council of Constance, found himself
+in debt to Frederic for 400,000 florins. Utterly unable to pay, he sold,
+or granted in compensation, both the Marches of Brandenburg and the
+dignity of Elector. In 1701 the electorate rose into a kingdom and the
+Duke Frederic III became the King Frederic I of Prussia.</p>
+
+<p>The Hohenzollerns display the faults and the characteristics of their
+race. Their exchequer is admirably managed, but the moral balance-sheet
+of their administration can rarely be compared with the financial one.
+They have advanced on the lines of Duke Frederic, with more or less
+hypocrisy, but with ever-increasing rapacity. Thus in 1525, Albert of
+Hohenzollern, Grand Master of the Teutonic knights, then lords of
+Prussia, forsook his faith and became a Lutheran, receiving in return
+the rank of Hereditary Duke of Prussia, under the over-lordship of
+Poland. And in 1613, the Elector John Sigismund, wishing to obtain the
+duchy of Cleves, followed Albert's example and became a Calvinist.</p>
+
+<p>The policy of the Great Elector has been summed up by Leibnitz in a
+single phrase: "I side with him who pays best." To him is due the
+formation of the European permanent standing army, and it was his second
+wife, the famous Dorothea, who started shops and taverns in Berlin for
+the disposal of her beer and dairy produce. The military genius of the
+Great Frederic is beyond dispute, but it was he who, in order to curry
+favour with the Russian Court, offered to "supply" the Grand Dukes with
+German princesses "at the lowest reasonable rate!" One lady thus
+"supplied" a princess of Anhalt, is known as "Catherine the Great." We
+may remark incidentally that he also is chiefly responsible for the
+partition of Poland, a crime which has weighted the Prussian crown with
+the malediction of nations, and which he celebrated by this scandalously
+impious summons to his brother Henry, "Come, let us receive the
+Eucharist of the body of Poland!" To Frederic also, we owe the
+economical maxim, "He dines best who eats at another's table!"</p>
+
+<p>Frederic died childless, a fact for which, oddly enough, historians have
+seen fit to blame him. His nephew and successor, William II, invaded
+France in 1792. His entry, preceded by the famous manifesto of the Duke
+of Brunswick, was ostentatious to a degree, but his departure,
+accompanied by Danton and Dumouriez, was accomplished without sound of
+trumpet or drum.</p>
+
+<p>He was succeeded by the "Man of Jena," Frederic William III. Among the
+numerous stupid, and servile letters received by the Emperor Napoleon in
+the days of his prosperity, must be counted those of William III.</p>
+
+<p>Frederic William IV&mdash;we are rapidly approaching our own times&mdash;came to
+the throne in June 1840. According to the Hohenzollern custom his first
+ministry was a liberal one and on his accession he remarked to Alexander
+von Humboldt:</p>
+
+<p>"As a noble I am the first gentleman in the kingdom; as a king I am only
+the first citizen."</p>
+
+<p>Charles X had said much the same on succeeding to the crown of France,
+or, rather, M. de Martignac had said it for him.</p>
+
+<p>The first proof the king gave of his liberalism was an attempt to drill
+properly the intellectual forces of the kingdom, which duty he entrusted
+to the Minister Eichhorn. The name&mdash;it means "squirrel"&mdash;was quite
+prophetic. At the end of ten years the project had not advanced a step,
+although the minister himself had done wonders of perpetual revolution.
+On the other hand reaction had progressed. The press was persecuted,
+promotion and rewards were obtained only by hypocrites and informers.
+High office could only be acquired by becoming a servile instrument of
+the pietistic party, which was headed by the king.</p>
+
+<p>Frederic William and King Louis of Bavaria were the two most literary of
+contemporary sovereigns. But Louis encouraged Art under whatever form it
+appeared, whereas Frederic William wished it to be drilled into a sort
+of auxiliary to despotism. Feeling himself constrained, like our great
+satirist Boileau, to give an example of good manners to both court and
+city, he began a correspondence with Louis, in the course of which he
+sent the latter a quatrain commenting on the scandal caused by his
+intimacy with Lola Montes. The King of Bavaria replied in another which
+made the round of all the courts of Europe.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"Contempteur de l'amour, dont adore l'ivresse,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Frère, tu dis que, roi sans pudeur, sans vertu,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Je garde à tort Lola, ma fille enchanteresse.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Je te l'enverrai bien.&mdash;Oui; mais qu'en ferais-tu?"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>And, by general consent of the wits, the laugh remained on the side of
+the versatile King Louis.</p>
+
+<p>After six years of domiciliary visits, suppressions, and summary
+expulsions of offending journalists, the Prussian Diet at length
+assembled at Berlin. In his opening speech the king addressed the
+deputies thus:</p>
+
+<p>"Recollect, gentlemen, that you are here to represent the interests of
+the people, but <i>not</i> their <i>sentiments</i>."</p>
+
+<p>A little later in the year, Frederic William inaugurated his Divine
+Right by observing as he tore up the Constitution:</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not allow a scrap of paper to stand between my people and their
+God!" meaning, though he did not dare to say it, "between my people and
+me."</p>
+
+<p>Then the revolution of 1848 burst forth, and did not spare Berlin, which
+was soon in full revolt. The king lost his head completely. In leaving
+the town he had to drive past the dead bodies of rioters killed in the
+struggle. There was a shout of "Hats off!" and the king was obliged to
+remain uncovered while the people sang the famous hymn composed by the
+Great Electress.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"Jesus, my Redeemer lives."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Every one knows how Absolutism succeeded in dominating the National
+Assembly, and how presently reaction brought the following leaders into
+power:</p>
+
+<p>Manteuffel, whose policy led to the unfortunate Austrian triumph at
+Olmutz.</p>
+
+<p>Westphalen, who revived provincial councils, and brought the king to the
+famous Warsaw interview.</p>
+
+<p>Statel, a converted Jew and Protestant Jesuit, a Grand Inquisitor who
+had missed his vocation.</p>
+
+<p>And, lastly, the two Gerlachs, intriguers of the first water, whose
+history belongs to that of the two spies, Ladunberg and Techen.</p>
+
+<p>Although the Constitution, establishing two Chambers, was sworn to by
+William IV, February 6th, 1850, it was not until his successor, William
+Louis, was on the throne that both Upper and Lower Chambers began to
+legislate.</p>
+
+<p>A league was now formed by the bureaucracy, the orthodox clergy, the
+provincial squirearchy, and some of the proletariat. This was the origin
+of the famous association inappropriately designated the <i>Patriotic</i>
+Association, which had for its aim the annihilation of the Constitution.</p>
+
+<p>There now appeared as First President of the Association at Königsberg,
+the Count von Bismarck, who has played so great a part in Prussian
+history. We cannot do less for him than we have done for the
+Hohenzollerns, that is to say, we must devote an entire chapter to him
+and to the Prussia of to-day. For is not the Count von Bismarck a much
+greater monarch than the King of Prussia himself?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h4>
+
+<p>COUNT VON BISMARCK</p>
+
+
+<p>Many have sought, and some profess to have found, the reasons for the
+remarkable royal favour enjoyed by Count Bismarck, but the chief, and to
+our thinking the only one, is the extraordinary genius which even his
+enemies dare not dispute, notwithstanding the fact that genius is
+usually anything but a passport to the favour of kings.</p>
+
+<p>We will relate one or two little anecdotes concerning the Prime
+Minister, beginning with one which does not refer to him personally, but
+may serve as a sort of preface to another. Every one knows the absurd
+point to which military etiquette is carried in Prussia.</p>
+
+<p>A Pomeranian general&mdash;Pomerania may be called the Prussian
+BÅ“otia&mdash;being in garrison at Darmstadt and being bored even to the
+fullest possibility of Darmstadt boredom, was standing at his window,
+wishing for a conflagration, a revolution, an earthquake&mdash;anything&mdash;when
+he beheld an officer in the distance&mdash;an officer minus his sword! An
+awful breach of discipline! "Ah!" thought the delighted general, "here
+is a lieutenant to make a scapegoat of. Ten minutes' lecture and a
+fortnight's arrest! What luck!"</p>
+
+<p>The unsuspecting officer drew nearer, and when within hail: "Lieutenant
+Rupert," shouted the general. The officer looked up, saw the general,
+and immediately remembering his missing sword, understood his terrible
+position. The general had seen him; he could not go back, and he felt he
+must brave the storm. The general beamed and rubbed his hands cheerfully
+at the prospect of some amusement at last. The lieutenant plucked up
+courage, entered the house, and arriving at the ante-room, beheld a
+regulation sword hanging on the wall. "What a mercy!" he murmured,
+unhooking the sword and quickly buckling it on. Then looking as innocent
+as possible, he entered the room, and standing at attention by the door,</p>
+
+<p>"The general did me the honour to call," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the general with severity, "I have to enquire&mdash;" he stopped
+suddenly, observing that the culprit's sword was at his side. His
+expression changed, and he said smiling:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I wanted to ask, I wanted to ask&mdash;What on earth was it? Ah, yes. I
+wanted to ask after your family, Lieutenant Rupert. I particularly
+wished to enquire after your father."</p>
+
+<p>"If my father could hear of your kind feeling towards him, general, he
+would be greatly gratified. Unhappily, he died twenty years ago."</p>
+
+<p>The general looked considerably taken aback.</p>
+
+<p>The young officer continued: "Have you any further commands, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, no," said the general. "Only this. Never be seen without your
+sword. Had you been without it to-day, I should have given you a
+fortnight's arrest."</p>
+
+<p>"I will take the greatest care, sir! You see?" answered the lieutenant,
+boldly indicating the sword which hung at his side.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, I see. It is all right. You can go now."</p>
+
+<p>The young man lost no time in profiting by the permission; he saluted,
+left the room, and carefully hung up the sword as he went through the
+ante-room. As he left the house the general, being again at the window,
+again saw that he had no sword. He summoned his wife:</p>
+
+<p>"Look here," he said, "do you see that officer?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly I do," she replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Has he a sword or not?"</p>
+
+<p>"He has not."</p>
+
+<p>"Well then, you are mistaken; he looks as if he hadn't one, but he has."</p>
+
+<p>The lady made no remark, being accustomed to accept whatever her husband
+said. The young officer escaped with the fright, and took good care not
+to forget his sword a second time.</p>
+
+<p>Well, a similar misfortune&mdash;more, a real humiliation of this kind very
+nearly happened to the King of Prussia, when he was only the Prince
+Royal. Von Bismarck was then merely an attaché at the Frankfort Legation
+without any handle to his name. When the prince stopped at Frankfort on
+his way to a review at Mayence von Bismarck had the honour of being told
+off to accompany him.</p>
+
+<p>It was a hot day in August and the railway carriages were stifling.
+Etiquette notwithstanding, everyone from the prince downward,
+unbuttoned his coat. On arriving at Mayence, where the troops were drawn
+up at the station to receive him, the prince refastened his coat but
+left one button undone. He was just leaving the carriage, when, luckily,
+von Bismarck noticed the oversight.</p>
+
+<p>"Good heavens, prince!" he exclaimed, "what are you about?"</p>
+
+<p>And, for once forgetting etiquette, which forbids the royal person to be
+contaminated by profane fingers, he sprang forward and fastened the
+offending button. Hence, according to some, came the royal favour, for
+the king, greatly embarrassed by the events of '58, reflected that the
+man who had saved his credit at Mayence might also save his crown at
+Berlin.</p>
+
+<p>The count now became the leader of the "Junker" faction, voiced by the
+"Kreuz Zeitung." He was, in fact, the fittest man for the position,
+possessing oratorical eloquence, great mental and physical activity, and
+a complete conviction that any sort of means is justified by the end.
+And, the end accomplished, he flung from the height of his tribune this
+epigram in the face of an astonished Chamber: "Might is Right!" in three
+words summing up both his political creed and the direct consequences
+which followed.</p>
+
+<p>The life-giving principles of humanity should be exemplified by three
+nations:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Commercial activity by England.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Moral expansion by Germany.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Intellectual brilliance by France.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>If we ask why Germany does not occupy the great position assigned to her
+we find the answer in this: France has attained freedom of thought, but
+Germany is allowed only the freedom of a dreamer. The sole atmosphere in
+which she can breathe freely is that of the fortress or the prison. And
+if we wonder why the rest of Germany is ruled by the rod of Prussia the
+explanation may be found in this: German <i>manners</i> do not exist, but
+there is a national <i>genius</i>; a genius which desired no revolution, but
+peace and liberty, and, above all&mdash;intellectual independence. This
+desire was Prussia's greatest difficulty; she fought it, she weakened
+it, and she hopes to conquer it entirely. She boasts of her compulsory
+education; her children are indeed taught all they can be taught, but
+once out of school they are never permitted to think for themselves.</p>
+
+<p>The Junker faction is composed chiefly of younger sons who have to seek
+either an official career or a military one. Failing this, they must
+depend on the head of the family for a decent maintenance. With very few
+exceptions there is no "old nobility" in Prussia, the aristocracy is not
+distinguished by either wealth or intellect. A few names here and there
+recall ancient Germanic history; others belong to Prussian military
+annals. But the rest of the nobility can claim no distinction, and have
+only owned their estates for a century or two.</p>
+
+<p>Consequently, nearly all the liberal and progressive members of the
+Chamber depend, either by position or office, on the Government, and not
+one of them was strong enough to fight against a despotism which seizes
+a child at the moment of his birth, guides him through adolescence, and
+escorts him for the rest of his life. Therefore Count von Bismarck could
+insult both Chamber and deputies with impunity, knowing that their
+complaints would rouse no answering echo in the country, while at Court
+they were considered as being next door to the servants. On one occasion
+the President Grabow, being present at a state concert, was going to
+occupy a chair in one of the less crowded rooms, when a footman stopped
+him with "These chairs are meant for Excellencies, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, my friend," answered the President, "I am evidently out of
+place here."</p>
+
+<p>From the advent of Hohenzollern supremacy may be dated the decay of
+moral independence, both in Prussia and the other Germanic states. Not
+only have the Hohenzollerns failed to exercise any civilizing influence
+by encouraging literature and purifying the language, but they have
+changed Minerva into Pallas, and the beneficent deity of knowledge and
+wisdom has become the Medusa-brandishing goddess of war.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h4>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH BISMARCK EMERGES FROM AN IMPOSSIBLE POSITION</h3>
+
+
+<p>Now for three months past Bismarck had been in an impossible position,
+and no one could predict how he would emerge from it. Notwithstanding
+the important events which were being enacted from China to Mexico, it
+was upon him that the eyes of Europe were fixed.</p>
+
+<p>Old ministers, experienced in all the wiles of diplomacy, followed him
+with their eyes, spyglass in hand, never doubting that the epoch-making
+minister had an accomplice on the throne in a policy of which they
+vainly sought for precedents in the world's history. If, however, there
+should prove to be no accomplice, they pronounced that he must be a fool
+without an equal.</p>
+
+<p>Young diplomats, modestly aware that they did not quite rank with the
+Talleyrands, the Metternichs, or Nesselrodes, studied him more
+seriously, believing they desired the infancy of a new policy destined
+to carry their epoch to its zenith, whispering the question which
+Germany has asked for three hundred years: "<i>Ist es der Mann?</i>" (Can it
+be the Man?) To make this question comprehensible we must tell our
+readers that Germany awaits a liberator as the Jews awaited a Messiah.
+Whenever her chains gall her, she exclaims: "<i>Wo bleibt der Mann?</i>"
+(Where, then, is the Man?)</p>
+
+<p>Now, some pretend that to-day in Germany a fourth party, which up to the
+present has been crouching in the gloom, is preparing to emerge&mdash;a
+horrible figure, if the poets of Germany are to be believed. Listen to
+Heine on the subject:</p>
+
+<p>"There is thunder truly in Germany, yea, even in Germany: it comes
+slowly; it rolls up gradually from afar; but I doubt not it will come.</p>
+
+<p>"And when you hear a crash, such a crash as the world has not heard in
+all history, you will know that the German thunder has done its work. At
+this uproar eagles will fall dead from the upper air; and lions in the
+pathless deserts of Africa will crouch terrified in their lairs. In
+Germany will be enacted a drama compared with which the French
+Revolution will seem but an <i>innocent idyll</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Had Heinrich Heine been the only prophet I should not repeat his
+auguries, for Heine was a dreamer. But here is what Ludwig B&mdash;&mdash; says:</p>
+
+<p>"In truth, Germany has accomplished nothing for three centuries, and has
+patiently endured all the suffering inflicted upon her. But, even so,
+her labours, sufferings, and joys have not subdued her virgin heart, nor
+her chaste spirit. She contains the reserve forces of liberty and will
+ensure its triumph.</p>
+
+<p>"Her day will come; and to bring it about but little is necessary a
+flash of good-humour, a smile, a summer shower, a thaw, a fool the more,
+or a fool the less, a nothing; the bell of a mule is enough to bring
+down an avalanche. Then France, which is not easily astonished, France
+which accomplished in three days the work of three hundred years, and
+has ceased to wonder at her own work, will survey the German nation with
+astonishment which will not be merely surprise but admiration."</p>
+
+<p>But whether it was the Man or was not the Man that the gallery watched
+as he weighed Europe in the scales, putting everything into one, nothing
+into the other, whether he belonged to the old or to the new diplomacy
+mattered little. The only question was&mdash;will von Bismarck demand a
+dissolution of the Chamber, or will the Chamber impeach the count?</p>
+
+<p>The conquest of Schleswig-Holstein had carried him to the height of
+fortune, but the new complications arising <i>à propos</i> of the election of
+the Duke of Augustenburg, made everything seem doubtful even to the
+genius of von Bismarck. During a long interview with the king which took
+place the very day on which this story begins, he fancied that his
+influence was shaken, and he attributed the king's coldness to the
+persistent ill will of the queen.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that until now the count had worked only for his own personal
+advancement, and, having kept entire silence as to his projects, was
+reserving an explanation for a favourable moment, when by the grandeur
+and clearness of his views he hoped to recover the goodwill of his
+sovereign, by an audacious <i>coup d'état</i> to build up a more solid and
+unassailable position than ever.</p>
+
+<p>He had, then, just left the king, intending to unmask his new plan as
+soon as possible, counting on the telegraphic despatches to create an
+effect favourable to himself, which, by making war inevitable, would
+ensure his own safety.</p>
+
+<p>He left the palace accordingly, immersed in these thoughts, and so
+preoccupied that not only did he scarcely observe the excitement in the
+crowded streets, but he did not notice a young man leaning against one
+of the columns of the theatre, who left his place as he passed, and
+followed him like his shadow in and out of the groups blocking the
+street. Twice or thrice, however, as if warned of this close pursuit by
+some magnetic current, the count turned his head, but seeing only a
+well-dressed young man apparently belonging to his own class in life, he
+paid no attention to him.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until he had passed the Friedrich Strasse and was crossing
+the road that he really noticed that the young man seemed determined to
+follow him. He then decided as soon as he had reached the other side to
+stop and ask what his pursuer meant by shadowing him.</p>
+
+<p>But the shadower did not give him an opportunity. The count had hardly
+proceeded three or four steps on his way when he heard a report, and
+felt the wind of a ball which just missed his coat collar. He stopped
+and turned sharply round, seeing in a flash the eddying smoke, the aimed
+revolver, the assassin with his finger on the trigger preparing to fire
+again.</p>
+
+<p>But, as we have said, the count was naturally brave: it did not occur to
+him either to fly or to call for help. He threw himself upon his enemy,
+who, without an instant's delay, fired the second and third shots, which
+whistled harmlessly by. Whether the assassin's hand trembled under
+stress of emotion, or whether, as some say, Providence (which
+nevertheless permitted the assassinations of Henri IV and Gustavus
+Adolphus) forbade the accomplishment of such a crime, the two balls
+passed right and left of von Bismarck.</p>
+
+<p>Then the murderer lost courage and turned to fly. But the count seized
+him by the collar with one hand and with the other clutched the barrel
+of the revolver. Once again a shot was fired; the count was slightly
+wounded, but kept his hold and grasped his adversary closely, throwing
+him on the ground, and finally handed him over to the Prussian officers.</p>
+
+<p>Seizing the favourable occasion with the promptitude of genius, he
+again took his way to the palace, bent on making this event the turning
+point of the situation.</p>
+
+<p>This time he passed through a double avenue of spectators, whereas
+previously in the public commotion no one had noticed him. It was now
+otherwise&mdash;the murderer's attempt, of which he had been the object and
+from which he had emerged with so much courage, attracted every one's
+attention, if not their sympathy, and whether loved or not loved, all
+made room and saluted him. Sympathy might be wanting, but the count
+could at all events read admiration upon every face.</p>
+
+<p>Von Bismarck was at this time about fifty or fifty-two; tall, with a
+well-proportioned figure, slightly puffy, and almost bald except at the
+temples, with a thick moustache. One of his cheeks was furrowed by a
+scar, the legacy of a duel fought at the University of Göttingen.</p>
+
+<p>The palace guard had already heard the news and turned out to receive
+the count, who, as colonel in the Army, was entitled to this mark of
+respect. He graciously responded, and went up the staircase leading to
+the king's audience chamber.</p>
+
+<p>As prime minister, the count had the right of entry at any time. He was
+about to turn the door handle when the usher in waiting stopped him,
+saying:</p>
+
+<p>"His Excellency will pardon me, but the king can see no one."</p>
+
+<p>"Not even me?" asked the count.</p>
+
+<p>"Not even your Excellency," replied the usher with a low bow.</p>
+
+<p>The count stepped backward with a movement of the lips that might have
+passed for a smile, but was certainly not one. Then he began to study,
+but without seeing it, a large naval picture which decorated the
+ante-room, standing out by reason of its immense gilt frame from the
+official green paper which adorns all the royal apartments.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of a quarter of an hour, the door opened, the count hearing
+the <i>frou frou</i> of a satin dress, turned and bowed low before a woman of
+forty to forty-five years of age, who had evidently possessed great
+beauty and was indeed still beautiful. Perhaps, if the "Almanach de
+Gotha" were consulted, it would be found that the lady was rather older
+than this, but as the proverb says: "A woman is as old as she looks,"
+and I see no reason why queens should be excepted.</p>
+
+<p>The lady was Queen Marie Louise Augusta Catherine, daughter of Charles
+Frederic, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and known throughout Europe as the
+Queen Augusta. She was of medium height&mdash;is best described by the
+essentially French word <i>attrayant</i>. She wore on her left arm the
+feminine Order of Queen Louise of Prussia. She passed the minister
+slowly and somewhat haughtily, saluting him indeed, but without her
+usual kindness. By the doors through which she passed the count
+understood she had been with the king, and was now returning to her own
+apartments.</p>
+
+<p>The queen had left the door belonging to the king's apartment open
+behind her, and the usher now intimated that the minister might enter.
+He waited, however, until the door had closed upon the queen.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said, "it is true that I was not born a baron, but let us see
+what the future will do for me."</p>
+
+<p>And then he passed forward. The various lackeys or chamberlains whom he
+met hastened to open the doors leading to the audience-room. Reaching it
+the chamberlain announced in a loud voice: "His Excellency Count von
+Bismarck."</p>
+
+<p>The king started and turned round. He was standing before the
+chimney-piece, and heard the name of von Bismarck with some surprise, it
+being barely a quarter of an hour since the minister had left him. The
+count wondered if the king had already heard what had happened to him in
+the interval.</p>
+
+<p>He bowed low before His Majesty.</p>
+
+<p>"Sire," he said, "an event of great importance has recalled me to Your
+Majesty, but I see with regret that the moment is unfavourable&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" enquired the king.</p>
+
+<p>"Because I have just had the honour of meeting the queen in the
+ante-room, and not having the happiness of being in Her Majesty's good
+graces&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, count, I admit that she does not see eye to eye with you."</p>
+
+<p>"She is wrong, sire, for my devotion belongs equally to my king and to
+my queen, and the one cannot become Emperor of Germany without the other
+becoming Empress."</p>
+
+<p>"A dream, my dear count, in which Queen Augusta unfortunately believes,
+but which is not the dream of a reasonable being."</p>
+
+<p>"Sire, the unity of Germany is as much decreed in the design of
+Providence as the unity of Italy."</p>
+
+<p>"Excellent," said the king, laughing; "can there be a united Italy while
+the Italians possess neither Rome nor Venice?"</p>
+
+<p>"Italy is in formation, sire. She began her march in '59 and will not
+stop on the way. If she looks like stopping, she is only taking breath.
+Indeed, have we not promised her Venice?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but it is not we who will give it her."</p>
+
+<p>"Who then?"</p>
+
+<p>"France? who has already given her Lombardy, and has let her take the
+duchies and Naples. France!" said the king. "France let her take all
+that with quite the best will in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"Is Your Majesty aware of the contents of the telegraphic despatches
+which arrived when I was here and which were delivered as I left?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know. The Emperor Napoleon's speech at Auxerre," answered the
+king with some embarrassment. "You refer to that, do you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sire, the emperor's speech means war&mdash;war not only against
+Austria but against Germany. It means Venice for Italy and the Rhine
+provinces for France."</p>
+
+<p>"You really think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean that if we give France time to arm, the question without
+becoming desperate becomes grave, but that if we fall promptly and
+vigorously upon Austria, we shall be on the Moldau with three hundred
+thousand men before France can reach the Rhine with fifty thousand."</p>
+
+<p>"Count, you do not give the Austrians their proper value; the swagger of
+our young men has gone to your head."</p>
+
+<p>"Sire, if I appear to adopt the opinions of the heir-apparent and of
+Prince Frederic Charles, I can only say that the prince having been born
+on June 29th, 1801, is scarcely a young man; but the fact is, that in
+these matters I rely on my own opinion only, and I say deliberately in a
+war against Prussia, Austria will certainly be beaten."</p>
+
+<p>"Really?" said the king doubtfully. "Yet I have heard you speak in high
+terms of both their generals and their soldiers."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly."</p>
+
+<p>"Well then, it does not seem to me so remarkably easy to conquer good
+soldiers commanded by good generals."</p>
+
+<p>"They have good, soldiers, sire, they have good generals, but we shall
+beat them because our own organization and arrangement are superior to
+theirs. When I persuaded Your Majesty to undertake the war on Schleswig
+which Your Majesty did not desire to do&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"If I had not desired to make war on Schleswig it would never have been
+made!"</p>
+
+<p>"That is very true, sire, but Your Majesty hesitated; I had the courage
+to insist, and Your Majesty approved of my reasons."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and what is the result of the war on Schleswig? War throughout
+Germany!"</p>
+
+<p>"True, sire, in the first place I like a situation that calls for
+resolute action; and as I consider war in Germany inevitable, I
+congratulate you."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you explain whence comes your confidence?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your Majesty forgets that I made the campaign with the Prussian army. I
+did not do it for the mere pleasure of hearing cannon, of counting the
+dead, and of sleeping on the battlefield, where I assure you one sleeps
+very badly, or for the purpose of giving you what was nevertheless well
+worth having, two posts on the Baltic, of which Prussia stood in great
+need. No, I made the campaign with the object of trying the Austrians,
+and I repeat that they are behind us in everything&mdash;discipline,
+armaments, use of arms: they have bad rifles, bad artillery, and worse
+powder. In a war against us Austria will be beaten from the very
+commencement, for we have everything which she has not, and Austria once
+vanquished, the supremacy in Germany must inevitably fall from her hands
+into those of Prussia."</p>
+
+<p>"And how is Prussia with a population of eighteen millions to maintain
+her superiority over sixty? Only look at her pitiful appearance on the
+map."</p>
+
+<p>"That is exactly the point. I have looked at her for three years, and
+now is the time to mould her anew. Prussia is a great serpent whose head
+is at Thionville, while her tail is at Memel, and which has a lump in
+her stomach because she has swallowed half Saxony. She is a kingdom cut
+in two by another&mdash;Hanover&mdash;in such a fashion that you cannot get home
+without going abroad. You must understand, sire, Hanover is bound to
+become part of Prussia."</p>
+
+<p>"But what will England say to this?"</p>
+
+<p>"England is no longer in the age of Pitt and Cobourg. England is the
+very humble servant of the Manchester School, of Gladstone, Cobden, and
+their scholars; England will do no more for Hanover than she did for
+Denmark. Must we not take Saxony also?"</p>
+
+<p>"France will never allow us to meddle with Saxony, if only in memory of
+the king who was faithful to her in 1813."</p>
+
+<p>"Not if we took too big a mouthful; but if we only nibble she will shut
+both eyes, or at least one of them. And is not Hesse also very
+necessary?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Confederation will not abandon all Hesse."</p>
+
+<p>"But if it will let us take half, that is all we want. Now let us
+consider Frankfort-on-the-Main."</p>
+
+<p>"Frankfort-on-the-Main! The free town! The seat of the Diet!"</p>
+
+<p>"The moment Prussia can reckon thirty millions of men instead of
+eighteen the Diet is dead. Prussia will then be the Diet. Only, instead
+of crying a decree she will say 'decree.'"</p>
+
+<p>"We shall have the whole of the Confederation against us. It will side
+with Austria."</p>
+
+<p>"So much the better!"</p>
+
+<p>"And why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Austria once beaten, the Confederation is beaten along with her."</p>
+
+<p>"We shall have a million men against us."</p>
+
+<p>"Let us count them."</p>
+
+<p>"There are four hundred and fifty thousand in Austria&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Agreed."</p>
+
+<p>"And four hundred and fifty thousand in Venetia."</p>
+
+<p>"The emperor is too obstinate to recall troops from Venice before two or
+three battles if he is successful, before ten if he is beaten."</p>
+
+<p>"Bavaria has one hundred and sixty thousand."</p>
+
+<p>"I will answer for Bavaria&mdash;her king is too fond of music to love the
+sound of cannon."</p>
+
+<p>"Hanover, twenty-five thousand men."</p>
+
+<p>"Only a mouthful to swallow on our first march."</p>
+
+<p>"Saxony, fifteen thousand."</p>
+
+<p>"Another mouthful."</p>
+
+<p>"And a hundred and fifty thousand belonging to the Confederation."</p>
+
+<p>"The Confederation will have no time to arm them; only we must not lose
+a moment, sire; therefore I now say 'War, Victory, the supremacy of
+Prussia&mdash;myself&mdash;or-'"</p>
+
+<p>"Or?"</p>
+
+<p>"Or my resignation, which I lay very humbly at Your Majesty's feet."</p>
+
+<p>"What is that on your hand, count?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing, sire."</p>
+
+<p>"It looks like blood."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it is."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it true, then, that some one attempted your life by firing at you
+with a revolver?"</p>
+
+<p>"Five times, sire."</p>
+
+<p>"Five? Good gracious!"</p>
+
+<p>"He thought it none too many for me."</p>
+
+<p>"And you are unwounded?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only a scratch on the little finger."</p>
+
+<p>"And who was your assassin?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know who he is."</p>
+
+<p>"Did he refuse to give his name?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I forgot to ask him; besides, that is the Attorney-General's
+affair, not mine. I do not interfere with other people's concerns. Now,
+my own business is my King's business, and that is here."</p>
+
+<p>"I am listening," said the king.</p>
+
+<p>"To-morrow the chamber is dissolved; the following day we mobilize; in
+eight days hostilities are declared, or else&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Or else what?"</p>
+
+<p>"Or else, as I have the honour to repeat to Your Majesty, my
+resignation."</p>
+
+<p>Then, without waiting for the king's answer the Count von Bismarck bowed
+low, and according to etiquette retired backwards from the king's
+presence. The king said nothing to detain his minister, but before
+closing the door, that gentleman heard the bell rung loudly enough to
+rouse the whole palace.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h4>
+
+<h3>A SPORTSMAN AND A SPANIEL</h3>
+
+
+<p>On the day following the events just narrated, a young man about
+twenty-five years of age arrived in Brunswick by the eleven o'clock
+train from Berlin. Leaving his luggage, which was labelled "Hanover," in
+the station, he took a small knapsack on which were strapped a
+sketch-book and camp-stool, buckled on a cartridge belt, flung a baldric
+supporting a double-barrelled gun over his shoulder, and completed his
+toilet with a large grey felt hat. Altogether he appeared a sort of
+cross between sportsman and tourist. Accompanied by a beautiful
+jet-black spaniel he left the station and hailed an open carriage,
+whereupon the dog instantly justified his name of "Frisk" by springing
+joyously in, and installing himself on the front seat, while his master
+reclined on the back after the manner of one accustomed to do things
+comfortably. Courteously addressing the driver in excellent German:</p>
+
+<p>"Coachman," said he, "kindly take me to the best hotel the town affords,
+or at any rate, to the one which provides the best lunch!"</p>
+
+<p>The coachman nodded as if to say he required no further instructions,
+and the carriage rattled and bumped over the cobble stones to the Hôtel
+d'Angleterre. The dog, who had hardly been able to retain his position,
+instantly sprang out, and showing his relief by active gambols,
+besought his master to follow. The latter alighted, but left his
+knapsack and gun in the carriage. Turning to the driver:</p>
+
+<p>"You may wait," he said, "and keep an eye on my things."</p>
+
+<p>Hackney coachmen, all the world over, have a keen eye for good
+customers. This honest fellow was no exception.</p>
+
+<p>"Excellency may be quite satisfied," he answered with a wink. "I will
+keep careful guard over them."</p>
+
+<p>The traveller entered the inn, and passing straight through it arrived
+at a pleasant court shaded by lime-trees. Here he selected a small table
+with chairs for two, one of which was promptly occupied by Frisk; his
+master took possession of the other and the two proceeded to lunch. This
+occupied an hour, and no lady could have received more attention than
+the young man bestowed on Frisk. The dog ate whatever his master ate,
+only politely protesting when a hare, accompanied by currant jelly,
+appeared on the scene, that as a sporting dog he ought not to touch
+game, and personally had a serious objection to sweets. Meanwhile, the
+driver remaining on his box refreshed himself with bread, cheese, and a
+half bottle of wine. Consequently, when master and dog re-occupied the
+carriage the trio presented an appearance of general satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>"Where to, Excellency?" enquired the driver, wiping his mouth on his
+sleeve, with the air of a man ready to drive to the world's end if you
+wished.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't quite know," was the answer, "it depends a little on you."</p>
+
+<p>"How so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if I find you a good fellow, I might wish to keep you on for some
+time."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, a year if you like!</p>
+
+<p>"No, that is too long."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, a month then."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither a year nor a month, but a day or two."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's not enough. I really thought you meant to take me on lease."</p>
+
+<p>"To begin with, what will you charge for going to Hanover?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is six leagues, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Four and a half, you mean."</p>
+
+<p>"But it is up and down hill the whole way."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense! it is as flat as a billiard-table."</p>
+
+<p>"One can't get round you," said the grinning driver.</p>
+
+<p>"In one way you can."</p>
+
+<p>"And which is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Simply by being honest."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, indeed! That is a new idea."</p>
+
+<p>"It is one which has not before occurred to you, I think."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, name your own price, then."</p>
+
+<p>"Four florins."</p>
+
+<p>"But you are not counting the drive from the station and the time for
+lunch."</p>
+
+<p>"You are right, I will allow for that."</p>
+
+<p>"And the <i>pourboire</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"That is as I may choose."</p>
+
+<p>"Agreed. I don't know why, but I trust you."</p>
+
+<p>"Only, if I keep you more than a week it will then be three and a half
+florins per day, and no <i>pourboire</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"I couldn't agree to that."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I see no reason for depriving you of the pleasure of doing the
+handsome thing when I have the misfortune of leaving you."</p>
+
+<p>"The dickens! One would take you for a wit!"</p>
+
+<p>"I've wit enough to look like a fool when I want to."</p>
+
+<p>"Well done! Where do you come from?"</p>
+
+<p>"From Sachsenhausen."</p>
+
+<p>"And where may that be?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is a suburb of Frankfort."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! yes, it is a Saxon colony from the days of Charlemagne."</p>
+
+<p>"That is so. So you know that, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I also know that you are a fine race, something like the Auvergnats of
+France. We will settle up when we part."</p>
+
+<p>"That's suits me down to the ground."</p>
+
+<p>"What's your name?</p>
+
+<p>"Lenhart."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, Lenhart, let us get on then."</p>
+
+<p>The carriage started, scattering the usual crowd of idle spectators. A
+few minutes brought it to the end of the street leading to the open
+country. The day was magnificent. The trees had just burst into leaf,
+and earth had assumed a mantle of green, the soft spring breeze seemed
+laden with the perfume of flowers. Overhead the birds were already
+seeking food for their little ones, and awakening Nature appeared to
+listen to their songs. From time to time a lark arose from among the
+corn, and ascending high in the air seemed as if floating above the
+summit of a pyramid of song.</p>
+
+<p>Beholding this magnificent country the traveller exclaimed: "But there
+must be splendid shooting here, is there not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but it is strictly preserved," replied the coachman.</p>
+
+<p>"So much the better," said our friend, "there will be all the more
+game."</p>
+
+<p>In fact, before they had gone quite a mile from the town, Frisk, who
+had given various signs of impatience, sprang out of the carriage,
+rushed into a field of clover, and pointed.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I go on or wait," enquired the driver, seeing the young man
+loading his gun.</p>
+
+<p>"Go on a yard, or two," was the answer. "There, that will do; now, draw
+up as near to the field as you can."</p>
+
+<p>The carriage, with the sportsman standing up in it, gun in hand, halted
+within thirty yards of the dog. The driver looked on with all the
+interest of his class, an interest which is always on the side of the
+sportsman and hostile to the landlord and the gamekeeper. "That is a
+clever dog," he remarked. "What is he pointing at?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is a hare."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know?"</p>
+
+<p>"Had it been a bird he would have wagged his tail. See."</p>
+
+<p>A big leveret showed itself among the clover and fell a victim to the
+gun. It was promptly brought in by Frisk. Further on a covey of
+partridges was seen, but the dog was called off, and the young brood
+left in peace. They were already approaching Hanover when a startled
+hare was seen some sixty yards from the carriage.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" said Lenhart, "this one wisely keeps his distance."</p>
+
+<p>"It does not follow," replied the sportsman.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't expect to hit at that distance, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Have you still to learn, my friend, you who profess to be able to
+shoot, that to a good shot and a good gun distance is of small
+importance? Now, watch!"</p>
+
+<p>Then, having altered the charges in his gun the young man enquired:</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know all about the manners and customs of hares, Lenhart?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, I think I know all any one can know who can't speak their
+language."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I can tell you this. A startled hare, if not pursued, will run
+about fifty paces and will then sit down to have a look round and
+perform his toilet. Look!"</p>
+
+<p>And in fact, the hare, which had run towards the carriage, instead of
+away from it, suddenly stopped, sat down, and began to wash its face
+with its forepaws. This predicted toilet cost the poor animal its life.
+A prompt shot and the hare bounded upwards and fell back dead.</p>
+
+<p>"Beg pardon, Excellency," said Lenhart, "but if we are going to war as
+it is said we are, on which side will you be?"</p>
+
+<p>"As I am neither Austrian nor Prussian, but happen to be a Frenchman,
+you will probably find me fighting for France."</p>
+
+<p>"So long as you do not fight for these Prussian beggars I am quite
+satisfied. If you will fight against them, however&mdash;<i>donnerwetter</i>&mdash;but
+I have something to say."</p>
+
+<p>"Well? at is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I offer you the free use of my carriage to fight from."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks! my friend, 'tis an offer not to be despised. I always thought
+that if I had to fight, I should like to make the campaign in a
+carriage."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, here is the very thing you want. I can't tell you how old
+my horse is, he wasn't young when I bought him ten years ago, but I know
+if I took him to a Thirty Years' War he would see me through it. As for
+the carriage, you can see it is as good as new. Those shafts were put on
+only three years ago, and last year it had new wheels and a new axle,
+and it is only six months since I provided it with a new body."</p>
+
+<p>"You remind me of an anecdote we have in France," replied the other. "It
+is that of Simple Simon's knife, which had first a new blade and then a
+new handle, but was still the same knife."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, sir," said Lenhart, with the air of a philosopher, "every country
+has its Simple Simon's knife."</p>
+
+<p>"And also its simpletons, my good friend."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if you put new barrels on your gun you might give me the old
+ones. Here comes your dog with the hare," lifting it by the ears. "You
+can join the other, you fool," he said. "See what comes of too much
+vanity! Ah, sir! don't fight against the Prussians if you don't want to,
+but, good heaven, don't fight for them!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, as to that you may be quite easy. If I do fight, it will be against
+them, and perhaps I shall not wait for war to be declared."</p>
+
+<p>"Bravo! Down with the Prussians!" cried Lenhart, touching up his horse
+with a sharp cut. The animal, as if to justify his praises, and excited
+by his master's voice and cracking whip, broke into a gallop, bolted
+through the suburban streets and only stopped at the Hôtel Royal.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h4>
+
+<h3>BENEDICT TURPIN</h3>
+
+
+<p>Lenhart, in his double capacity of hackney coachman and purveyor of
+travellers and tourists for the Hôtel Royal, Hanover, was well known to
+Mr. Stephen, landlord thereof, who gave him a cordial reception. Anxious
+to magnify the importance of his present consignment, Lenhart hastened
+to inform him that the new arrival was a mortal enemy of the Prussians,
+that he never missed a shot, and that if war were declared, he would
+place himself and his deadly weapon at the disposal of the King of
+Hanover. To all of which Stephen lent an attentive ear.</p>
+
+<p>"But where does your traveller come from," he at length enquired.</p>
+
+<p>"He says he's a Frenchman, but I don't believe it. I've never once heard
+him boast about anything, besides, his German is too good. But there, he
+is calling you."</p>
+
+<p>Stephen quickly answered the summons. The stranger was talking to an
+English officer of the Royal Household and his English appeared no less
+fluent than his German. Turning to Stephen he said in the latter
+language.</p>
+
+<p>"I have asked a question of Colonel Anderson, who has kindly given me
+one-half of the answer, and tells me to apply to you for the rest. I
+asked for the title of the principal newspaper here, and the name of
+its editor. Colonel Anderson says the 'Hanoverian Gazette,' but does not
+know the editor's name."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait a moment, Excellency. Yes, yes, let me see. He is Herr Bodemeyer,
+a tall, thin man with a beard, is he not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind his appearance. I want his name and address. I wish to send
+him my card."</p>
+
+<p>"I only know the office address, Park Strasse. Do you dine at the <i>table
+d'hôte</i>? If so, Herr Bodemeyer is one of our regular guests. It is at
+five o'clock, he will be here in half-an-hour."</p>
+
+<p>"All the more reason why he should have my card first," and producing a
+visiting-card bearing the legend "Benedict Turpin, Artist," he addressed
+it to Herr Bodemeyer, and handed it and a florin to the hotel messenger,
+who undertook to deliver it within ten minutes.</p>
+
+<p>Stephen then ventured to suggest that if there were private matters to
+discuss a private room might be desirable.</p>
+
+<p>"A good idea," said Benedict, and going to Colonel Anderson, "Sir," said
+he, "although we have never been formally introduced, I nevertheless
+hope you will waive etiquette and do me the honour of dining with me and
+Herr Bodemeyer, who I think will not refuse to join us. Our host
+promises an excellent dinner and good wine. It is six months since I
+left France, consequently six months since I had a chance of
+conversation. In England they talk, in Germany they dream, it is in
+France only that they converse. Let us have a nice little dinner at
+which we can do all three. Here is my card, that of an insignificant
+artist, devoid of armorial bearings or coronets, but with the simple
+Cross of the Légion d'Honneur. I would add, colonel," he continued
+seriously, "that in a day or two I may find myself obliged to ask a
+favour of you, and I should like to prove myself not unworthy of the
+consideration I hope you will show me."</p>
+
+<p>The colonel accepted the card and bowed politely.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said he with courteous English formality, "the hope you give me
+of being able to render you some service would certainly induce me to
+accept your hospitality. I have no reason whatever against dining with
+Herr Bodemeyer, and I have a thousand for wishing to dine with you, not
+the least being, if I may say so, that I find your person and manners
+exceedingly attractive."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict bowed in his turn.</p>
+
+<p>"Since you have done me the honour to accept," he said, "and I feel
+pretty sure of Herr Bodemeyer, it becomes my first duty to see that the
+dinner is a decent one. If you will excuse me I should like to interview
+the chef on the subject," and he departed kitchenwards while the colonel
+sought the hotel reading-room.</p>
+
+<p>Left in possession of a fair income at an age when the usual idea is
+only how best to squander it, Benedict Turpin had shown practical sense
+as well as genius. A believer in the excellent proverb which says that a
+man doubles his opportunities in life when he learns a new language, he
+had quadrupled his by spending a year in England, another in Germany, a
+third in Spain, and a fourth in Italy. At eighteen he was a first-rate
+linguist, and he spent the next two years in completing his education by
+classical and scientific studies, not neglecting the use of weapons and
+the general practice of games, calculated to further his physical
+development. By the time he was twenty he had attained an all-round
+proficiency very unusual in youths of his age and promised much in the
+time to come.</p>
+
+<p>He took part in the Chinese expedition, and being possessed of
+sufficient means to indulge his taste for travelling, spent several
+years in world-wide wandering, hunting wild beasts, traversing deserts,
+picking up tapestries, jewels, curiosities, etc., wherewith on his
+return he furnished one of the most artistic studios in Paris. At the
+time our story opens he had, in the course of a round of visits to
+celebrated German painters, arrived in Berlin, where he upheld the
+honour of France, with the insolent good luck which seemed never to
+desert him. When the attention of the mob was momentarily diverted by
+the attack on the Prime Minister, Benedict succeeded in escaping
+unnoticed, and took refuge at the French Embassy, where he was well
+known. Early in the following morning he left by train and finally
+arrived at Hanover without let or hindrance. He had just given his last
+instructions to the cook when he was warned that Herr Bodemeyer was
+already approaching the hotel.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict hurried to the entrance, where he saw close at hand a gentleman
+drawing near, who held a visiting card in his hand, and seemed pondering
+much as to what the owner could possibly want with him.</p>
+
+<p>It is said that the denizens of that ancient Gaul which gave Cæsar so
+much trouble have so marked a personality that, wherever one is seen,
+the passers-by immediately remark: "Look, that's a Frenchman!"</p>
+
+<p>Herr Bodemeyer, at any rate, seemed to recognize Benedict's nationality
+at once. He advanced smiling, with extended hand. Benedict promptly
+descended the steps to meet him and the two exchanged the customary
+civilities. Hearing that the artist had come from Berlin, and being
+professionally eager for news, the editor at once demanded an account of
+the uproar of the previous evening, and of the attempted assassination
+of Count Bismarck.</p>
+
+<p>As to the latter, Benedict could give little information. He had heard
+the shots, seen two men struggling, and one handed over to some
+officers, and then had hastily sprung into the café, left it by a door
+in another street, and found shelter at the Embassy. There he heard
+further that the young man was the stepson of a proscribed refugee of
+the '48, named Blind, and that he had made terrible accusations against
+the count, which, coming as they did from the relative of a banished
+rebel, were held to count for very little.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we know a little more than that," said Herr Bodemeyer, "we hear
+that the young man attempted to cut his throat with a penknife, but that
+the wounds were only slight and the doctor says are not dangerous. But
+the "Kreuz Zeitung" will be here directly and we shall know a little
+more."</p>
+
+<p>Even as he spoke newsboys hurried down the street shouting "Kreuz
+Zeitung&mdash;Zeitung!" There was a rush for the paper. Hanover was nearly as
+excited as Berlin had been the night before. Did the poor little kingdom
+already feel itself in the crushing embrace of the Prussian
+boa-constrictor?</p>
+
+<p>Benedict beckoned to one of the newsboys and bought a paper. Turning to
+the Hanoverian editor,</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you will dine with me and Colonel Anderson," he said. "We have a
+private room, and can talk politics as much as we like. Besides, I have
+something to ask of you which I could hardly ask at a public table."</p>
+
+<p>Just then Colonel Anderson approached. He and Bodemeyer knew each other
+by sight already. Benedict now formally introduced them. The colonel had
+already glanced at his newspaper.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know," said he, "that although the doctor pronounced the wound
+of no consequence, young Blind nevertheless died early this morning? A
+Hanoverian officer come from Berlin says that about four o'clock a man
+wrapped in a large cloak and wearing a large shady hat which concealed
+his face, arrived at the prison provided with a permission to see the
+prisoner, and was taken to his cell. Blind had been put into a strait
+waistcoat and no one knows what passed between them, but when his cell
+was inspected at eight o'clock he was dead. The doctor says he must have
+been dead nearly four hours, so that he must have died about the time
+this mysterious visitor left him."</p>
+
+<p>"Is this official news?" enquired Bodemeyer. "As editor of a Government
+paper I am bound to accept only official information. Let us see what
+the 'Kreuz Zeitung' has to say."</p>
+
+<p>They withdrew to the room assigned to them, and the Hanoverian editor
+proceeded to examine the Berlin newspaper. The first paragraph of
+consequence stated:</p>
+
+<p>"We are assured that the king's warrant decreeing the dissolution of the
+Lower Chamber will be officially published to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Come," said the colonel, "that is of some importance."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait a moment; there is something more."</p>
+
+<p>"It is also announced that a decree ordering the mobilization of the
+Landwehr will be officially published the day after to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"That is enough," observed the colonel, "we know now that the minister
+wins all along the line and that war will be declared in less than a
+fortnight. Let us have the general news. We know all we want to know of
+the political. Only, first, on which side will Hanover be?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is no doubt about that," replied Bodemeyer. "Hanover is bound to
+adhere to the Confederation."</p>
+
+<p>"And on which side is the Confederation," asked Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>"On the side of Austria," answered the journalist promptly. "But listen,
+here is a fresh account of the scene in Unter den Linden."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! let us have that by all means," cried Benedict. "I was there, and I
+want to know if the account is correct.</p>
+
+<p>"What! were you there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very much there," and he added laughing, "I might even say with Æneas,
+'<i>Et quorum pars magna fui.</i>' I was in the thick of it."</p>
+
+<p>Herr Bodemeyer continued:</p>
+
+<p>"We are now able to give fuller details concerning the demonstration in
+Unter den Linden which occurred yesterday after the report of the
+Emperor Louis Napoleon's speech had been received. It appears that just
+as our most distinguished vocalist finished singing 'The German Rhine,'
+which was received with tremendous enthusiasm, a loud hiss was heard. It
+was soon seen that the author of this insult was a foreigner, a French
+painter, evidently intoxicated, and who would probably have atoned for
+his folly with his life, had not some Prussian officers generously
+protected him from the infuriated populace. The young fool further
+defied the crowd by giving his name and address, but when enquiries were
+made at the Black Eagle this morning he had disappeared. We commend his
+prudence and wish him a pleasant journey."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that paragraph signed," asked Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>"No. Is it inaccurate?" returned the reader.</p>
+
+<p>"May I be permitted to remark that the one thing I have everywhere
+observed in my wanderings over three of the four quarters of the
+world&mdash;I beg your pardon, there are five, if we count Oceania&mdash;is the
+extremely small regard for truth shown by the purveyors of this sort of
+news. Whether in the north or the south, St. Petersburg or Calcutta,
+Paris or Constantinople, they are all alike. Each journal is bound to
+give so many beats of its drum every day. Good or bad, false or true, it
+has to give them, and those who feel injured must obtain redress&mdash;if
+they can."</p>
+
+<p>"Which means, I suppose," observed Colonel Anderson, "that this account
+is incorrect."</p>
+
+<p>"Not only incorrect, but incomplete. The 'young fool' it speaks of, not
+only hissed, but cried, 'Vive la France!' Further, he drank to the
+health of France, and also disposed satisfactorily of the four first who
+attacked, him. It is true that these three Prussian officers intervened.
+They wished him to cry 'Vive Guillaume I' and 'Vive la Prusse.' He
+mounted a table, and instead, gave them a recital of Alfred de Musset's
+'Answer to the German Rhine' from end to end. It is also true that just
+then the reports of Blind's revolver attracted general attention, and,
+not proposing to fight all Berlin, he profited by the incident to
+escape, taking refuge in the French Embassy. He had challenged one, two,
+or four adversaries, but not the entire populace. He also left a message
+at the Black Eagle to be given to any enquirers to the effect that he
+could not remain in Berlin, but would wait in some neighbouring country
+in order to oblige any one demanding satisfaction. And, leaving Berlin
+by an early train he arrived at Hanover an hour ago and at once sent his
+card to Herr Bodemeyer, hoping that that gentleman will kindly announce
+in his Gazette both the town and the hotel where this 'young fool' may
+be found by any one unable to find him at the Black Eagle."</p>
+
+<p>"Good heavens," exclaimed the editor, "then it was you who caused this
+mighty uproar at Berlin."</p>
+
+<p>"Even I; small things make much noise, as you see." Turning to the
+Englishman, Benedict continued, "And now you also see why I warned
+Colonel Anderson that I had a favour to ask him. I want him to be my
+second in case, as is quite possible, some wrathful individual should
+arrive demanding why, being in a foreign country, I have dared to uphold
+the honour of my own."</p>
+
+<p>His hearers, with one accord, immediately offered their hands. Benedict
+continued:</p>
+
+<p>"And now, to show I am not absolutely unknown, here is a letter from the
+Head of our 'Department of Fine Arts' to Herr Kaulbach, Painter to the
+King of Hanover. He lives here, does he not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, the king had a charming house built on purpose for him."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment the door communicating with the next room was thrown
+open, the rotund figure of the landlord appeared in the opening and a
+solemn and impressive voice announced:</p>
+
+<p>"Their Excellencies are served."</p>
+
+<p>Whether the chef had perceived that Benedict really understood what he
+was talking about, or else had had orders from his master to do what he
+was told, he had, at any rate, carried out his instructions to the very
+last letter, the result being neither French, English, nor German, but
+cosmopolitan, a banquet for a conference if not a congress. Nor was
+brilliant conversation lacking. Bodemeyer, like all German journalists,
+was a well-read man, but had never been outside Hanover. Anderson, on
+the contrary, had read little, but had travelled everywhere and seen
+much. He and Benedict had explored the same countries and encountered
+the same people. Both had been at the siege of Pekin; Anderson had
+followed Benedict in India, and preceded him in Russia. Both related
+their experiences, the one with English reserve and humour, the other
+with French vivacity and wit. The Englishman, a true modern
+Phœnician, saw everything from the industrial and commercial point of
+view, the Frenchman from that of intellectual progress. Their different
+ideas, brought forward with warmth and also with the courtesy of
+well-bred and distinguished men, crossed each other like foils in the
+hands of experienced fencers, emitting sparks, brilliant if transitory.
+Bodemeyer, unused to this style of discussion, endeavoured to give it a
+philosophical turn, in which he was met by Benedict, but which Anderson
+found difficult to follow. The journalist seemed unintelligible, but
+Benedict's theories he understood as he had never understood before.</p>
+
+<p>The clock striking eight abruptly terminated the conversation. The
+editor sprang up.</p>
+
+<p>"My paper!" he cried, "my 'Gazette'! It is not ready by half!" Never
+before had he succumbed to such an intellectual temptation. "Frenchmen
+are the very devil," he muttered, trying in vain to find a hat which
+would fit him. They <i>are</i> the champagne of the earth, they are clear,
+strong, and sparkling. In vain did Benedict entreat him for five minutes
+in which to write his announcement. "You must let me have it before
+eleven o'clock," cried Bodemeyer, as, having discovered his own hat and
+cane he fled as if the enemy were behind him.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning the following announcement might have been read in the
+"Hanoverian Gazette".</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"On June 7th, 1866, in Unter den Linden at Berlin I had occasion to
+both give and receive several blows in an encounter with various
+excellent citizens who wished to tear me to pieces because I had
+publicly emptied my glass to the glory of France. I have not the
+honour of knowing who gave these blows, but, wishing to be known by
+those who received mine, I hereby announce that during the next
+eight days I may be found at the Hôtel Royal, Hanover, by any one
+wishing to criticize either my words or actions on the said
+occasion, and I particularly hope that the author of a certain
+article referring to me in yesterday's issue of the 'Kreuz
+Zeitung,' will accept this invitation. Being ignorant of his name,
+I have no other means of addressing him.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish to thank the three Prussian officers who interfered to
+protect me from the amiable people of Berlin. But, should any of
+them consider himself offended by me, my gratitude will not extend
+to refusing him satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>"I said then and I repeat now, that I am familiar with the use of
+all weapons."</p>
+
+<p>
+"BENEDICT TURPIN.<br />
+"<i>At the Hôtel Royal, Hanover</i>."<br />
+</p>
+
+</blockquote>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h4>
+
+<h3>KAULBACH'S STUDIO</h3>
+
+
+<p>Benedict lost no time in leaving his note at the "Gazette" office, and
+his letter of introduction at Kaulbach's studio, where he left also his
+card on which was written, "I hope to have the honour of calling on you
+to-morrow." He therefore ordered Lenhart to be ready a little before
+eleven, in order to pay his two visits, one of thanks to Herr Bodemeyer,
+and one to Kaulbach. As the latter lived at the extreme end of the town
+where the king had had a charming little house erected for him, he
+called at Herr Bodemeyer's office first. The last copies of the
+"Gazette" were just being struck off, and Benedict was able to convince
+himself that his letter was actually in print. As the "Gazette" had
+numerous subscribers in Berlin and would be on sale there at six that
+evening, there was no doubt but that his communication would be widely
+read. The dissolution of the Chamber was confirmed and it was certain
+that mobilization would be announced on the morrow. Benedict continued
+on his way to the studio.</p>
+
+<p>Seen by daylight the house appeared to be a pretty villa in Italian
+style, standing in a garden enclosed with iron railings. The gate stood
+invitingly open. Benedict entered, rang, and was answered by a servant
+in livery, whose manner showed that the visit was expected. He at once
+led the way to the studio.</p>
+
+<p>"The master is just finishing dinner," he said, "but he will be with you
+in a moment."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell the master," replied Benedict, "that I am too delighted at being
+able to see the beautiful things here to wish to hurry him."</p>
+
+<p>And, indeed, the studio, full of original pictures, sketches, and copies
+of some of the works of the greatest painters known, could not fail to
+be intensely interesting to an artist such as Benedict, who now suddenly
+found himself in the sanctuary of one of the greatest of German
+painters. Kaulbach is an artist who has adhered to his Christian faith,
+and everywhere one saw proofs of this. But among highly finished
+sketches for some of his world-famous pictures, such as "The Dispersion
+of Mankind," "The Taking of Jerusalem," etc., Benedict's attention was
+drawn to a modern portrait group of five persons. It represented an
+officer, evidently of high rank, holding a boy of about ten by the hand.
+His charger stood ready on the terrace below, and a lady in the prime of
+life sat near him with two little girls, one leaning against her knee,
+while the other sat at her feet and played with a small dog and some
+roses. The picture, apparently, was a work of love, for the artist had
+taken immense pains with it; too much so, in fact, for the elaborately
+finished details threw the faces into the background, and the general
+effect was too flat.</p>
+
+<p>Absorbed in the study of this group, Benedict did not observe that
+Kaulbach had entered the room and was standing beside him, looking on
+with a smile. Presently he said:</p>
+
+<p>"You are right, that picture is too flat, and I had it brought back, not
+to finish it still more, but to tone it down and soften some parts. Such
+as it is your public would never like it. Delacroix has spoilt you for
+'clean' pictures."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean to imply that he painted dirty ones?" he enquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Heaven forbid! His works are excellent, but your nation did not
+appreciate them."</p>
+
+<p>"We do him justice now, however."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, now that he is dead," said Kaulbach smiling. "Is it not always
+so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not in your case. Admired in France, adored in Germany, happily you are
+yet with us."</p>
+
+<p>Kaulbach at this time was about fifty-two, slightly grey, sallow in
+complexion, having brilliant dark eyes and a highly nervous
+constitution. Tall and slight, he was at the zenith of his artistic
+powers and hardly past that of his physical ones. The two men studied
+each other critically, until at last Turpin began to laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know what I am thinking?" asked the German. "I am wondering how
+you have managed to wander from Pekin to St. Petersburg, from Astrakhan
+to Algiers, and yet found time to produce the remarkable pictures you
+have painted. I know these only by report unfortunately, but I have
+heard a good deal. You are a pupil of Scheffer's?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I have also studied under Cabat."</p>
+
+<p>"Great masters, both of them. And you are the hero of that unlucky
+business at Berlin. I have just read your letter in the 'Gazette.'"</p>
+
+<p>"But why 'unlucky'?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you will have two or three duels on your hands."</p>
+
+<p>"So much the worse for my adversaries."</p>
+
+<p>"Allow me to remark that you are not lacking in self-confidence."</p>
+
+<p>"No, because I have the certainty of success. Look!" and Benedict held
+out his hand. "Observe that the line of life is double. There is not
+the slightest break anywhere&mdash;nothing to indicate accident, sickness, or
+even the slightest scratch. I might live to a hundred&mdash;but I won't say
+as much of those who quarrel with me."</p>
+
+<p>Aulbach smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"At the end of your letter of introduction," he said, "there was a
+postscript, which informed me that you were more deeply interested in
+studying occult science than in pursuing your own art."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know that I study either very much. I am rather a slave to
+temperament. If a thing amuses me, well, yes, I study it. If I think I
+have found a truth, I try to follow it out to the very end. And I do
+believe that chiromancy can give us a glance into the future, and that
+the hand is a page on which the lines of our fate have been traced by
+Destiny. If for five minutes only I could study the hand of either the
+King of Prussia or of Count Bismarck, I could give you some idea of what
+will happen."</p>
+
+<p>"Meanwhile," said Kaulbach, "your science says you will escape scot-free
+from any duels arising out of this Berlin scrimmage?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly I shall. But we were talking about your work, which is
+infinitely more interesting. I believe I know all your pictures, or
+nearly so."</p>
+
+<p>"I would wager you don't know the best of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do. You mean 'Charlemagne visited in his Tomb by the Emperor
+Otho'? It is the masterpiece of modern German painting."</p>
+
+<p>Kaulbach was evidently delighted.</p>
+
+<p>"You have seen that!" he exclaimed, and he held out his hand to
+Benedict. "I don't think as much of it as you seem to do, but it is the
+best thing I have done. Oh! pardon me, but I see two visitors who come
+for a sitting. But wait, they are kind friends of mine, and may not
+object to your presence. I will tell them who you are, and then if they
+do not mind your being here you can please yourself as to whether you go
+or stay." So saying he hastily quitted the studio.</p>
+
+<p>A carriage was at the garden gate, quite plain in appearance, with no
+arms emblazoned on the panels, yet Benedict's practised eye saw at once
+that the horses had cost at least £200 each. Two gentlemen were leaving
+it, the elder of the two, who seemed about forty-five, wore the
+epaulettes of a general with an undress uniform of dark green, the
+collar and facings being of black velvet. Kaulbach said a few words,
+upon which he took off an order he was wearing and also two crosses,
+retaining those of the Guelphic Order and of Ernest Augustus. Then, that
+he might cross the little garden and ascend the steps he took the arm of
+the younger man, who seemed to be his son, and who, tall and very
+slight, appeared to be about one-and-twenty, and wore a Hussar uniform
+of blue and silver.</p>
+
+<p>Kaulbach opened the studio door and stood respectfully aside. Benedict,
+as he bowed, instantly recognized the central figure of Kaulbach's
+portrait group. He glanced quickly at the picture on which the missing
+decoration was depicted in all its glory. It was the Star of the Order
+of the Garter, worn by few except sovereign princes. He knew at once
+that the visitors must be the blind King of Hanover, one of the most
+cultivated and artistic sovereigns of Germany, and his son, the Crown
+Prince.</p>
+
+<p>"Milords," said Kaulbach, "I have the honour to present a brother artist
+to you. He is young, but is already famous, and he brings a special
+introduction from the Minister of Fine Arts at Paris. May I add that
+his own personality is a better recommendation even than those."</p>
+
+<p>The general bent his head graciously, the youth touched his cap. The
+elder man then addressed Benedict in English, regretting that his French
+was only indifferent. Benedict replied in the same language, saying that
+he was too great an admirer of Shakespeare, Scott, and Byron not to have
+made an effort to read these authors in their own tongue. The king,
+satisfied that he was unrecognized, discussed various subjects, and,
+knowing that Benedict had travelled much, asked many questions which
+were in themselves a compliment, for only men of superior intelligence
+could have asked and answered them. Kaulbach, meanwhile, rapidly worked
+at his picture softening down the too hard accessories. The young prince
+listened eagerly, and when Benedict offered to show him sketches made in
+India, he appealed anxiously to his father as to when and where he could
+see them.</p>
+
+<p>"Better ask both these gentlemen to lunch in your own rooms," said the
+King, "and if they do you the honour to accept&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! can you come to-morrow?" enquired the prince, delighted.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict looked at Kaulbach in embarrassment.</p>
+
+<p>"I fear I may have work of another kind to-morrow," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Kaulbach, "I fear my friend here is a trifle hot-headed. He
+only arrived yesterday and he has already written a letter for the
+'Gazette,' which is now well on its way to Berlin."</p>
+
+<p>"What! the letter I thought so amusing that I read it aloud to my
+father! Is that yours, monsieur? But, indeed, you will have duels
+without end."</p>
+
+<p>"I count on two," said Benedict. "It is a lucky number."</p>
+
+<p>"But suppose you are killed or wounded?"</p>
+
+<p>"If I am killed, I will, with your permission, bequeath you my album. If
+I am badly hurt, I will ask Herr Kaulbach to show it you instead. If I
+am only scratched, I will bring it myself. But you need not be anxious
+on my account; I can assure you nothing unpleasant will happen to me."</p>
+
+<p>"But how can you know that?"</p>
+
+<p>"You know my friend's name, I think," said Kaulbach. "He is Benedict
+Turpin. Well, he descends in the direct line from the famous enchanter
+Turpin, the uncle of Charlemagne, and he has inherited the gifts of his
+ancestor!"</p>
+
+<p>"Good heavens," said the prince, "are you spirit, magician, or what?"</p>
+
+<p>"None of them. I simply amuse myself by reading the past, the present,
+and as much of the future as one's hand can reveal."</p>
+
+<p>"Before you came," said Kaulbach, "he was deeply regretting not being
+able to see the hand of the King of Prussia. He would have told us what
+will happen in the war. My lord," he continued, emphasizing the title,
+"could we not find somewhere a royal hand for him to see?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very easily," said the king, smiling, "only it should be that of a real
+king or a real emperor. Such as the Emperor of China, who is obeyed by
+millions of subjects, or Alexander, who reigns over the ninth part of
+the whole world. Do you not think so, M. Turpin?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think, sir," replied Benedict, as he bent low before the king, "that
+it is not always great kingdoms which make great kings. Thessaly
+produced Achilles, and Macedonia gave birth to Alexander," and again
+bowing, even more deeply, he left the studio.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h4>
+
+<h3>THE CHALLENGE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Benedict's prediction was duly fulfilled. He had hardly opened his eyes
+the next morning when Lenhart, who had assumed the duties of valet,
+appeared, bearing a magnificent silver salver which he had borrowed from
+the landlord. On it were displayed two cards.</p>
+
+<p>The cards bore the respective names of "Major Frederic von Bülow" and
+"Georges Kleist, Editor of the 'Kreuz Zeitung.'" Two different classes
+of Prussian society were therefore represented desiring satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict enquired where these gentlemen were to be found, and hearing
+that they were both at his own hotel, sent a hasty message to Colonel
+Anderson, begging him to come at once. When he appeared Benedict gave
+him the cards, requesting him to deal with the owners in due order of
+precedence, beginning with Major von Bülow, and to agree to whatever
+terms were proposed whether as to weapons, time, or place. The colonel
+would have protested, but Benedict declared he would have it his own way
+or not at all, and Anderson had no choice but to agree.</p>
+
+<p>He returned at the end of half-an-hour. Von Bülow had chosen swords.
+But, having been sent officially to Frankfort, and having come out of
+his way in order to accept M. Turpin's challenge, he would be greatly
+obliged if the meeting might take place as soon as possible.</p>
+
+<p>"The sooner the better," said Benedict. "It is the very least I can do
+to oblige a man who comes out of his way in order to oblige me."</p>
+
+<p>"All he wants, seemingly, is to be able to continue his journey this
+evening," observed Anderson.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" said Benedict. "But I cannot answer for his ability to do that,
+however early we meet!"</p>
+
+<p>"That would be a pity," said the colonel. "Major von Bülow is very much
+a gentleman. It seems that three Prussian officers interfered to protect
+you from the mob on condition that you cried 'Vive King William!' 'Vive
+la Prusse!'"</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me, there were no conditions."</p>
+
+<p>"Not on your side, but they undertook it for you."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not prevent them from crying it as much as they liked."</p>
+
+<p>"Doubtless, only, instead of doing it yourself&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I recited one of Alfred de Musset's finest poems; what more could they
+want?"</p>
+
+<p>"They consider that you treated them with disrespect."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I did. Well, what next?"</p>
+
+<p>"When they read your letter they decided that one of them must accept
+the challenge and the other two act as seconds. They drew lots, and the
+lot fell on von Bülow. That very moment he received orders to go on this
+mission to Frankfort. The others wished that one of them should take his
+place in the duel. But he refused, saying that if he were killed or
+badly wounded, one of them could take on the dispatches which would not
+be much delayed. So I then arranged the meeting for one o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well. What about the other man?"</p>
+
+<p>"Herr Georges Kleist is not remarkable in any way: he is a typical
+German journalist. He chooses pistols and wants to fire at close
+quarters on account of his defective eyesight. I believe it is quite
+good enough, but, however, he does wear glasses, so you are to be at
+forty-five paces&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Good gracious! Do you call that close quarters?"</p>
+
+<p>"Have a little patience! You may each advance fifteen paces nearer,
+which reduces the ultimate distance to fifteen. But we had a discussion.
+His seconds say that he is the aggrieved party and has the right to fire
+first. I say, nothing of the kind; you ought to fire together, at a
+given signal. You must decide; it is a serious matter, and I decline the
+responsibility."</p>
+
+<p>"It is soon decided; he must fire first. I hope you fixed an early time
+for him also? We could then kill two birds with one stone."</p>
+
+<p>"That is just what I have done. At one o'clock you meet von Bülow with
+swords, and at a quarter-past, Herr Kleist, with pistols."</p>
+
+<p>"Well then, my dear colonel, I will go and order breakfast, and will you
+be so good as to tell Herr Kleist that he can have first shot? And," he
+added, "let it be understood that I don't provide any arms myself; I
+will use the swords and pistols they bring with them."</p>
+
+<p>It was then eleven o'clock. Benedict promptly ordered breakfast. Colonel
+Anderson returned in ten minutes and announced that all was settled.
+Whereupon they applied themselves to their repast until the clock struck
+twelve.</p>
+
+<p>"Colonel," said Benedict, "do not let us be late."</p>
+
+<p>"We have no great distance to go. It is a pretty place, as you will see.
+Are you influenced by surroundings?"</p>
+
+<p>"I would rather fight on grass than on cultivated ground."</p>
+
+<p>"We are going to Eilenriede; it is a sort of Hanoverian Bois de
+Boulogne. In the middle of the wood there is a little open glade with a
+spring in it, which might have been made for this sort of encounter. I
+have been there once or twice on my own account and three or four times
+on other people's. By the way, have you secured another second?"</p>
+
+<p>"There are five on the other side, one of them will oblige me."</p>
+
+<p>"But suppose they refused?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not likely! But, even if they did, you alone would be sufficient. And,
+as they seem anxious to finish the affair one way or another, there will
+be no difficulties."</p>
+
+<p>Lenhart had already announced the carriage. The colonel explained the
+way to him. In half-an-hour they arrived at the little glade, with ten
+minutes to spare.</p>
+
+<p>"A lovely spot," said Benedict. "As the others are not yet here, I will
+sketch it."</p>
+
+<p>And, producing a sketch-book from his pocket, he dashed off a very
+accurate view of the place with remarkable rapidity and skill.</p>
+
+<p>Presently a carriage appeared in the distance. As they drew near
+Benedict rose and took off his hat. The three officers, the editor, and
+a surgeon they had brought, occupied it. In the officers, Benedict at
+once recognized his three protectors at Berlin.</p>
+
+<p>His adversaries left their carriage at a little distance and courteously
+returned his salute. Colonel Anderson went to meet them and explained
+that his principal, being a stranger, had no second but himself, and
+asked if one of his opponents would supply the deficiency. They
+consulted a moment, then one of the officers crossed over and bowed to
+Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>"I am much obliged by your courtesy, sir," said Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>"We will agree to anything, sir&mdash;rather than lose time," replied the
+officer.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict bit his lip.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you at once select the weapons," he said to Colonel Anderson in
+English, "we must not keep these gentlemen waiting."</p>
+
+<p>Von Bülow had already divested himself of helmet, coat, waistcoat, and
+cravat. Benedict studied him carefully as he did so. He appeared to be
+about thirty-three and to have lived in his uniform until he felt
+uncomfortable out of it. He was dark, with glossy black hair cut quite
+short, a straight nose, black moustache and very decided chin. Both
+courage and loyalty could be read in the frank and open glance of his
+dark eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Von Bülow, having provided the swords, Benedict was offered his choice
+of them. He simply took the first that came, and immediately passed his
+left hand along the edge and felt the point. The edge was keen as a
+razor. The point sharp as a needle. The major's second observed his
+action, and, beckoning Colonel Anderson aside.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you," he said, "kindly explain to your principal that in German
+duels we use only the edge of the sword? To thrust with the point is
+inadmissible."</p>
+
+<p>"The devil!" said Benedict when this information was repeated to him,
+"it is well you told me. In France, where duels, especially military
+ones, are usually serious, we use every stroke we can, and our
+sword-play is actually called 'counterpoint.'"</p>
+
+<p>"But indeed," exclaimed von Bülow, "I beg, sir, that you will use your
+sword in whatever way you find best."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict bowed in acknowledgment. Having fought several duels at
+Heidelberg he was well acquainted with German methods of fencing and
+placed himself with apparent indifference. As the affronted person has
+the right of attack, and a challenge may be considered an affront, he
+waited, standing simply on guard.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h4>
+
+<h3>THE TWO DUELS</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Engage, gentlemen!" cried the colonel.</p>
+
+<p>Von Bülow's sword swept through the air with a flash like lightning.
+But, rapid though it was, it descended in empty space. Warned by the
+instinct of a true fencer, the blades had barely crossed when Benedict
+sprang swiftly aside and remained standing unguarded, his point lowered,
+and his mocking smile disclosing a fine set of teeth. His adversary
+paused, perplexed, then swung round so as to face him, but did not
+immediately advance. However, feeling that this duel must be no child's
+play, he stepped forward and instantly the point of Benedict's sword
+rose menacingly against him. Involuntarily he retreated a step. Benedict
+now fixed his eyes upon him, circling round him, now bending to the
+right, now again to the left, but always keeping his weapon low and
+ready to strike.</p>
+
+<p>The major began to feel a kind of hypnotic influence overpowering him.
+Determined to fight against it, he boldly stepped forward, holding his
+sword aloft. Instantly he felt the touch of cold steel. Benedict thrust,
+his rapier pierced von Bülow's shirt and reappeared on the other side.
+Had not the major remained standing motionless opposite him, an onlooker
+would have supposed he had been run through the body.</p>
+
+<p>The seconds hastened up, but:</p>
+
+<p>"It is nothing, I assure you," said the major.</p>
+
+<p>Then, perceiving that Benedict had only intended to pierce his shirt and
+not himself, he added:</p>
+
+<p>"Come, sir, let us continue this game in earnest."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" said Benedict, "but you see, had I played in earnest, you would
+now be a dead man!"</p>
+
+<p>"On guard, sir," cried von Bülow, furious, "and remember this is a duel
+to the death."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict stepped back and saluting with his sword:</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me, gentlemen," he said, "you see how unfortunate I am. Although
+fully intending not to use my point I have nevertheless made two holes
+in my opponent's shirt. My hand might again refuse to obey my will, and,
+as I do not visit a country merely to rebel against its
+customs&mdash;particularly when they happen to be philanthropic&mdash;so&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He went up to a rock which rose out of the little valley and, placing
+the point of his rapier in a crevice, broke off a good inch of the
+blade.</p>
+
+<p>His adversary wished to do likewise, but,</p>
+
+<p>"It is quite unnecessary, sir," said Benedict, "you are not likely to
+use your point."</p>
+
+<p>Being now reduced to ordinary sword-play, Benedict crossed swords with
+his opponent, which necessitated their keeping close together. But he
+continually retreated half a pace and advanced again, thanks to which
+incessant movement the major merely made cuts in the air. Becoming
+impatient, he endeavoured to reach Benedict, missed again, and
+involuntarily lowered his weapon. Benedict parried a back stroke and
+touched von Bülow's breast with the broken point. Said he:</p>
+
+<p>"You see I was right in breaking the point of my sword. Otherwise, this
+time something besides your shirt would have been pierced."</p>
+
+<p>The major remained silent, but quickly recovering himself again stood on
+guard. He now saw that his adversary was a most skilful swordsman, who
+united French celerity with determined coolness and who was fully
+conscious of his strength.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict, seeing that an end must be made, now stood still, calm but
+menacing, with frowning brows and eyes fixed on his enemy, not
+attempting to strike but retaining a posture of defence. It seemed as if
+he awaited the attack, but suddenly with the unexpected celerity which
+characterized all his movements, he sprang forward with a bound like
+that of a jaguar, aimed a blow at his adversary's head, and as the
+latter raised his arm in defence, drew a line with his blade right
+across his chest. Then, springing lightly back in the same instant he
+again lowered his sword as before.</p>
+
+<p>Von Bülow's shirt, slashed as though cut by a razor, was instantly
+tinged with blood. The seconds moved forward.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not stir, I beg," cried the major, "it is nothing but a scratch. I
+must confess the gentleman's hand is a light one."</p>
+
+<p>And he again stood on guard.</p>
+
+<p>Courageous though he was, he felt he was losing confidence, and,
+dumbfounded by his enemy's agility, a sense of great danger oppressed
+him. Evidently Benedict was keeping just out of reach, and was merely
+waiting until he should expose himself by an unwary advance. He
+understood that hitherto his opponent had simply played with him, but
+that now the duel was approaching an end and that his smallest mistake
+would be severely punished. His sword, never able to encounter
+Benedict's, seemed to become lifeless, and ceased to respond to his
+will.</p>
+
+<p>His previous experience in fencing seemed useless here, and this
+flashing blade which he could never touch, but which rose constantly
+before him, alert, intelligent, as if endued with life, confused his
+senses. He dared not risk a movement before this enemy always just
+beyond his reach, so imperturbable and yet so alert, and who evidently
+intended, like the artist he was, either to finish with one brilliant
+stroke or else&mdash;which did not seem likely&mdash;to expire in a dignified pose
+like the "Dying Gladiator."</p>
+
+<p>But, exasperated by his opponent's perfect bodily grace, by his elegant
+and masterly swordsmanship, and still more by the mocking smile which
+hovered on his lips, von Bülow felt the blood rise to his temples, and
+could not resist muttering between his teeth:</p>
+
+<p>"This fellow is the very devil!"</p>
+
+<p>And, springing forward, no longer fearing the broken point, he raised
+his sword and aimed a blow with all his might at his adversary, a blow
+which, had it reached its object, would have split his head as though it
+had been an apple. Again, the stroke only encountered empty air, for
+once more Benedict had effaced himself by a light, graceful spring, very
+familiar to Parisian fencing masters.</p>
+
+<p>The major's raised sword had broken his guard. A flash, as of lightning,
+and his arm, streaming with blood, fell against his side. His sword
+dropped, but remained upright supported by the sword knot.</p>
+
+<p>The seconds hurried to his side. Very pale, but with smiling lips, von
+Bülow bowed to Benedict and said:</p>
+
+<p>"I thank you, sir. When you might have run me through the body you only
+wounded my shirt; when you might have cut me in two you let me off with
+the sort of cut one gets in shaving, and now, when you might have either
+cleft my head or maimed my arm, I escape with a ruined sleeve. I now
+ask you to extend your courtesy even further, and to complete the
+record like the gentleman you are by explaining why you have spared me
+thus?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said Benedict with a smile, "in the house of Herr Fellner, the
+Burgomaster of Frankfort, I was introduced to his god-daughter, a
+charming lady, who adores her husband. Her name was the Baroness von
+Bülow. When I saw your card it occurred to me that you might be related,
+and though, beautiful as she is, mourning could only add to her charm,
+it would grieve me to have been the cause of compelling her to wear it."</p>
+
+<p>The major looked Benedict in the face and, stern soldier though he might
+be, there were tears in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Madame von Bülow is my wife," he said. "Believe me, sir, wherever she
+may meet you she will greet you thus: 'My husband foolishly quarrelled
+with you, sir; may you ever be blessed because for my sake you spared
+him!' and she will give you her hand with as much gratitude as I now
+offer you mine."</p>
+
+<p>And he added smiling:</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive me for only offering my left hand. It is entirely your own
+fault that I cannot give you the right."</p>
+
+<p>And now, although the wound was not dangerous, von Bülow did not refuse
+to have it dressed. The surgeon promptly ripped up his sleeve,
+disclosing a wound, not very deep, but terrible to look at, which
+extended down the arm from the shoulder to the elbow. And one shuddered
+to think what such a wound would have been, had the swordsman struck
+with all his force instead of simply drawing his blade along the arm.</p>
+
+<p>The surgeon dipped a cloth in the ice-cold spring which rose at the foot
+of the rock and wrapped it round the arm. He then drew the sides of the
+wound together and strapped them with plaster. He assured the major that
+he would be quite able to continue his journey to Frankfort in the
+evening.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict offered his carriage to the major, who, however, declined,
+being curious to see what would happen to his successor. He excused
+himself on the score that courtesy required him to wait for Herr Georges
+Kleist.</p>
+
+<p>Although Herr Kleist, having had time to see what sort of adversary he
+had to deal with, would willingly have been some leagues away, he put a
+brave face on the matter, and although he grew perceptibly pale during
+the first duel, and still paler when the wound was dressed, he was,
+nevertheless, the first to say.</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse my interrupting you, gentlemen, but it is my turn now."</p>
+
+<p>"I am quite at your service, sir," said Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>"You are not properly dressed for a duel with pistols," interposed
+Colonel Anderson, glancing at Benedict's costume.</p>
+
+<p>"Really," said Benedict, "I never thought about what clothes I was to
+fight in. I only wanted to do it with comfort to myself. That's all!"</p>
+
+<p>"You can at least put on your tunic and button it!"</p>
+
+<p>"Bah! It is much too hot."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps we ought to have taken the pistols first. All this sword-play
+may have unsteadied your hand."</p>
+
+<p>"My hand is my servant, dear colonel; it knows it has to obey me and you
+will see it does so."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you wish to see the pistols you are to use?"</p>
+
+<p>"You have seen them, have you not? Are they double barrelled or single?"</p>
+
+<p>"Single barrelled duelling pistols. They were hired this morning from a
+gunsmith in the Grande Place."</p>
+
+<p>"Then call my other second and see them properly loaded. Mind the shot
+is inside the barrels, and not dropped outside."</p>
+
+<p>"I will load them myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Colonel," asked the Prussian officers, "do you wish to see the pistols
+loaded?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I wish to do so. But how are we to arrange? Herr Kleist will only
+have one second."</p>
+
+<p>"These two gentlemen may answer for Herr Kleist," said the major, "and I
+will go over to M. Turpin." And his wound being now bandaged, he went
+and sat down on the rock which gave its name to the glade.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the pistols were loaded, Colonel Anderson fulfilling his
+promise by putting in the balls himself. Benedict came up to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me," the Englishman asked gravely, "do you mean to kill him?"</p>
+
+<p>"What do you expect? One can't exactly play with pistols as one can with
+swords or rapiers."</p>
+
+<p>"Surely there is some way of disabling people with whom you have no
+serious quarrel without killing them outright?"</p>
+
+<p>"I really cannot undertake to miss him just to oblige you! Think! He
+would naturally go and publish everywhere that I did not know how to
+shoot!"</p>
+
+<p>"All right! I see I need not have spoken. I bet you have an idea of some
+sort."</p>
+
+<p>"Frankly, I have. But then he must do his part."</p>
+
+<p>"What must he do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just keep perfectly still, it ought not to be so very difficult. See,
+they are ready."</p>
+
+<p>The seconds had just measured the forty-five paces. Colonel Anderson now
+measured off fifteen from each end, and to mark the exact limit which
+neither combatant was to pass, he laid two scabbards across and planted
+a sword upright in the ground at each end to decide the starting-point.</p>
+
+<p>"To your places, gentlemen," cried the seconds.</p>
+
+<p>Herr Kleist having selected his pistol, the colonel brought the other to
+Benedict, who was talking to the major, and who took the pistol without
+as much as looking at it, and still chatting with von Bülow, walked
+quietly to his place.</p>
+
+<p>The duellists now stood at the extreme distance.</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen!" said Colonel Anderson, "you are now forty-five paces apart.
+Each of you may either advance fifteen paces before firing, or may fire
+from where he now stands. Herr Georges Kleist has the first shot and may
+fire as soon as he pleases. Having fired, he may hold his pistol so as
+to protect any part of himself he wishes.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, gentlemen!"</p>
+
+<p>The two adversaries advanced towards each other. Having arrived at the
+mark, Benedict waited, standing, facing his opponent with folded arms. A
+light breeze ruffled his hair and blew his shirt open at the chest. He
+had walked at his ordinary pace.</p>
+
+<p>Herr Kleist, dressed entirely in black, bare-headed, and with closely
+buttoned coat, had advanced slowly, by force of will overcoming physical
+disinclination. He halted at the limit.</p>
+
+<p>"You are ready, sir?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite ready, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you not turn sideways?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not accustomed to do so."</p>
+
+<p>Then, turning himself, Herr Kleist slowly raised his pistol, took aim,
+and fired.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict heard the ball whiz close by his ear and felt the wind ruffle
+his hair; it had passed within an inch of his head.</p>
+
+<p>His adversary instantly raised his pistol, holding it so as to protect
+his face, but was unable entirely to control a nervous movement of his
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said Benedict, "you courteously asked just now if I would not
+stand sideways, which is unusual between combatants. Permit me in my
+turn to offer a piece of advice, or rather, make a request."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, sir?" asked the journalist, still protecting himself with
+his pistol.</p>
+
+<p>"This; keep your hand steady, your pistol is moving. I wish to put my
+ball in the wood of your pistol, which will be very difficult unless you
+keep it quite still. Against my own will I might hit you, either in the
+cheek or the back of the head, whereas&mdash;if you keep your hand just as it
+is&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He raised his pistol and fired instantly.</p>
+
+<p>"There! it is done now!"</p>
+
+<p>It was done so rapidly that no one could have supposed he had taken any
+aim at all. But, even as the report was heard, Herr Kleist's pistol was
+blown to pieces and he himself staggered and fell on one knee.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" said Anderson, "you have killed him."</p>
+
+<p>"I think not," replied Benedict. "I aimed between the two screws which
+hold the hammer. It is the shock of the concussion which has brought him
+down."</p>
+
+<p>The surgeon and the two seconds hastened to the wounded man, who now
+held only the butt end of his pistol. There was a terrible bruise on his
+cheek, reaching from the eye to the jaw. Otherwise he was untouched,
+only the shock had knocked him down.</p>
+
+<p>The barrel of the pistol was picked up on one side and the lock on the
+other. The ball had lodged exactly between the two screws. Had it
+continued its course unobstructed it would have broken the upper jaw and
+penetrated the brain.</p>
+
+<p>The dressing was simple&mdash;the bruise was a very bad one, but the skin was
+only broken in two places, and the surgeon considered a cold-water
+bandage to be all that was required.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict embraced the major, bowed to the journalist, shook hands with
+the seconds, put on his coat, and got into the carriage, looking less
+dishevelled than if he had come from a picnic.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear sponsor," he said to Colonel Anderson.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear godson," responded the latter, "I know at least ten men
+besides myself who would willingly have given a thousand pounds to see
+what I have seen to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said Lenhart, "if you would promise neither to hunt nor to fight
+unless I am there to see, I, my horse, and my carriage should be at your
+service for the rest of my life."</p>
+
+<p>And indeed, Benedict returned as he had foretold, having fought his
+duels, vanquished his adversaries, and come off without a single
+scratch!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h4>
+
+<h3>"WHAT WAS WRITTEN IN A KING'S HAND"</h3>
+
+
+<p>When Benedict returned to his hotel he was met by Kaulbach's servant,
+sent by his master to learn what had happened. In the good town of
+Hanover it had speedily become known that in answer to Benedict's letter
+in the "Gazette" two challenges had been received that very morning, and
+that he, his challengers, and seconds, had all gone to Eilenriede, the
+usual place for settling affairs of this description. Benedict desired
+him to assure his master that all was well, adding that he would have
+come in person to acknowledge his courtesy, had he not feared to rouse
+the curiosity of the whole town.</p>
+
+<p>Colonel Anderson had made an excuse for leaving Benedict as soon as they
+returned. Being an officer of the Royal Ordnance he had probably some
+report to make to the king.</p>
+
+<p>The news of the result of this double combat spread as rapidly as had
+that of the challenges. Such an event as two duels successfully fought
+without a scratch being received was quite unheard of, and was
+considered so extraordinary that the young men of the town, who also had
+no love for the Prussians, sent a deputation to congratulate Benedict on
+his success. He received the deputies and replied in such excellent
+German that they retired marvelling more than ever.</p>
+
+<p>The doors had scarcely closed on them when Stephen appeared, and
+announced that all his guests were so interested in the events of the
+day that they begged Benedict would honour them by dining at the <i>table
+d'hôte</i>, in order that they might all have the pleasure of personally
+congratulating him.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict replied that he did not in the least understand so much
+admiration for his perfectly natural conduct, but that he was quite
+willing to do anything which might be agreeable to his fellow guests.</p>
+
+<p>Stephen had time to let the news circulate in the town that the young
+Frenchman of whom every one was talking, would, for once only, consent
+to dine at the <i>table d'hôte</i>. Instead of twenty-five only, he had
+covers laid for two hundred guests. Every place was occupied.</p>
+
+<p>The police feared disorder of some kind, and came to investigate. They
+were assured that it was only a family affair, a demonstration such as
+had been made three days before under the windows of Count von
+Bismarck&mdash;only it was the other way about! Now the Hanoverian police was
+an excellent body, which highly approved of family fêtes and patriotic
+demonstrations. Therefore, instead of objecting to this one they
+encouraged it with all their power, thanks to which all passed off in
+perfect order.</p>
+
+<p>At midnight, Benedict was at length allowed to retire, but his admirers
+organized a serenade beneath his windows which lasted till two o'clock
+in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>At nine Kaulbach entered his room. The Crown Prince invited Benedict to
+breakfast at the Palace of Herrenhausen, and requested him to bring his
+sketches. Kaulbach was commissioned to bring him back. The breakfast was
+at eleven, but the prince would be obliged if Benedict would come at ten
+in order to have some time for conversation both before and after.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict lost no time in dressing, and although Kaulbach, intimate at
+the palace, assured him he could go in ordinary costume, he preferred to
+wear the naval uniform in which he had made the Chinese campaign. On his
+breast was the Cross of the Légion d'Honneur, of which the simple red
+ribbon means much more when worn by some than do the various grand
+crosses worn by others. He added a sabre, the gift of Said Pasha, took
+his sketches, and got into the carriage with Kaulbach.</p>
+
+<p>Lenhart had a whole day's holiday.</p>
+
+<p>Twenty-five minutes brought them to Herrenhausen, which is about a
+league from Hanover, and, the carriage being open, Benedict could see
+the young prince watching for him eagerly at a window. He was
+accompanied only by his aide-de-camp, an officer of Engineers, and
+consequently well able to draw. Also, which is more unusual, he did not
+disdain the picturesque.</p>
+
+<p>The prince enquired courteously after Benedict's health, without making
+the smallest allusion to the duels of the day before. It was evident
+nevertheless that he knew all about them. Had there been any doubts on
+the subject they would have been dispelled by the appearance of Colonel
+Anderson as another invited guest.</p>
+
+<p>But the prince's chief interest centred in the portfolio which Benedict
+carried under his arm.</p>
+
+<p>Anticipating his wishes, Benedict observed;</p>
+
+<p>"Your Highness wished to see some of my sketches. I have brought some
+representing hunting incidents, thinking that they might interest you
+most."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! let me see, let me see!" exclaimed the prince, extending his hand,
+and placing the portfolio on the piano, he began eagerly to examine the
+contents. After having turned over several, "Ah," said he, "but they are
+beautiful. Will you not tell me something of the adventures which I am
+sure they illustrate? They must be so interesting."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict endeavoured to gratify the prince, and the time both before and
+after the breakfast passed rapidly in listening to accounts of elephant
+hunting, of encounters with pirates in the Straits of Malacca, of
+adventures in the Caucasus, and he had just finished an especially
+thrilling anecdote relating to the poisonous snakes of India when the
+king was seen approaching from the gallery. He held the arm of his
+aide-de-camp with whom he was conversing and walked firmly as if able to
+see. He entered the dining-room without being announced. The four guests
+rose immediately, but:</p>
+
+<p>"Do not let me disturb you, gentlemen," said the king. "I merely came to
+visit the prince, to ask if he has all he wants, and if not, to convey
+his wishes to the persons concerned."</p>
+
+<p>"No! thanks to Your Majesty's kindness, nothing is wanting here except
+yourself. Your knowledge of men has not deceived you, and Monsieur
+Benedict is the most delightful companion I ever met."</p>
+
+<p>"The prince is imaginative, sire," said Benedict laughing. "He
+attributes to some very simple anecdotes and hasty sketches an
+excellence which they do not possess."</p>
+
+<p>But the king replied as if answering his own thought, the thought which
+had led him to visit the young man.</p>
+
+<p>"Yesterday," he said, addressing Benedict and turning towards him, as he
+always did in conversation, "you said something about a science which
+interested me in former days, namely, chiromancy. My thoughts carry me
+on towards the mysterious unexplored regions of the human mind, of
+nature, of creation. I should like to know they are based upon logic, on
+physiology, for instance."</p>
+
+<p>"I know, sire," replied Benedict, smiling, "that is why I ventured
+yesterday to mention the occult sciences to Your Majesty."</p>
+
+<p>"You know. But how?" demanded the king.</p>
+
+<p>"I should be a poor student, sire, if I had limited my enquiries to the
+hands only, and had not united the study of Lavater and Gall to that of
+Arpentigny. I saw at once in the form of your hands and head those
+precious aptitudes which are shown in phrenology by the well-developed
+organs of the poetic faculty and of the love of harmony, which betoken
+the student of natural science. The protection accorded by Your Majesty
+to the poor herbalist, Lampe, arose not from benevolence only, but from
+the conviction that certain men are empowered to receive a revelation,
+and that it is not always the highly placed ones of earth to whom truth
+is thus manifested."</p>
+
+<p>"It is true," said the king. "Other men may see the stars shining in the
+midnight silence, but it seems to me that I actually hear that 'music of
+the spheres' spoken of by Pythagoras. And I am proud to think that while
+I stand on the summit of earthly society, there are, immediately above
+me, intermediate angelic influences which carry on a boundless electric
+chain, linking us not merely with our own little planetary system, but
+with others&mdash;with the whole universe."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not venture," the king continued with a smile, "to discourse
+openly on these beliefs. I should get the reputation of 'a king of
+dreams,' about the worst a king can have. But to you, who are a dreamer
+like myself, I do say&mdash;yes, I believe in these celestial influences, and
+I believe that each mortal has, in that precious casket which he calls
+his skull, the signs of his destiny. He may strive to alter or delay its
+course, but it will bear him on irresistibly to fortune, success, or
+misery, as the case may be.</p>
+
+<p>"And I speak with conviction because I have had proofs. In early youth I
+once met a gipsy woman in the course of a solitary walk. She examined my
+hand and told me certain things which came to pass. I wish to believe
+you, but I must have proofs. Can you read the past in my hand even as
+the gipsy read the future. Can you, do you, sincerely believe you have
+this power?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do, sire. And I think actual science will tell you what has before
+been perhaps merely guessed at by intuition or tradition."</p>
+
+<p>"Well then," said the king, extending his hand, "now tell me what you
+read."</p>
+
+<p>"Sire," replied Benedict, "I do not know how far I dare&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Dare what?" enquired the king.</p>
+
+<p>"What if I read only a threatening future?"</p>
+
+<p>"We live in days when no predictions, however terrible, can exceed the
+reality of the convulsions which are taking place around us. What can
+you predict for me that can be so terrible? Is it the loss of my
+kingdom? I lost more than a kingdom when I lost the vision of sun and
+sky, of earth and sea. Take my hand, and tell me what is written."</p>
+
+<p>"Everything?"</p>
+
+<p>"Everything. As for misfortunes, is it not better to know of them than
+to encounter them unforeseen?"</p>
+
+<p>Benedict bowed so deeply over King George's hand that he almost touched
+it with his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"A truly royal hand," he said, after having glanced over it, "a
+beneficent hand; an artistic hand."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not ask for compliments, sir," said the king, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"See, my dear master," said Benedict, addressing Kaulbach, "how well the
+Mount of Apollo, there, under the ring-finger, is developed! Apollo
+bestows love of the arts; he is the giver of intelligence, of all that
+is brilliant and creates brilliance. It is he who gives the hope of an
+immortal name, calm of the soul, the sympathy that creates love. Look at
+the Mount of Mars, represented by the part opposite the thumb. This is
+what gives courage, both civil and military, calm, coolness in danger,
+resignation, pride, devotion, resolution, and the strength of
+resistance. Unfortunately, Saturn is against us. Saturn threatens. You
+know, sire, Saturn is Fate. Now, I ought to tell you, the lines of
+Saturn are not only unfavourable; they are calamitous."</p>
+
+<p>And here Benedict raised his head and looking at the king with the
+utmost respect and sympathy:</p>
+
+<p>"I might continue more intimately yet, sire," he said, "and reveal your
+whole character in its most secret recesses. I might sketch your
+inclinations one by one to you to their lightest shades; but I should
+prefer to pass at once to graver facts. At twelve years old, Your
+Majesty had a serious illness."</p>
+
+<p>"It is true," said the king.</p>
+
+<p>"At nineteen, a line extends both towards the brain and towards the
+Mount of the Sun&mdash;a nervous seizure on one side; on the other, something
+resembling death, but which is not death&mdash;an eclipse! And worse than
+that, an eclipse is momentary one night!"</p>
+
+<p>"The gipsy told me literally the same as you&mdash;something that resembles
+death, but is not death! The fact is that at the age of nineteen I
+passed through great trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"Stay! Here, sire, on Jupiter there is a marvellous gleam; one of the
+highest seats of human fortune&mdash;about the age of thirty-nine."</p>
+
+<p>"Again the words of the gipsy. At thirty-nine I became king."</p>
+
+<p>"I was ignorant of the precise dates," said Benedict, "but it might be
+supposed that I knew them. Let me look for a fact that I could not have
+known. Ah, I see it. Yes, it is certainly here. An agony of terror, an
+accident due to water. What is it? A boat in danger? A tempest watched
+from the shore? The imminent wreck of a vessel containing some one
+beloved? There is fearful terror, but terror only; for there is a rescue
+traced close to the line of fate. Your Majesty undoubtedly experienced
+terrible anxiety for the life of some one greatly beloved.'</p>
+
+<p>"Do you hear this, Ernest?" said the king addressing his son.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my father!" said the young prince, throwing his arms around his
+father's neck. Then, to Benedict: "Yes, indeed, my poor father was in
+terrible fear. I was bathing in the sea at Nordeney. I can swim fairly
+well; but without perceiving it I let myself be carried away on a
+current; and, upon my word, I was on the point of sinking when I grasped
+the arm of an honest fisherman who had come to my assistance. One second
+more, and all would have been over with me."</p>
+
+<p>"And I was there," said the king. "I could hear his cries, I stretched
+my arms towards him&mdash;it was all I could do. Gloucester offered his
+kingdom for a horse: and I would gladly have given mine for a ray of
+light. Do not let us think of it. All the misfortunes of the future
+together are not more terrible than the shadow of that misfortune which
+did not happen."</p>
+
+<p>"And so, sire?" said Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>"And so I am convinced," said the king. "I have no need of further
+proofs. Let us pass on to the future."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict looked with great attention at the king's hand. He hesitated a
+moment and asked for a magnifying glass, to see more distinctly. It was
+brought.</p>
+
+<p>"Sire," he said, "you are about to be drawn into a great war. One of
+your nearest neighbours will not only betray, but will despoil you; and
+notwithstanding&mdash;look, monseigneur!" he said to the prince, "the line of
+the Sun shows victory: but an empty victory, useless, without fruit."</p>
+
+<p>"And then?" asked the king.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sire, what do I read in this hand!"</p>
+
+<p>"Good tidings, or bad?"</p>
+
+<p>"You told me to keep nothing from you, sire."</p>
+
+<p>"And I repeat it. Tell me then; this victory&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"This victory, as I have told Your Majesty, leads to nothing. Here is
+the Line of the Sun broken off above the Line of the Head by a line
+starting from Mars which also cuts the Mount of Jupiter."</p>
+
+<p>"And that foretells?"</p>
+
+<p>"A defeat. But however&mdash;No," said Benedict, seeking to read the most
+mysterious secrets from the royal hand; "moreover, it is not the last
+word of your destiny. Here is the Line of the Sun after its breakage
+starting afresh, reaching the ring-finger and stopping at its base. And
+there see further, above this line traversing Jupiter, a straight line
+like a furrow crowned with a star, as a sceptre is crowned with a
+diamond."</p>
+
+<p>"And that prophesies?"</p>
+
+<p>"Restoration."</p>
+
+<p>"Then according to you, I shall lose the throne and reconquer it?"</p>
+
+<p>Benedict turned towards the prince.</p>
+
+<p>"Your hand, if you please, monseigneur."</p>
+
+<p>The prince gave him his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"After the age of forty, monseigneur, the Line of Life sends a branch
+towards the Line of the Sun. At that period you will ascend the throne.
+This is all that I can tell you. Now, if you ascend the throne, prince,
+it can only mean that your father has either recovered or has never lost
+it."</p>
+
+<p>The king remained silent for a moment, resting his head on his left
+hand. He seemed gazing fixedly before him as if absorbed in some great
+idea. The most profound silence reigned in the apartment.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot tell you," he said at length, "how much this unknown science
+interests me. Does Providence permit each of us to recognize his destiny
+in advance, just as the wrestler of ancient Greece might calculate the
+strength of his adversary in the circus, and consider how best to avoid
+his grip and obtain the victory?"</p>
+
+<p>He remained silent for a few moments, then continued:</p>
+
+<p>"After all, it would seem only just, only reasonable, that Providence
+which announces a storm by gathering clouds and muttering thunder,
+should allow to man and especially to man placed on the highest point of
+earthly grandeur, some indication of the approach of the storms of life.
+Yes, this science should be true, if only for the reason that it is
+necessary, and has hitherto been a missing link&mdash;unknown as it was&mdash;in
+the harmony of creation and in the logic of the Divine Mercy."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment an usher appeared and informed the king that the Minister
+of Foreign Affairs desired an audience on account of important business.</p>
+
+<p>The king turned to Benedict:</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said he, "though your predictions are gloomy, you will always be
+welcome in the home of him to whom you have made them. You have foretold
+a victory; well, I to-day commission you to depict it. And if you remain
+with us, it only rests with you to share it. Ernest, give your Guelphic
+Cross to M. Benedict Turpin. I will tell my Minister of Foreign Affairs
+to have the patent ready for signature to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>The king embraced his son, gave his hand to Kaulbach, graciously saluted
+Anderson and Benedict, and taking the arm of his aide-de-camp left the
+apartment as he had entered it.</p>
+
+<p>The young prince detached the cross and ribbon of the Guelphic Order
+which decorated his uniform, and fastened them on Benedict's coat with
+signs of the most livery pleasure. The latter thanked him and expressed
+his gratitude with evidently heartfelt warmth. Said the prince:</p>
+
+<p>"Only promise me one thing, M. Benedict. If your predictions should be
+verified, and you should have nothing better to do, we will go on our
+travels together, and you will show me how to kill lions and elephants
+in these wonderful forests I have heard of to-day."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h4>
+
+<h3>BARON FREDERIC VON BÃœLOW</h3>
+
+
+<p>And now we will leave our friend Benedict Turpin in order to follow one
+of his adversaries who is destined to become an important character in
+our story. We mean Baron Frederic von Bülow, whom we left with Georges
+Kleist in the glade of Eilenriede.</p>
+
+<p>Although his wound appeared at first sight the more serious of the two,
+it was not in reality so. Moreover, he was the most eager to leave the
+field. Entrusted as he was with a mission to Frankfort, he had turned
+aside from his road to call Benedict to account, and from the first
+moment that he was able to bear the fatigue of the journey he did not
+lose a moment in pursuing it.</p>
+
+<p>Although untouched by the ball, the impact of the broken pistol with the
+right side of Kleist's face had had deplorable results. The blow was so
+violent that it had left a bruise of the exact shape of the muzzle of
+the pistol. His eyes were bloodshot and his cheek immoderately swollen.
+In short, Herr Kleist would be obliged for at least a fortnight to forgo
+the pleasures of society.</p>
+
+<p>When the Baron Frederic von Bülow and Herr Kleist arrived at the Royal
+Hotel they found their misadventure and Benedict's triumph were already
+public property. The fact of their being Prussians was no
+recommendation, and they were received with an amount of derision which
+induced Herr Kleist, suffering though he was, to take the train
+immediately. As for the major, having already accomplished a third of
+his journey, he had only to continue on a branch line running direct
+from Hanover to Frankfort.</p>
+
+<p>We have already given some account of the appearance and physique of the
+Baron Frederic von Bülow; we will now complete our description, first
+relating the romantic manner in which he entered the military career and
+the happy chance by which his undoubted merits found their due reward.</p>
+
+<p>Frederic von Bülow came of a family belonging to Breslau. He had been a
+student at Jena. One fine day he resolved to make a tour which is
+frequently undertaken by German students along the banks of the Rhine.
+He set out alone; not that he was in the least misanthropical; but he
+was a poet. He loved to travel according to the inclination of the
+moment, to stop when it suited him, proceed when he pleased, and have no
+companion drawing him to the left when he wanted to follow a charming
+woman to the right.</p>
+
+<p>He had reached the most picturesque part of the Rhine; the Seven
+Mountains. On the opposite bank, on the summit of a lofty hill there
+stood a fine Gothic castle, lately restored. It belonged to the brother
+of the King of Prussia, who was then only the Prince Royal. Not only had
+he rebuilt the castle on its ancient foundations, but he had furnished
+it throughout with appointments of the sixteenth century, collected in
+the neighbourhood from the peasantry and convents, and new pieces made
+by clever workmen from ancient models. Hangings, tapestries, mirrors,
+all were of the same period, and formed a charming miniature museum of
+arms, pictures, and valuable curiosities. When the prince was not in
+residence he allowed the castle to be shown to visitors of distinction.</p>
+
+<p>How difficult it is to define the phrase "visitors of distinction."
+Frederic, whose family was of ancient nobility, considered that he had a
+right, though travelling on foot, to see the castle. Knapsack on
+shoulder, staff in hand, he climbed the steep path and knocked at the
+door of the keep. The sound of a horn was heard, and the door opened. A
+porter appeared and an officer in the costume of the sixteenth century,
+who asked what could be done for him. Frederic von Bülow explained his
+wish as an archæologist to see the Prince Regent's castle. The officer
+replied, regretting he was not able to gratify him; the prince's
+intendant had arrived the evening before, preceding his master only by
+twenty-four hours. Visitors could no longer be admitted. But the
+traveller was invited according to custom to inscribe his name, titles,
+and qualifications in the visitors' book. He took a pen and wrote
+Frederic von Bülow, student of the University of Jena. Then he took up
+his iron-shod stick, saluted the officer, and began to descend the path.</p>
+
+<p>But he had not taken a hundred steps when he heard himself called. The
+officer beckoned and a page ran after him, saying the intendant begged
+him to return and would take upon himself to grant the desired
+permission to see the castle.</p>
+
+<p>In the ante-room Frederic met, as if by chance, a man of about
+fifty-eight or sixty. It was the prince's intendant. He entered into
+conversation with the young man, appeared pleased with him, and offered
+to be his guide throughout the castle, an offer that Frederic took good
+care to accept. The intendant was very well informed; Frederic was a
+young man of ability, and three or four hours had passed without either
+being aware how the time was going, when a servant announced, dinner.
+Frederic gracefully expressed his concern at leaving his cicerone so
+soon; and his regret was evidently shared by his guide.</p>
+
+<p>"See here," he said. "You are travelling as a student; I am here <i>en
+garçon</i>. Suppose you dine with me. You will not dine so well as you
+might with the king, but at any rate it will be better than hotel fare."</p>
+
+<p>Frederic protested as far as he thought good breeding demanded, but as
+he was really longing to accept the invitation he ended by acceding with
+visible pleasure, and they consequently dined together. Frederic was a
+delightful companion, being both poet and philosopher, qualities one
+finds only united in Germany. He quite made a conquest of his host, who
+after dinner proposed a game of chess. Midnight struck, and each thought
+the evening barely begun. It was not possible to return to the village
+at such an hour. Frederic, after some modest reluctance, remained at the
+castle and slept in the Landgrave Philip's bed; and it was only the next
+day after lunch that he obtained his host's permission to resume his
+journey.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not without some slight influence at court," said the intendant on
+taking leave of him, "and if I can ever be of any service to you, pray
+make use of me."</p>
+
+<p>Frederic promised that he would.</p>
+
+<p>"And whatever may happen," added his host, "I shall remember your name.
+You may forget me, but I shall not forget you."</p>
+
+<p>Frederic finished his travels on the Rhine, returned to the University
+of Jena, concluded his studies there, entered the diplomatic service and
+was greatly astonished at being one day summoned to the cabinet of the
+grand duke.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said the great man, "I have selected you to convey my
+congratulations to William the First, King of Prussia, on his recent
+accession to the throne."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Highness!" cried Frederic in astonishment, "who am I to be
+honoured with such a commission?"</p>
+
+<p>"Really! are you not Baron Frederic von Bülow?"</p>
+
+<p>"Highness! Baron? I? But since when have I become a baron?"</p>
+
+<p>"Since I made you one. You will start at nine o'clock to-morrow; your
+letters of credit will be ready at eight."</p>
+
+<p>Frederic could only bow and utter his thanks; he bowed deeply,
+gratefully thanked the grand duke and left the room.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning at ten o'clock he was in the train and by the evening
+he was in Berlin. His arrival was immediately announced to the new king.
+The new king replied that he would receive him the following day at the
+castle Of Potsdam.</p>
+
+<p>On the morrow Frederic, in his court suit, started for Potsdam and
+arrived at the castle. But to his great astonishment he learnt that the
+king had just gone away and had left only his intendant to represent
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Frederic's first idea was to return to Berlin; but he remembered that it
+was this official who had entertained him so kindly and courteously two
+years before at the castle of Rheinstein. He did not want to appear
+ungrateful or offended, so had his name sent in accordingly. But while
+crossing the ante-room he observed a full-length portrait of the king.
+He stopped for an instant stupefied. His Majesty resembled his intendant
+as one drop of water resembles another. The truth now dawned on
+Frederic. It was the king's brother himself who, to-day reigning as King
+William I, had received him at the castle of Rheinstein, who had acted
+as his guide, had kept him to dinner, who had won three games of chess
+out of five, and had made him sleep in the Landgrave Philip's bed&mdash;who
+had offered his influence at court, and who on taking leave of him had
+promised not to forget him.</p>
+
+<p>He understood now why he had been chosen by the Grand Duke of Weimar to
+carry his congratulations to the king; why the Grand Duke of Weimar had
+made him a baron, why the king had appointed a meeting at Potsdam, and
+why finally His Majesty had returned to Berlin, leaving his intendant
+only to represent him.</p>
+
+<p>His Majesty wanted to enjoy another day like that they had passed
+together at Rheinstein. Frederic was a good courtier, and was ready to
+contribute all in his power to this caprice. He entered as if he had no
+suspicion, greeted his host like an old acquaintance, only showing the
+respect due to an older man, thus recalling the scene which had left
+such a pleasing influence on his mind.</p>
+
+<p>The intendant made excuses for His Majesty, and invited Frederic to pass
+the day at the castle of Potsdam, an invitation which was accepted like
+the one at Rheinstein. He again offered his services as cicerone, took
+him into the mausoleum, and showed him the tomb and the sword of the
+Great Frederic.</p>
+
+<p>A court carriage was ready waiting for them, and they went to see the
+castle of Sans-Souci, which is only two miles from Potsdam. It was here,
+it will be remembered, in the park of this château that the famous mill
+was situated which its owner refused to sell to Frederic II, and which
+caused the king to exclaim when the miller gained his lawsuit, "So there
+are still judges at Berlin!" In the sequel the descendants of the
+stubborn miller were softened and sold their mill to William I, who,
+wishing to preserve it as a monument of the occurrence, refused to allow
+it to be demolished.</p>
+
+<p>But time, which cares nothing for the commands of kings, had in store
+for William and his guest an example of its disregard. An hour before
+the arrival of Frederic and the so-called agent, the four sails of the
+windmill had fallen, bringing down in their fall the balustrade which
+surrounded it. So that to day one must conclude that there are no longer
+judges in Berlin, as there is no longer a mill at Sans-Souci.</p>
+
+<p>On their return to Potsdam, Frederic and his companion found a table
+ready laid for two. They dined alone together, played five games of
+chess out of which the agent won three, and it was only at midnight that
+they separated, when on the agent wishing Frederic a good night, the
+latter replied with a deep bow: "Sire, may God grant Your Majesty a good
+night."</p>
+
+<p>The next day the fiction was abandoned. The king breakfasted with
+Frederic, gave him the Order of the Red Eagle, and with much pressing
+induced him to hand in his resignation and join the army. A week later
+he received his commission as lieutenant of the line, and came to pay
+his respects in his new character to the king, who undertook that the
+king would ever remember him whom the prince had promised not to forget.</p>
+
+<p>Two years later, Frederic received a proof that the king indeed had not
+forgotten. His regiment was stationed in garrison at Frankfort, where at
+the house of Herr Fellner, the burgomaster, he made the acquaintance of
+a family of French descent exiled by the revocation of the Edict of
+Nantes, which had since its expatriation become Catholic. The family
+consisted of the mother, aged about thirty-eight, the grandmother, who
+was sixty-eight, and two girls of twenty and eighteen. Their family name
+was Chandroz.</p>
+
+<p>The elder daughter, Emma, had black hair, black eyes, a pale clear skin,
+and well-marked eyebrows; her marvellously beautiful teeth showed like
+pearls against her vividly red lips. She had, in fact, that stately dark
+beauty which suggests the Roman matron, Lucretia and Cornelia in one.</p>
+
+<p>Helen was worthy of her name. Her hair was of that exquisite blonde tint
+which can only be compared to the colour of ripe corn. Her complexion
+faintly tinted with rose had the freshness and delicacy of the camellia.
+And the effect was almost astonishing when under these fair locks, and
+upon that countenance of almost transparent pallor, she raised large
+dark eyes, eloquent of passion, overarched with dark eyebrows and
+fringed with lashes which gave to their sparkling orbs deep reflections
+like those of the black diamonds of Tripoli. And as one had only to look
+at Emma to see foreshadowed in her the calm and wisdom of those matrons
+among whom the Catholic religion finds its saints, so one could divine
+in Helen all that tempestuous future which the united passions of two
+races hold in store for the hybrids of their sex.</p>
+
+<p>Whether it were that this strange manifestation of divine caprice
+dismayed him, or whether he felt himself drawn by irresistible sympathy
+to the elder of the two sisters&mdash;it was to her that the Baron von Bülow
+paid his homage. He was young, handsome, and rich. It was known that the
+King of Prussia held him in warm regard. He stated that if he were
+granted Emma's hand, his royal protector at the same time would make him
+a captain. The two young people were in love, and the family had no
+serious opposition to raise to their union. They said: "Obtain your
+promotion as captain, and we will see." He asked three days' leave,
+started for Berlin, and came back on the third day with his captain's
+commission.</p>
+
+<p>All was arranged. But during his absence Emma's mother was slightly
+indisposed. Her illness increased, developed into disease of the lungs,
+and at the end of six months Emma was doubly orphaned.</p>
+
+<p>It was a further reason for giving the family a protector. The
+grandmother, sixty-nine years of age, might die at any moment. They
+waited till the strict season of mourning dictated both by their hearts
+and by custom had elapsed, and at the end of six months they were
+married.</p>
+
+<p>Three days after the birth of his first child, a boy, the Baron Frederic
+von Bülow received his commission as major. On this occasion the
+protection of the king was so obvious and so kindly intentioned that the
+baron resolved to make a second journey to Berlin, not on this occasion
+to ask for favours, but to return thanks for them. This journey was all
+the more opportune because a word dropped by His Majesty's secretary had
+warned him that there were great events on the horizon in which he might
+take part, and that he would do wisely to come to Berlin on any suitable
+pretext and see the king in person.</p>
+
+<p>And in fact we have already said that Count von Bismarck had worked hard
+to bring great events to pass. The king had three times received Baron
+Frederic in private, and had freely discussed with him the probability
+of a terrible war. To crown all, he attached him to the staff, so that
+he might become aide-de-camp to any general whom he sent to any special
+place, or even at need to his son or his cousin.</p>
+
+<p>This was how Baron Frederic chanced to find himself at Berlin on June
+7th, that is, on the day of the attempted assassination of Bismarck. As
+we have seen, he, with two other officers rescued Benedict from the
+hands of the mob; but, having promised the crowd that the Frenchman
+should shout "Long live Prussia! Long live King William I!" he was
+confounded when, instead of adopting this prudent course, Benedict
+declaimed Alfred de Musset's verses on the Rhine, almost as well known
+in Prussia as the song to which they were an answer. He and his comrades
+took this affront, which the public had witnessed, as a deliberate
+insult. All three presented themselves at the Black Eagle, which
+Benedict as we know had given as his address, intending to demand
+immediate satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>But, as they met each other and learnt that their errands were all the
+same, they recognized that three men, who do not wish to gain their end
+by intimidation, cannot all demand satisfaction from a single opponent.
+For this reason they cast lots as to who should have the honour of
+fighting with Benedict, and the lot as we have seen fell upon Frederic.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h4>
+
+<h3>HELEN</h3>
+
+
+<p>There stands in Frankfort-on-Main, at the corner of the Ross-market,
+opposite the Protestant Church of St. Catherine, a mansion, which, by
+its architecture, belongs to the transition period between Louis XIV and
+Louis XV. It is known as Passevent House. The ground-floor was occupied
+by a bookseller, and all the rest by the Chandroz family, already known
+to the reader by name.</p>
+
+<p>A sort of uneasiness, not quite amounting to actual trouble, seemed to
+prevail in the house. The morning before a letter had been received by
+Baroness von Bülow, announcing her husband's return in the evening, and
+close upon that came a telegram, saying that he would not arrive before
+the following morning, and that she must not be anxious if there were a
+further delay. The fact was, that two hours after writing his letter,
+the baron saw Benedict's announcement in the "Gazette." Fearing that he
+might be delayed by a wound, he wished to spare his wife any possible
+anxiety, her infant being only just over a week old.</p>
+
+<p>Although the train was not due until four in the morning, Hans, the
+confidential servant of the family, had already departed at three,
+taking the carriage to meet his master at the station and at least ten
+times during the interval Emma rang up her maid, wondering why the time
+passed so slowly.</p>
+
+<p>At length the sound of a carriage was heard, followed by the creaking of
+the great gate, the carriage passed under the arch, the tread of spurred
+boots echoed on the staircase, Emma's door opened, and Emma's arms
+enfolded her husband.</p>
+
+<p>It did not escape her notice that Frederic winced when she threw her
+arms round him. She asked the cause. Frederic replied with a
+cock-and-bull story of a cab accident in which he had slightly sprained
+his arm.</p>
+
+<p>The sound of the carriage and the general movement in the house informed
+Helen of the baron's arrival. Hastily wrapping herself in a
+dressing-gown with her beautiful hair falling loosely over it, she
+hurried to greet her brother-in-law whom she loved tenderly. In order
+not to disturb the Countess de Chandroz, their grandmother, orders had
+been given to keep her wing of the house as quiet as possible.</p>
+
+<p>Madame von Bülow, with the usual penetration of wives, soon guessed that
+Frederic's arm was more hurt than he chose to acknowledge. She insisted
+that the family doctor, Herr Bodemacker, should be sent for, and
+Frederic, who knew by the pain he suffered, that the bandage must have
+been displaced during his journey, made no objection. He only begged her
+to keep quiet while he went to his own room for the bath he had ordered,
+saying that it would be much better for the doctor to follow him there
+and decide which of his two hundred and eighty-two bones required
+attention.</p>
+
+<p>The question of importance was to keep the baroness in ignorance as to
+the serious nature of the wound. With the help of Hans and the
+connivance of the doctor this would be easy. The bath was a marvellous
+help, and Emma allowed him to go to his room without suspecting the real
+cause of his requiring it.</p>
+
+<p>When the doctor arrived, Frederic astonished Hans by explaining that the
+evening before he had received a sword wound which had laid open his
+arm, that the bandage must have slipped in the train, and that it, his
+coat, and his shirt were all soaked in blood.</p>
+
+<p>The doctor slit the sleeve the whole way up, and then cut it clear at
+the top. Frederic then was told to plunge his arm into the warm water of
+the bath which enabled the doctor to remove the coat sleeve. He then
+loosened the shirt sleeve by sponging it with the warm water, and
+finally, cutting it away at the shoulder, was able to expose the wound.</p>
+
+<p>The arm, compressed by the sleeves, was frightfully red and swollen, the
+plaster had given way, the wound was gaping widely through its whole
+length, and in the lower part the arm appeared cut to the bone. It was
+fortunate that there had been plenty of warm water at hand. The doctor
+brought the two sides of the cut together again, fixed them carefully,
+bandaged the whole arm and put it in splints as if it had been broken.
+But it was absolutely necessary that the baron should remain quite quiet
+for two or three days. The doctor undertook to find the general in
+command and to explain privately that Baron von Bülow was charged with a
+mission to him but could not possibly leave the house.</p>
+
+<p>Hans quickly removed the water and stained bandages. Frederic went down,
+kissed his wife, and satisfied her by saying the doctor had merely
+ordered him to rest for a few days. The word dislocation spread through
+the house and accounted for the baron's indisposition. Returning to his
+own apartment he found the Prussian general awaiting him. He explained
+matters in two words; moreover, before long the story would be in all
+the papers. The important question was, to keep the baroness in
+ignorance. She would be uneasy about a dislocation, but in despair over
+a wound.</p>
+
+<p>Frederic handed over his despatches to the general. They merely warned
+him to be ready for action at a moment's notice. It was evident that
+Count Bismarck, from whom the order came, wished to have a garrison at
+hand during the Diet, to overawe the assembly, if possible. Afterwards
+he would withdraw it or leave it, according to circumstances. This
+question would be put to the Diet. "In case of war between Austria and
+Prussia, on which side will you be?"</p>
+
+<p>Frederic was extremely anxious to see his young sister Helen, having
+important communications to make. After he and Benedict had vowed
+eternal friendship on the field of battle, and Benedict had spoken of
+having met the baroness at the burgomaster's house, he had conceived an
+idea which he could not drive away, namely, to marry Benedict to his
+sister-in-law. From what he had seen and heard of the young man, he felt
+convinced that these two impetuous, imaginative, and artistic
+characters, always ready to pursue an idea suggested by a ray of
+sunlight or a scented breeze, were, out of the whole creation, the best
+suited to each other. Consequently he wished to ascertain if Helen had
+been attracted by his friend. Were this the case, he would find some
+pretext for bringing Benedict to Frankfort, and, little as Helen cared
+for admiration, he thought the acquaintance would soon assume the
+character he wished.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, he wished to warn Helen to keep newspapers away from her
+sister and grandmother, and on this account it was absolutely necessary
+to take her into his confidence. She anticipated his wishes, for
+scarcely had the general left him, when some one knocked softly at his
+door, such a knock as might have proceeded from a cat or a bird. He
+knew Helen's gentle manner of announcing herself.</p>
+
+<p>"Come in, little sister, come in!" he cried, and Helen entered on
+tip-toe.</p>
+
+<p>The baron was lying on his bed in his dressing-gown, lying on his left
+side, his wounded arm extended along his body.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! you good-for-nothing," said she, folding her arms and gazing at
+him, "so you have been and gone and done it, have you?"</p>
+
+<p>"How? done what?" enquired Frederic, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now I have got you alone, we can talk."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly, dear Helen, now we are alone as you say. You are the
+strong-minded person of this house, although no one else knows it, not
+even yourself. So I want to discuss important matters with you&mdash;and they
+are not a few."</p>
+
+<p>"So do I, and I shall begin by taking the bull by the horns. Your arm is
+not dislocated nor even sprained. You have fought a duel, like the
+hothead you are, and your arm is wounded by either a sabre or
+sword-cut."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my little sister, that is exactly what I wanted to tell you. I
+did fight a duel&mdash;for political reasons. And I did get a sabre cut in my
+arm, but it was a friendly sabre, very neatly and prettily applied. It
+is not dangerous, no artery or nerve severed. But the story will be in
+all the papers; it has made noise enough already. Now we must prevent
+both grandmamma and Emma from seeing the newspapers."</p>
+
+<p>"The only paper taken here is the 'Kreuz Zeitung.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Which is precisely the one that will say the most."</p>
+
+<p>"What are you smiling at?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't help thinking of the face of the man who will have to supply
+the details!"</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing. I was only talking to myself, and when I say things to myself
+they are not worth repeating aloud. The question is&mdash;to keep an eye on
+the 'Kreuz Zeitung.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly I will keep an eye on it."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I need not trouble any more about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"When I tell you that I will see to it myself!"</p>
+
+<p>"Very well! We will talk about something else."</p>
+
+<p>"About anything you like."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you recollect meeting a young Frenchman at Herr Fellner's, an
+artist, a painter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur Benedict Turpin? I should think so! A charming man who makes
+the most rapid sketches, and though they are flattering, they are still
+likenesses."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! come, come! You are quite enthusiastic."</p>
+
+<p>"I can show you one he did of me. He has given me a pair of wings, and I
+really look like an angel!"</p>
+
+<p>"Then he is clever?"</p>
+
+<p>"Enormously clever."</p>
+
+<p>"And witty."</p>
+
+<p>"He can certainly give you as good as you gave. You should have seen how
+he routed some of our bankers when they tried to chaff him. He spoke
+better German than they did."</p>
+
+<p>"Is he rich as well?"</p>
+
+<p>"So they say."</p>
+
+<p>"It also seems as if there were remarkable affinities between his
+character and that of a little girl I know."</p>
+
+<p>"But who? I don't understand."</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, it is some one you know. He appears to be capricious,
+imaginative, vivacious; he adores travelling, is an excellent rider,
+and a good sportsman, either on foot or horseback, all which coincides
+admirably with the tastes of a certain 'Diana Vernon.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I thought that was what you always called me."</p>
+
+<p>"So it is. Do you recognize my portrait?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all, not in the least. I am gentle, calm, collected. I like
+travelling, yes. But where have I been? To Paris, Berlin, Vienna,
+London, and that is all, I love horses, but what do I ever ride except
+my poor little Gretchen?"</p>
+
+<p>"She has nearly killed you twice over!"</p>
+
+<p>"Poor thing! it was my own fault. As for shooting, I have never held a
+gun, and as for coursing, I have never started a hare."</p>
+
+<p>"True, but why not? Only because the grandmother objected. If you could
+have had your own way&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes! It would be glorious to rush against the wind, to feel it
+blowing through one's hair. There is great pleasure in rapid motion, a
+feeling of life which one finds in nothing else."</p>
+
+<p>"So you would like to be able to do these things which you don't do."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"With Monsieur Benedict?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why Monsieur Benedict more than any one else?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because he is more charming than most."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not think so."</p>
+
+<p>"Really?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Then; supposing you were allowed to choose a husband out of all my
+friends, you would not choose M. Benedict?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should never dream of doing so."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, little sister, you know I am an obstinate man, who likes to
+understand, things. How is it that a man, young, handsome, rich,
+talented, courageous, and imaginative, fails to interest you,
+particularly when he has both the good qualities and the defects of your
+own character?"</p>
+
+<p>"What am I to say? I do not know, I cannot analyse my feelings. Some
+people are sympathetic to me, some indifferent, some downright
+disagreeable!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you don't class Monsieur Benedict among the disagreeable, I
+hope."</p>
+
+<p>"No, but among the indifferents."</p>
+
+<p>"And why among the indifferents?"</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur Benedict is of medium height, I like tall men: he is fair, I
+like dark men. He is volatile, I like serious people. He is bold, always
+rushing off to the ends of the world; he would be the husband of other
+men's wives, and not even the lover of his own."</p>
+
+<p>"Let us resume. What sort of man, then, must he be that would please
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody just the opposite of M. Benedict."</p>
+
+<p>"He must be tall."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Dark?"</p>
+
+<p>"Either dark or dark chestnut."</p>
+
+<p>"Grave."</p>
+
+<p>"Grave, or at least, serious. Also brave, steady, loyal, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Just so. Do you know that you have described, word for word, my friend,
+Karl von Freyberg?"</p>
+
+<p>Helen blushed crimson, and moved quickly, as if to leave the room, but
+Frederic, disregarding his wound, caught her hand and made her sit down
+again. The light from between the curtains irradiated her face like the
+sunlight falling on a flower. He looked at her intently.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes," she said, "but no one knows but you."</p>
+
+<p>"Not Karl himself?"</p>
+
+<p>"He may have some idea."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, little sister," said Frederic, "I see no great harm in all this.
+Come and kiss me, and we will talk again another time."</p>
+
+<p>"But how comes it," exclaimed Helen, with vexation, "that you know all
+you want to know, although I have told you nothing at all?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because one can see through a crystal which is pure. Dear little Helen,
+Karl von Freyberg is my best friend, he has all I could wish in a
+brother-in-law, or that you could desire in a husband. If he loves you
+as much as you seem to love him, there should be no great difficulty
+about your becoming his wife."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! dear Frederic," said Helen, shaking her pretty head, "but I once
+heard a Frenchwoman say that the marriages which present no difficulties
+are just those which never come off!"</p>
+
+<p>And she retired to her own room, wondering no doubt as to what
+difficulties Destiny could interpose to the completion of her own
+marriage.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h4>
+
+<h3>COUNT KARL VON FREYBERG</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the days of Charles V the Austrian Empire dominated for a period both
+Europe and America, both the East and the West Indies. From the summit
+of the Dalmatian mountains Austria beheld the rising of the sun, from
+the chain of the Andes she could watch his setting. When the last ray of
+sunset sank in the west, the first light of dawn was reappearing in the
+east. Her empire was greater than that of Alexander, of Augustus, of
+Charlemagne.</p>
+
+<p>But this empire has been torn by the devouring hands of Time. And the
+champion by whom the armour of this colossus, piece by piece, has been
+rent away, is France.</p>
+
+<p>France took&mdash;for herself&mdash;Flanders, the Duchy of Bar, Burgundy, Alsace,
+and Lorraine. For the grandson of Louis XIV she took Spain, the two
+Indies, and the islands. For the son of Philip V she took Naples and
+Sicily. She also took the Netherlands and made two separate kingdoms of
+them, Belgium and Holland, and, finally, she tore away Lombardy and
+Venetia, and gave them to Italy. And to-day the boundaries of this
+empire, upon which, three hundred years ago, the sun never set, are, in
+the west, Tyrol; in the east, Moldavia; to the north, Prussia; to the
+south, Turkey.</p>
+
+<p>Every one knows that, strictly speaking, there is no Austria, properly
+so called, only a dukedom of Austria, with nine to ten millions of
+inhabitants, of which Vienna is the capital. And it was a duke of
+Austria who imprisoned Richard CÅ“ur-de-Lion on his return from
+Palestine, and only released him on payment of a ransom of two hundred
+and fifty thousand gold crowns.</p>
+
+<p>The map-space now occupied by Austria, outside the actual dukedom, its
+kernel, consists of Bohemia, Hungary, Illyria, the Tyrol, Moravia,
+Silesia, the Sclavonian district of Croatia, the Vaivody of Servia, the
+Banat, Transylvania, Galicia, Dalmatia, and Styria.</p>
+
+<p>We do not count four to five millions of Roumanians scattered throughout
+Hungary, and on the banks of the Danube. Every one of the above
+districts has its own character, its own customs, language, costume,
+frontier. Especially the dwellers in Styria, composed of Norica and the
+ancient Pannonia, have retained their own language, costume, and
+primitive customs. Before it became included in Austria, Styria had its
+own separate history and nobility, dating from the time when it was
+known as the march of Styria, about 1030. And from that epoch Karl von
+Freyberg dated his ancestry, remaining a great noble at a time when
+great nobles are becoming rare.</p>
+
+<p>He was a handsome young man of about twenty-seven, tall, straight,
+slight, flexible as a cane, and equally tough. His fine black hair was
+cut close, and he had beneath black eyebrows and eyelashes, those dark
+grey eyes which Homer attributes to Minerva and which shine like
+emeralds. His complexion was sunburnt, for he had hunted since
+childhood. He had small hands and feet, unwearied limbs, and prodigious
+strength. In his own mountains he had hunted bear, wild goat, and
+chamois. But he had never attacked the first of these animals with any
+weapon except lance or dagger.</p>
+
+<p>He was now a captain in the Lichtenstein Hussars, and, even in barracks,
+was always followed by two Tyrolean chasseurs dressed in the national
+costume. While the one carried out an order the other remained at hand,
+so that there might be always some one to whom his master might say "Go
+and do this." Although they understood German he always spoke to them in
+their own tongue. They were serfs, understanding nothing about
+enfranchisement, who considered that he had absolute power of life and
+death over them, and although he had several times tried to explain
+matters, telling them they were free to go where they chose, they had
+simply refused either to believe or to listen.</p>
+
+<p>Three years before, during a chamois hunt, one of his keepers lost his
+footing. He fell down a precipice, and was dashed to pieces. Karl
+ordered his steward to pay the widow an annuity. She thanked him, but
+was quite unable to understand that he owed her anything merely because
+her husband had been killed in his service.</p>
+
+<p>When there was a hunt&mdash;and he who writes this had twice the honour to be
+of the party&mdash;whether in his own country or not, Karl always wore his
+national costume and very picturesque it was.</p>
+
+<p>The count's two attendants never left him. They were loaders. When Karl
+had fired, he dropped his gun on the ground and another ready loaded was
+instantly slipped into his hand.</p>
+
+<p>Whilst waiting for the beaters to be placed, which generally took half
+an hour, the two chasseurs drew from their game-bags small Tyrolean
+flutes made of reeds, on which they played, sometimes together,
+sometimes alone, but always joining again after a certain number of
+bars, Styrian airs, melancholy, but sweet and plaintive. This lasted
+some minutes, then, as if drawn by the music, the count in his turn
+produced a similar flute and put it to his lips. He now took up the
+melody, the others only played accompaniments, which I think must have
+been improvised&mdash;so original were they. It seemed as if the
+accompaniments pursued the air, overtook it, and then turned around it
+like creepers or tendrils. Then the air reappeared, charming, but always
+sad, and reaching notes so high that one would have thought only silver
+or glass could produce them. Then a gun was heard, that of the chief
+beater, announcing that all was ready. The three flutes vanished inside
+the game-bags, the musicians took their guns and again became hunters,
+ear and eye strained to the utmost.</p>
+
+<p>Count Karl knocked at eleven o'clock at Baron von Bülow's door, having
+heard both of his return and his accident. Frederic received him with an
+unusually smiling countenance, but only offered his left hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! then, it is true, is it? I have just read the 'Kreuz Zeitung.'"</p>
+
+<p>"What have you read, my dear Karl?"</p>
+
+<p>"I read that you fought with a Frenchman and were wounded."</p>
+
+<p>"Hush&mdash;not so loud. I am not wounded for the family, only dislocated."</p>
+
+<p>"What does that mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"It means, my dear fellow, that my wife won't think she need inspect a
+sprained arm, but she would positively insist on examining a wounded
+one. Now she would die of fright over this wound, while I believe you
+would rather like to have it. Have you seen many wounds a foot long? I
+can show you one if you like."</p>
+
+<p>"How so? A skilled fencer like you, who uses his sabre as if he had
+invented it!"</p>
+
+<p>"None the less, I found my master."</p>
+
+<p>"A Frenchman?"</p>
+
+<p>"A Frenchman."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, instead of hunting wild boar in the Taunus to-morrow, as I
+intended, I should like to go and hunt your Frenchman, and bring back
+one of his paws to replace your wounded one."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't do anything of the kind, my dear friend, you might easily only
+bring back a nice little cut like this of mine. Besides, the Frenchman
+is now my friend, and I want him to be yours also."</p>
+
+<p>"Never! A rascal who has cut your arm open&mdash;how far? A foot, did you
+say?"</p>
+
+<p>"He might have killed me. He did not. He might have cut me in two, and
+he only gave me this wound. We embraced on the battlefield. Did you see
+the other details?"</p>
+
+<p>"What other details?"</p>
+
+<p>"Those concerning his other duel, with Herr George Kleist."</p>
+
+<p>"Superficially. I don't know him, I only cared about you. I did see that
+your Frenchman had damaged the jaw of some man who writes articles in
+the 'Kreuz Zeitung.' He seems to have quarrelled with two professions,
+since he chooses to encounter an officer and a journalist on the same
+day."</p>
+
+<p>"He did not choose us, we were foolish enough to choose him. We pursued
+him to Hanover, where he was very comfortable. Probably he was annoyed
+by being disturbed. So he sent me home with my arm in a sling, and
+dismissed Herr Kleist with a black eye."</p>
+
+<p>"Is the fellow a Hercules?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all, it is curious. He is a head shorter than you, but formed
+like Alfred de Musset's Hassan, whose mother made him small in order to
+turn him out perfect."</p>
+
+<p>"And so you embraced on the battlefield?"</p>
+
+<p>"Better still. I have an idea."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is a Frenchman as you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Of good family?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dear friend, they are all of good family since the Revolution. But he
+is clever&mdash;very."</p>
+
+<p>"As a fencing master?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all, as an artist. Kaulbach says he is the hope of the present
+school. He is young."</p>
+
+<p>"Young?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, twenty-five or six at most, and handsome."</p>
+
+<p>"Handsome as well?"</p>
+
+<p>"Charming. An income of twelve thousand francs."</p>
+
+<p>"A trifle."</p>
+
+<p>"Not everybody has two hundred thousand, like you, my dear friend.
+Twelve thousand francs and a fine talent might mean fifty or sixty
+thousand."</p>
+
+<p>"But why in the world do you consider all this?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should like him to marry Helen."</p>
+
+<p>The count nearly sprang out of his chair.</p>
+
+<p>"What! Let him marry Helen! your sister-in-law! A Frenchman!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, is she not herself partly of French origin?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure Mademoiselle Helen loves you too much to be willing to marry
+a man who has wounded you like this. I hope she refused?"</p>
+
+<p>"She did."</p>
+
+<p>The count breathed again.</p>
+
+<p>"But what the deuce put such an idea into your head as to marry him to
+your sister?"</p>
+
+<p>"She is only my sister-in-law."</p>
+
+<p>"That does not matter. What an idea to think of marrying one's
+sister-in-law to the first person picked up on the high road!"</p>
+
+<p>"I assure you this young man is not just&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind! She refused, did she not? That is the chief thing."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope to make her think better of it."</p>
+
+<p>"You must be quite mad."</p>
+
+<p>"But tell me, why should she refuse? Explain if you can! Unless, indeed,
+she cares for some one else."</p>
+
+<p>The count blushed up to his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think that quite impossible?" he stammered.</p>
+
+<p>"No, but then if she should love someone else, she must say so."</p>
+
+<p>"Listen, Frederic, I cannot positively say that she loves some one else,
+but I can declare that some one else loves her."</p>
+
+<p>"That is half the battle. Is it some one as good as my Frenchman?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! Frederic, you are so prejudiced in favour of your Frenchman. I dare
+not say yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Then tell me at once. You see what might have happened had my Frenchman
+been here, and I had made any promise to him."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, at any rate, you won't turn me out for saying it. The some one is
+myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Always modest, loyal, and true, dear Karl but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But? I will have no 'buts.'"</p>
+
+<p>"It is not a very terrible 'but,' as you will see. You are a great
+noble, Karl, compared to my little sister Helen."</p>
+
+<p>"I am the last of my race, there is no one to make objections."</p>
+
+<p>"And you are very rich for a dowry of two hundred thousand francs."</p>
+
+<p>"I can dispose of my own fortune as I choose."</p>
+
+<p>"These are observations I felt bound to make to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you consider them really serious?"</p>
+
+<p>"I acknowledge objections to them would be much more so."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it of no consequence to ascertain whether Helen loves me or not?"</p>
+
+<p>"That can be decided at once."</p>
+
+<p>"How?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will send for her, the shortest explanations are always the best."</p>
+
+<p>The count became as pale as he had been red the moment before. In a
+trembling voice he exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Not now, for Heaven's sake! not now!"</p>
+
+<p>"But, my dear Karl!"</p>
+
+<p>"Frederic!"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you believe I am your friend?"</p>
+
+<p>"Good heavens! yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, do you suppose I would subject you to an interview which could
+only make you unhappy?</p>
+
+<p>"You mean&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean that I believe&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Believe what?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe that she loves you as much as you love her."</p>
+
+<p>"My friend, you will kill me with joy."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, since you are so afraid of an interview with Helen, go and do
+your hunting in the Taunus, kill your wild boar and come back again, the
+thing will be done."</p>
+
+<p>"Done, how?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will undertake it."</p>
+
+<p>"No, Frederic, I will not go."</p>
+
+<p>"What, you will not go? Only think of your men waiting there with their
+flutes."</p>
+
+<p>"They may wait."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment the door opened, and Helen appeared on the threshold.</p>
+
+<p>"Helen!" exclaimed Karl.</p>
+
+<p>"You will be careful&mdash;you must not be too long with my brother," she
+said, remaining at the door.</p>
+
+<p>"He is waiting for you," observed Frederic.</p>
+
+<p>"For me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, come here."</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't understand in the least."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind! Come here."</p>
+
+<p>Karl offered his hand to Helen.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mademoiselle," he said, "do what your brother asks, I entreat you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," she said, "what shall I do?"</p>
+
+<p>"You can lend your hand to Karl; he will return it."</p>
+
+<p>Karl seized her hand and pressed it to his heart. Helen uttered a cry.
+Timid as a child, Karl released the hand.</p>
+
+<p>"You did not hurt me," said Helen.</p>
+
+<p>Karl promptly repossessed himself of the released hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Brother," said Frederic, "did you not say you had a secret you wished
+to confide to Helen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, yes," cried Karl.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, I am not listening."</p>
+
+<p>Karl bent towards Helen's ear, and the sweet words "I love you" fell
+from his lips with a whisper as of a moth's wings, which flitting by
+your ear on a spring evening breathes the eternal secret of Nature.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Frederic, Frederic!" cried Helen, hiding her forehead on his couch,
+"I was not mistaken!"</p>
+
+<p>Then raising her head and languidly opening her beautiful eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"And I," she said, "I love you."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h4>
+
+<h3>THE GRANDMOTHER</h3>
+
+
+<p>For a few moments Frederic left the lovers to themselves and their
+happiness. Then, as both raised their eyes to his, as if enquiring what
+next should be done:</p>
+
+<p>"The little sister," said he, "must go and tell all this to her big
+sister, the big sister will relate it to the grandmother, and the
+grandmother, who believes in me, will come and talk it over and we will
+arrange things together."</p>
+
+<p>"And when must I go and tell all this to the big sister?" enquired
+Helen.</p>
+
+<p>"At once, if you will."</p>
+
+<p>"I will go now! You will wait for me, Karl?"</p>
+
+<p>Karl's smile and gesture answered her. Helen glided out of his embrace
+and vanished like a bird.</p>
+
+<p>"Now for our own affairs!" said Frederic.</p>
+
+<p>"How! what affairs?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have something to tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"Anything important?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very serious."</p>
+
+<p>"Anything about our marriage? You alarm me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose this morning when you doubted the possibility of Helen's love I
+had answered, 'Do not be afraid, Helen loves and will marry you, but
+there is an obstacle, and the marriage cannot possibly take place in
+less than a year?'"</p>
+
+<p>"What would you have? I should have been in despair at the delay, but
+transported by the news."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my friend, I tell you now what I should have told you this
+morning. Helen loves you. She did not ask me to tell you this; she has
+told it herself, but at this moment there is an insurmountable
+obstacle."</p>
+
+<p>"At least you will explain what the obstacle is?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to tell you what is yet a secret, Karl. In a week, or at
+most, a fortnight, Prussia will declare war against Austria."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I feared it. Bismarck is Germany's evil genius."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now you will understand. As friends we can serve on opposite
+sides, that happens every day. But&mdash;as brothers-in-law&mdash;we could not.
+You can hardly become my brother-in-law at the very moment of
+unsheathing your sword against me."</p>
+
+<p>"You are quite sure of your information?"</p>
+
+<p>"Most certainly I am. Bismarck now occupies such a position in regard to
+the Chambers, and has forced the king into such a position with regard
+to the other German princes, that, either he must embroil Germany from
+Berlin to Pest and even to Innspruck, or he will be tried for high
+treason, and end his days in a fortress! Now, Bismarck is a power&mdash;a
+power of darkness if you will&mdash;he will not be tried for high treason,
+and he will embroil Germany&mdash;for this reason: Prussia has nothing to
+gain by upsetting him, whereas by upsetting Germany she can annex two or
+three little kingdoms or duchies, which will round off her borders very
+comfortably."</p>
+
+<p>"But the Confederation will be against him."</p>
+
+<p>"Little will he care for that, so long as he himself remains
+indispensable. And, listen to what I tell you; the more enemies Prussia
+has, the more she will beat them. Our army is organized as no other
+European army is organized&mdash;at the present moment."</p>
+
+<p>"You say our army, then you have become a <i>Prussian</i>. I thought you were
+a <i>German</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"I am a Silesian, Prussian since the days of Frederic II. All I have I
+owe to King William, and I would willingly die for him, while regretting
+it should be in a bad cause."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you advise in my case?"</p>
+
+<p>"You are a Styrian, therefore an Austrian. Fight for your emperor like a
+lion, and if by ill luck we meet in a cavalry charge you turn your horse
+to the right, I also turn mine; we salute and pass on. Don't yourself
+get killed, that is all, and we will sign the marriage contract the day
+peace is declared."</p>
+
+<p>"Unhappily, I see no other way out of it, unless by good luck we could
+both remain at Frankfort, a free and neutral town. I have no wish to
+fight with Germans. It will be an iniquitous war. If it had been Turks,
+French, or Russians, it would be all right, but between children of the
+same country, speaking the same language! My patriotism ends there, I
+confess."</p>
+
+<p>That last hope must be given up. I myself brought orders to the Prussian
+general here to be ready to leave, Austria will certainly withdraw her
+troops also. Frankfort may have a Bavarian garrison or be left with one
+of her own, but most certainly we, to the last man, shall have to rejoin
+the army."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor dear Helen! What are we to say when she comes back?"</p>
+
+<p>"We will say the marriage is decided on, that the betrothal will take
+place; but the marriage must be delayed for a year. If, in spite of my
+prophecy, war should not be declared, you can marry at once. If this
+war does take place, it is not a war which will last. It will be a
+tempest, a hurricane, passing over and destroying everything, then it
+will be peace. If I fix a date, it is because I am sure not to have to
+ask for further delay. Helen is eighteen, she will then be nineteen, you
+are now twenty-six, you will then be twenty-seven. This delay is not
+caused by circumstances of our making. Circumstances impose it on us. We
+must give way to them."</p>
+
+<p>"You will promise not to let anything change your opinion of me, and
+that from to-day, June 12th, you count yourself my brother-in-law&mdash;on
+parole?"</p>
+
+<p>"The honour is too dear for me ever to think of repudiating it. From
+to-day, June 12th, I am your brother-in-law&mdash;on parole."</p>
+
+<p>"Madame von Beling!"</p>
+
+<p>This exclamation was drawn from Karl by the unexpected appearance of an
+elderly lady dressed entirely in black. She had splendid hair, white as
+snow, and must in youth have been very beautiful. Her whole appearance
+betokened distinction and benevolence.</p>
+
+<p>"How is this, my dear Frederic?" said she, entering the room. "You have
+been here since five o'clock this morning and I only hear of your
+arrival from your wife at two in the afternoon; also, that you are in
+pain."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear grandmamma," answered Frederic, "but do I not also know that you
+do not awake before eleven, and only rise at noon?"</p>
+
+<p>"True, but they tell me you have a sprained arm. I have three excellent
+remedies for sprains, one, which is perfect, came from my old friend
+Goethe, one from another old friend, Madame Schröder, and the third from
+Baron von Humboldt. You see the origin of all three is unimpeachable."</p>
+
+<p>Turning to Karl, who, bowing, brought forward an armchair for her, she
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"You, Herr von Freyberg, have evidently no sprains, for you are in
+hunting costume. Ah! you do not know how your Styrian dress recalls a
+happy memory of my youth. The first time I saw my husband, Herr von
+Beling it is now something like fifty-two years ago, for it was in
+1814&mdash;at a carnival masked ball, he wore a similar costume to the one
+you are now wearing. He was about your age. In the middle of the ball&mdash;I
+remember as if it were yesterday&mdash;we heard of the landing of that
+accursed Napoleon. The dancers vowed that if he again ascended the
+throne they would go to fight him. The ladies each chose a cavalier, who
+should be entitled to wear her colours in the coming campaign. I did
+like the rest, and I chose Herr von Beling, although in my heart of
+hearts&mdash;for I have remained French in heart&mdash;I could not be very angry
+with the man who had made France so great.</p>
+
+<p>"This fanciful nomination of Herr von Beling as a champion wearing my
+colours opened my parents' house to him. He could not, he said, be my
+knight without their permission. They gave their permission. Napoleon
+again became emperor. Herr von Beling rejoined his regiment, but he
+first asked my hand from my mother. My mother consulted me, I loved him.
+It was agreed that we should marry when the war was over. The campaign
+was not long, and when Herr von Beling returned we were married; I, at
+the bottom of my heart feeling a little vexed that he had contributed
+the three hundred millionth part towards the dethronement of my hero.
+But I never confessed this small infidelity of enthusiasm, and our life
+was no less happy on that account."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear grandmamma," enquired Frederic, "did Herr von Beling&mdash;he must
+have been very handsome in Styrian garb, I have seen his portrait&mdash;did
+Herr von Beling kneel before you when he asked the favour of being your
+knight?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, and very gracefully he did it too," returned the old lady.</p>
+
+<p>"Did he do it better than my friend Karl?"</p>
+
+<p>"Better than your friend Karl? But is your friend Karl likely to kneel
+before me by any chance?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just look at him."</p>
+
+<p>Madame von Beling turned round and saw indeed Karl kneeling on the
+ground before her.</p>
+
+<p>"Good gracious!" said she laughing, "have I suddenly grown fifty years
+younger?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear grandmother," said Frederic, while Karl took possession of the
+old lady's hand. "No, you have still your threescore and ten years,
+which become you so well that I will not let you off a single one of
+them; but here is Karl, who also is going to the war, and who asks to be
+called the knight of your granddaughter Helen."</p>
+
+<p>"Really! and is my little granddaughter Helen actually old enough to
+have a knight of her very own?"</p>
+
+<p>"She is eighteen, grandmother."</p>
+
+<p>"Eighteen! My age when I married Herr von Beling! It is the age when
+leaves forsake the tree and are borne away by the wind. If Helen's hour
+has struck," she continued with a mournful smile, "she must go like the
+rest."</p>
+
+<p>"Never, never, dear grandmother," cried the young girl who had entered
+unperceived, "never so far but that I can every day kiss the dear hand
+which gives life to all of us."</p>
+
+<p>And she knelt down beside Karl and took the other hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" said Madame von Beling, nodding her head, "so that is why I was
+invited to come upstairs. I was to be caught in a trap. Well, what am I
+to do now? How defend myself? To surrender at once is stupid; it is like
+a scene from Molière."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, grandmamma, don't surrender, or at least not without
+conditions."</p>
+
+<p>"And what are they to be?"</p>
+
+<p>"That these young people can be betrothed as soon as they like, but that
+the marriage, like your own, can only be celebrated when the war is
+over."</p>
+
+<p>"What war?" asked Helen, in anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>"We will tell you about it later. Meanwhile, if Karl is your knight, he
+must wear your colours. What are they?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have only one," replied Helen. "It is green."</p>
+
+<p>"Then he is wearing them now," said Frederic indicating his friend's
+coat with green facings, and the hat with its wide band of green velvet.</p>
+
+<p>"And in honour of my lady love," said Karl, rising, "a hundred men shall
+also wear them, with me, and like me."</p>
+
+<p>Everything was now settled, and the whole party, Frederic leading the
+way, Madame von Beling on Karl's arm, went downstairs to convey the good
+news to the dear invalid.</p>
+
+<p>That same evening it was known that the Diet was convoked at Frankfort
+for June 15th.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h4>
+
+<h3>FRANKFORT-ON-MAIN</h3>
+
+
+<p>It is time to give some information concerning the town in which the
+chief events of our history will take place.</p>
+
+<p>Frankfort ranks as one of the most important towns in Germany, not
+merely on account of the number of its inhabitants, nor because of its
+commercial standing, but by reason of the political position which it
+occupies as being the seat of the Imperial Diet.</p>
+
+<p>One continually hears phrases repeated until they become familiar
+without the person precisely understanding the exact meaning. Let us in
+a few words explain what the functions of the Imperial Diet really are.</p>
+
+<p>It is the duty of the Diet to watch over the affairs of Germany in
+general and to smooth down disagreements between the confederate States.
+The president is always a representative of Austria. The decisions of
+the assembly are called <i>Recesses</i>. The Diet, which has existed since
+very remote ages, had at first no fixed seat, but was held sometimes at
+Nuremberg, sometimes at Ratisbon, or at Augsbourg. Finally, June 9th,
+1815, the Congress of Vienna established Frankfort as the permanent seat
+of the Diet of the Germanic Confederation.</p>
+
+<p>Thanks to the new constitution Frankfort has a quarter vote at the
+Diet, the other three-quarters belonging to the three free towns of
+Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck. In return for this honour, Frankfort was to
+raise seven hundred and fifty men for the Germanic Confederation and
+fire a salute on the anniversary of the battle of Leipzig. The execution
+of this latter obligation was at first a trifle difficult, for the
+reason that since 1803 Frankfort had ceased to possess ramparts, and
+since 1813 had owned no cannon. But in the first moments of enthusiasm a
+subscription was opened which allowed the purchase of two four-pounders,
+so that since 1814, on the proper day, Frankfort has duly paid the debt
+of fire and smoke owed to the Holy Alliance.</p>
+
+<p>As to the ramparts, they exist no longer. Instead of old walls and muddy
+ditches, Frankfort has seen the gradual formation of a charming English
+garden, a gracious and perfumed enclosure, which enables one to make the
+circuit of the town, while walking on the smoothest of paths and under
+magnificent trees. So that, with its houses painted white, green, and
+pink, Frankfort looks like a bouquet of camellias set in a border of
+heather. The tomb of the mayor to whom this improvement is due stands in
+the midst of a delightful labyrinth of walks, much frequented by the
+burghers and their families about four or five o'clock in the afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>The Teuton name Frankfort means a <i>free ford</i>, and the town owes its
+origin to an imperial castle built by Charlemagne at a point where the
+Namur is fordable. The first historical notice of it is the date of the
+Council held there in 794, in which was discussed the question of image
+worship. As to Charlemagne's palace, no trace of it can be found, but
+antiquaries say that it stood where now is the Church of St. Leonard.</p>
+
+<p>It must have been about 796 that Charlemagne founded the colony of
+Sachsenhausen peopled by the Saxons whom he had conquered and baptized.
+In 822 Louis le Debonnaire built the Sala on the site of the present
+Saalhof, and in 838 Frankfort had already a court of justice and walls
+of defence.</p>
+
+<p>In 853 Louis the German raised it to the rank of capital of the eastern
+portion of the French empire; extended its borders, and built the church
+of St. Saviour close to where the autumn fair was held, in accordance
+with the traders' custom of setting up their booths under the walls of
+churches and temples.</p>
+
+<p>The custom of electing the emperor at Frankfort was begun by that great
+Swabian house whose name alone calls up a host of terrible and
+melancholy recollections. In 1240 Frederic II granted letters of safe
+conduct to all going to the market of Frankfort; and the Emperor Louis
+of Bavaria, wishing to show gratitude for his election, proved his
+attachment to the town by granting great advantages, among others the
+right of holding a fair for fifteen days during Lent, which was known as
+the Easter fair.</p>
+
+<p>The Emperor Charles IV confirmed the right of the Imperial Election to
+Frankfort by the famous Golden Bull issued in 1356. This Bull provided
+the Emperor Napoleon with an opportunity for displaying his excellent
+memory. Dining one day with half a score of sovereign princes, at the
+meeting of Erfurth, the conversation chanced to turn on the Golden Bull,
+which, until the Confederation of the Rhine, had laid down the rules for
+Imperial elections. The Prince Primate, being on his own ground, gave
+some details concerning the Bull, fixing the date for 1409.</p>
+
+<p>"I think you are mistaken, prince," said Napoleon. "If my memory is
+correct, the Bull was published in 1356 in the reign of the Emperor
+Charles IV."</p>
+
+<p>"Your Majesty is right," said the primate, reconsidering, "but how is
+it you remember the date of a bull so exactly? Had it been a battle it
+would be less wonderful."</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I tell you the secret of this wonderful memory, prince?" enquired
+Napoleon.</p>
+
+<p>"Your Majesty would give us all much pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," continued the emperor, "you must know that when I was a
+sub-lieutenant in the Artillery&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Whereupon there was so decided a movement of surprise and curiosity
+among the illustrious guests that Napoleon paused an instant, but seeing
+that all were waiting for him to continue, he resumed with a smile:</p>
+
+<p>"I was saying that when I had the honour of being a sub-lieutenant of
+Artillery I was in garrison at Valence for three years. I did not care
+for society, and lived very quietly. By a lucky chance I had rooms
+opposite a well-read and obliging bookseller, whose name was Marcus
+Aurelius, and who gave me the run of his library. I read and re-read
+everything in his shop two or three times during my stay in the capital
+of the Drôme, and I remember everything I then read&mdash;even to the date of
+the Golden Bull."</p>
+
+<p>Frankfort continued to govern itself as a free imperial town until,
+after having been bombarded by the French in the wars of the Revolution,
+it was one fine day handed over by Napoleon to the Prince Primate
+Charles of Dalberg, when it became the capital of the Grand Duchy of
+Frankfort.</p>
+
+<p>The most interesting building in Frankfort is undoubtedly the Römer, a
+huge building which contains the Hall of the Electors, now used for the
+sittings of the Upper Senate of Frankfort, and the Hall of the Emperors
+in which the latter were proclaimed. A peculiarity of this hall, which
+contains the portraits of all the emperors from Conrad to Leopold II, is
+that the architect who built it made exactly as many niches as there
+have been sovereigns wearing the Imperial crown. So that when Francis II
+was elected, all the niches were already filled, and there was no space
+found for the new Cæsar. There was much discussion as to where his
+portrait could be placed, when in 1805 the ancient German empire
+crumbled into dust at the noise of the cannon of Austerlitz, and the
+courtiers were relieved from their difficulty. The architect had exactly
+foreseen the number of emperors to come. Nostradamus himself could not
+have done better.</p>
+
+<p>After the town hall the most interesting place is the street of the
+Jews. When the writer of these lines visited Frankfort for the first
+time, some thirty years ago, there were still Jews and Austrians
+there&mdash;real Jews, who hated Christians even as Shylock hated them, and
+real Christians who hated Jews as did Torquemada.</p>
+
+<p>This street consisted of two long rows of tall houses, black, gloomy,
+sinister in aspect, closely crowded, looking as if they clung to each
+other in terror. It was Saturday, which no doubt added to the gloom of
+the street. Every door was closed, bastard little doors made to allow
+only one person to pass at once. All the iron shutters were also closed.
+No sound of voice, or step, or movement was heard; a look of anguish and
+terror seemed spread over all these houses. Occasionally an old woman
+with a hooked nose like an owl glided past and disappeared in a sort of
+cellar or basement in this strange street. To-day all this is more
+civilized and the houses have a more active and lively appearance.</p>
+
+<p>The population of Frankfort consists of a historic bourgeoisie forming
+the aristocracy of the Imperial town, the coronation town by right of
+the Golden Bull. The chief families are those of the old nobility;
+those of French extraction expatriated by the revocation of the Edict of
+Nantes, and who by their intelligence and industry stand in the first
+rank of society; thirdly, Italian families, in whom the feelings of race
+have been stronger than religious differences, and who, although
+Catholics by profession, have mingled with the French Protestants.
+Finally the Jewish bankers, who naturally group themselves around the
+house of Rothschild as being incontestably members of the same clan. All
+are devoted to Austria, because to Austria the town owes its peculiar
+position, the source of its wealth and independence, and all these
+classes, though divided by race, language, and religion, are united by
+their common affection for the House of Hapsburg&mdash;a love which perhaps
+hardly attains to devotion, but which, in words at least, amounts to
+fanaticism.</p>
+
+<p>One must not omit the suburb of Sachsenhausen, situated on the other
+side of the Main, the colony founded by Charlemagne. Its inhabitants,
+living closely together and only marrying among themselves, have
+retained some of the roughness of the old Saxon character. This
+roughness, contrasted with the growing politeness among other nations,
+now seems to be absolute rudeness, but rudeness which is not
+intentional. They are said to be ready in the use of the somewhat harsh,
+but occasionally witty retorts, wherewith the weak sometimes retaliate
+upon the strong. We can give two specimens of the rough speech of the
+people of Sachsenhausen.</p>
+
+<p>As is usual in the month of May, owing to the melting of the snow, the
+Main was in flood. The Great Elector himself came to judge of the rise
+of the water, and the damage it would probably cause. Meeting a man from
+Sachsenhausen:</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he asked, "is the Main still rising?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, idiot that you are!" replied the individual addressed, "can't you
+see that for yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>And the old Saxon went on, shrugging his shoulders. One of his comrades
+ran after him:</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know to whom it was you spoke?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it was the Elector of Hesse himself."</p>
+
+<p>"Thunder and lightning!" exclaimed the old man, "how glad I am I
+answered him civilly!"</p>
+
+<p>At the play one of these honest people leaned against the man sitting in
+front of him; the latter moved away:</p>
+
+<p>"Am I annoying you?" demanded the aggressor, "because if it were you who
+annoyed me, I should give you a punch you would remember the rest of
+your life!"</p>
+
+<p>Since 1815 Frankfort has been garrisoned by two detachments of fifteen
+hundred to two thousand each, one Austrian, the other Prussian; the
+former were much beloved; the latter equally, or even more, hated. A
+Prussian officer was taking some friends to see the curiosities of
+Frankfort. They arrived at the Dôme. There, among other votive
+offerings, representations of hearts, hands, or feet, the sacristan
+exhibited a mouse, made of silver.</p>
+
+<p>"What was that for?" some one asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Through the divine wrath," answered the sacristan, "a whole quarter of
+Frankfort once found itself eaten up by swarms of mice. In vain they
+fetched all the cats of the other quarters, all the terriers, bulldogs,
+every sort of animal that can kill a mouse; the plague increased. At
+last a devout lady thought of having a silver mouse made and dedicated
+to the Virgin as a votive gift. At the end of a week not a mouse was to
+be seen!"</p>
+
+<p>And as the listeners were somewhat astonished when they heard this
+legend:</p>
+
+<p>"What fools these Frankforters are!" said the Prussian, "to tell tales
+of that kind and believe them!"</p>
+
+<p>"We tell them," said the sacristan, "but we do not believe them. If we
+did we should have made a silver Prussian and offered him to the Virgin
+long ago."</p>
+
+<p>It is to be remembered that our friend Lenhart, Benedict's coachman, was
+a citizen of the Sachsenhausen colony.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h4>
+
+<h3>THE DEPARTURE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Since the Schleswig-Holstein troubles, the Diet had always assembled at
+Frankfort on June 9th, this year that date was the day after the
+attempted assassination of Bismarck on which Benedict drank to the
+health of France. The Diet, knowing of the mobilization of the Landwehr
+and the dissolution of the Chamber, decreed that, if Frankfort were not
+to be compromised in its position as a free and imperial town in the
+various events which would necessarily follow a war between Prussia and
+Austria, the Prussian and Austrian garrisons must be withdrawn, and
+replaced by a Bavarian garrison.</p>
+
+<p>It was agreed that Bavaria should appoint the commander-in-chief, and
+Frankfort the governor of the town. The Bavarian Colonel Lessel, who had
+been for many years member of the federated military commission for
+Bavaria, was appointed commander-in-chief, and the lieutenant-colonel of
+the Frankfort battalion became governor of the town.</p>
+
+<p>The departure of the Prussian and Austrian troops was fixed for June
+12th, and it was decided that the Prussians should leave by two special
+trains on the Main-Weser line, at six and eight in the morning, for
+Wetzlar, and the Austrians at three in the afternoon of the same day.</p>
+
+<p>This arrangement was known in Frankfort on the 9th, and as may be
+understood, filled the Chandroz house with despair. Emma would be
+separated from her husband and Helen from her lover.</p>
+
+<p>We have said that the Prussians were to leave first. At five in the
+morning Frederic said farewell to his wife, his child, his dear sister
+Helen, and the grandmother. It was too early for Karl von Freyberg to be
+in the house at that hour; but he waited for his friend on the Zeil. He
+and Helen had agreed the evening before that after having seen Frederic
+off Karl should come back and wait for her in the little Catholic church
+of Notre Dame de la Croix.</p>
+
+<p>The harmony between the two young people was perfect. Helen and Karl,
+though born in two different countries hundreds of leagues apart, were
+both Catholics. Doubtless they had selected this early hour, because
+they knew the little liking the people of Frankfort had for the
+Prussians. No manifestation of regret was shown on the departure of the
+latter, perhaps they were watched through the closed shutters, but not a
+window or blind opened for a flower to fall which might say "Au revoir,"
+no waving handkerchief said "Farewell!"</p>
+
+<p>One would have sworn it was a troop of the enemy leaving a town, and the
+town itself seemed only to wait for their departure in order to wake up
+and rejoice. Only the officers of the city battalion came to the station
+courteously to see them off, wishing nothing better than soon to fight
+them with deadly hate.</p>
+
+<p>Frederic left by the second train at eight o'clock in the morning,
+consequently Karl was late and it was Helen who waited for him. She was
+standing by the holy water stoup leaning against a white pillar. She
+smiled sadly when she saw Karl, gently dipped two fingers in the holy
+water and held them towards him. Karl took her whole hand, and made the
+sign of the cross with it.</p>
+
+<p>Never had the beautiful girl looked so lovely as at this moment when
+Karl was going to be parted from her. She had scarcely slept all night;
+all the rest of the time she had wept and prayed. She was dressed in
+white like a bride, with a wreath of little white roses on her head.
+They went together, Karl with Helen's hand in his, to kneel in one of
+the side chapels where Helen was accustomed to pray. Almost all the
+ornaments in the chapel, from the altar cloth to the Virgin's dress,
+were the work of her hand alone, and the Madonna's gold and pearl crown
+had been her gift. They prayed together; then Karl said:</p>
+
+<p>"We are going to part, Helen; what vows shall I make you? and in what
+words shall they be made?"</p>
+
+<p>"Karl," replied Helen, "tell me again before the beloved Madonna who has
+watched over me in childhood and youth, tell me again that you will love
+me always, and that you will have no other wife but me."</p>
+
+<p>Karl quickly extended his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! yes," he said, "and willingly! for I have always loved you. I love
+you now, and I shall love you always. Yes, you shall be my wife in this
+world and in the next, here and above!"</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," said Helen; "I have given you my heart, and with my heart,
+my life. You are the tree, and I am the creeper; you are the trunk and I
+am the ivy which covers you with its verdure. At the moment when I first
+saw you, I said with Juliet: 'I will belong to you or to the tomb.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Helen," cried the young man, "why link that dismal word with such a
+sweet promise?"</p>
+
+<p>But she, not listening, continued her thought:</p>
+
+<p>"I ask no other vow than that which you have sworn, Karl; it is the
+repetition of mine; keep yours as it is; but when I have said that I
+will love you always, that I will never love any one but you, and that I
+will never be another's, let me add: and, if you die, I will die with
+you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Helen, my love, what are you saying?" exclaimed the young man.</p>
+
+<p>"I say, my Karl, that since my heart has left my bosom, to dwell in
+yours, you have become all that I think of, all I live for; and that if
+anything happened to you, I should not need to kill myself, I should
+only have to let myself die. I know nothing of these royal quarrels,
+which seem to me wicked, because they cost the blood of men and tears of
+women. I only know that it matters not to me whether Francis Joseph or
+William I is victorious. I live, if you live I die, if you die."</p>
+
+<p>"Helen, do you wish to drive me mad, that you say these terrible
+things?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I only wish you to know, when you are absent, what is happening to
+me, and if, when far from me, you are mortally wounded, instead of
+saying: 'I shall never see her again!' you must simply say: 'I am going
+to meet her!' And I say this as truly and sincerely as I lay this wreath
+at the feet of my beloved Virgin."</p>
+
+<p>And she took her wreath of white roses and laid it at the Virgin's feet.</p>
+
+<p>"And now," she continued, "my vow is made, I have said what I had to
+say. To stay here now, to speak longer of love would be sacrilege. Come,
+Karl; you go this afternoon at two o'clock, but my sister, my
+grandmother, and Frederic will permit you to remain with me till then."</p>
+
+<p>They rose again, offered each other the holy water and left the church.
+The young girl took Karl's arm for from that moment she considered
+herself as his wife. But with the same feeling of respect which made
+him take off his kolbach when he entered the church, he only allowed her
+hand to lie lightly on his arm all the way from Nôtre Dame de la Croix
+until they reached the house.</p>
+
+<p>The day was passed in intimate conversation. On the day when he had
+asked Helen which were her favourite colours and she had answered green,
+he had made a resolution which he now explained to her. This was what he
+wished to do.</p>
+
+<p>He would ask his colonel for eight days' leave; surely fighting would
+not begin for eight days. It would take him scarcely twenty hours to
+reach his mountains, where he was king. There, besides the twenty-two
+rangers always in his service he would select seventy-eight chosen men
+from the best Styrian hunters. They should wear the uniform he himself
+wore when hunting, he would arm them with the best rifles he could find,
+then he would give in his resignation as captain in the Lichtenstein
+Light Infantry, and ask the emperor to appoint him captain of his free
+company. An excellent shot himself, at the head of a hundred men
+renowned for their smartness, he could hope for results which, when
+buried in a regiment under the orders of a colonel there would be no
+possibility of his attaining.</p>
+
+<p>There would also be another advantage in this arrangement. As the head
+of a free regiment, Karl would have liberty of movement. In such a case
+he would not be attached to any special regiment. He would be able to
+fight on his own account, doing all possible harm to the enemy, but only
+answerable to the emperor. He would thus be able to remain near
+Frankfort, the only town which now existed for him in the world, since
+in this town lived Helen. The heart exists not where it beats, but where
+it loves.</p>
+
+<p>According to the Prussian plan of campaign which was to envelop Germany
+as in a half-circle, hurling king, grand-dukes, princes, and peoples one
+on the top of another while marching from west to east, there would
+certainly be fighting in Hesse, in the duchy of Baden, and in Bavaria,
+all near Frankfort. It was there that Karl would fight; and with good
+spies he could always ascertain where his brother-in-law was likely to
+be and so avoid the risk of meeting him.</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of all these plans, for which unfortunately they could not
+enlist the aid of Fortune, time was flying. The clock struck two.</p>
+
+<p>At two o'clock the Austrian officers and soldiers were to assemble in
+the courtyard of the Carmelite barracks. Karl kissed the baroness and
+the child lying in its cradle beside her; then he went with Helen to
+kneel before her grandmother and ask her blessing.</p>
+
+<p>The dear old lady wept to see them so sad; she laid her hands upon their
+heads wishing to bless them, but her voice broke. They both rose, and
+stood mute before her; silent tears flowed down their cheeks. She pitied
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"Helen," she said, "I kissed your grandfather when I bade him farewell,
+and I see no reason against your granting poor Karl the same favour."</p>
+
+<p>The young people threw themselves into each other's arms, and their
+grandmother, under pretext of wiping away a tear, turned away, leaving
+them free for their last kiss.</p>
+
+<p>Helen had long sought for some means of seeing Karl again, after leaving
+the house where he had been permitted to take his last farewell. She had
+not succeeded, when suddenly she remembered that the burgomaster
+Fellner, her sister's godfather, had windows overlooking the station.</p>
+
+<p>She asked her good grandmother to come with her to ask her old friend
+for a place in his window. Women who remain beautiful when growing old
+generally keep a young heart: the kind grandmother consented. So it was
+only a goodbye of the lips which the young people had already said;
+there remained a last adieu of the eyes and heart.</p>
+
+<p>Hans was ordered to bring round the carriage without delay; while Karl
+went to the Carmelite barracks. Helen would have time on her part to go
+to the burgomaster Fellner. Helen made a sign to Hans to hurry, but he
+replied with another that it was unnecessary. She then glanced again at
+Karl, he had never seemed so handsome as at this moment when about to
+leave her. She came down leaning on his arm, in order not to leave him
+until they reached the threshold, the last moment possible. Once there,
+a last kiss sealed their separation and pledged their vows.</p>
+
+<p>A hussar waited for his captain at the door, holding his horse; Karl
+saluted Helen once again, then galloped off, sparks flying from under
+his horse's hoofs: he was more than a quarter of an hour late.</p>
+
+<p>The instant he had gone, Hans came with the carriage; in another moment
+they were at Herr Fellner's.</p>
+
+<p>Frankfort was now a very different town to what it had been in the
+morning. We have told of the sombre and sad departure of the Prussians,
+who were detested there. The citizens now wished to give a friendly
+farewell to the Austrians, who were adored.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, although the departure was a separation, and each separation
+may hide the invisible and hide also a coming grief, this departure was
+to be made a farewell fête. The windows were all draped with Austrian
+flags, and at each window where floated a flag might be seen the
+prettiest women of Frankfort with bouquets in their hands. The streets
+which led to the station were crammed with people until one asked how
+the regiment could pass. In the street leading to the station, the
+Frankfort regiment stood at attention, each soldier with the stock of
+his rifle between his feet, and a bouquet in the muzzle of it.</p>
+
+<p>The crowd was so great that Helen was obliged to get out of the
+carriage. At last she reached the house of Herr Fellner, who, although
+not formally advised of the engagement of his young friend, had noticed
+that Captain Freyberg was not indifferent to her. His two daughters and
+his wife received Helen and her grandmother at the door of their
+apartments. They formed a charming family, living with Herr Fellner's
+sister and brother-in-law, who had no children.</p>
+
+<p>In the days of peace and happiness at Frankfort, Herr Fellner and his
+brother-in-law received their friends twice every week. Any strangers of
+distinction passing through were sure to be made welcome by Herr
+Fellner. It was at his house that Benedict Turpin had met the Baroness
+Frederic von Bülow, a meeting which as we have seen he did not forget.</p>
+
+<p>At three o'clock precisely, they heard in the midst of cries, hurrahs,
+and acclamations, the trumpets of the regiment, which was coming to the
+station by the Zeil and the street of All Saints, playing Radetzky's
+March.</p>
+
+<p>It might have been said that the whole population of Frankfort was
+following the splendid regiment. Men waved flags from the windows above
+them; women threw them their bouquets, and then waved their
+handkerchiefs with those cries of enthusiasm which women only know how
+to utter on such occasions.</p>
+
+<p>Helen had recognized Karl, as soon as he turned the corner, and Karl had
+answered her waving handkerchief by saluting with his sabre. When he
+passed under the window she threw him a scabious bound up with
+forget-me-nots. The scabious meant "sorrow and desolation," and the
+forget-me-not "Do not forget me."</p>
+
+<p>Karl caught the flowers in his kolbach and fastened them on his breast.
+Still turning to look back, his eyes never left Helen until the moment
+when he entered the station. At length he disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>Helen leaned far out of the window. Herr Fellner put his arm round her
+waist and drew her back within the room. Seeing the tears that flowed
+from her eyes and divining their cause:</p>
+
+<p>"With the help of God, dear child," he said, "he will return."</p>
+
+<p>Helen escaped from his arms, and threw herself on a sofa, endeavouring
+to hide her tears in the cushions.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h4>
+
+<h3>AUSTRIANS AND PRUSSIANS</h3>
+
+
+<p>Desbarolles says in his book on Germany:</p>
+
+<p>"It is impossible to talk for three minutes with an Austrian without
+wishing to shake hands with him. It is impossible to talk for three
+minutes with a Prussian without longing to quarrel with him."</p>
+
+<p>Does this difference in the two organizations spring from temperament,
+education, or the degree of latitude? We cannot say; but it is a fact
+that along the whole way from Ostrow to Oderburg, we know when we have
+left Austria and entered Prussia by the way in which the porters bang
+the carriage doors. This double impression is particularly evident at
+Frankfort, a town of gentle manners, cultivated habits, and amateur
+bankers; the country of Goethe has appreciated this difference between
+the extreme civilization of Vienna and the rough Protestant shell of
+Berlin.</p>
+
+<p>We have seen the different demonstrations of feeling at the departure of
+the two garrisons; the people of Frankfort not having the least doubt of
+the result of the war, and believing, after the conclusions of the Diet,
+in the superiority of the Austrian arms, which would be aided by all the
+little States of the Confederation. They had not cared to put the least
+restraint on the manifestation of their feelings; they allowed the
+Prussians to depart like vanquished enemies whom they would never see
+again, and they had, on the contrary, fêted the Austrians like
+victorious brothers, for whom if they had had the time, they would have
+made triumphal arches.</p>
+
+<p>The good burgomaster's drawing-room, where we have introduced our
+readers, was at noon on June 12th an exact and complete specimen of all
+the other drawing-rooms of the town, whatever the origin, country or
+religion of the inhabitants might chance to be.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, while Helen, with whose grief all sympathized, wept, keeping her
+face buried in the cushions, and her good grandmother left the window to
+sit beside her and hide her somewhat from view, Councillor Fischer,
+editor of the "Post Zeitung," was writing on a corner of the table, an
+article in which he compared with undisguised antipathy and sympathy,
+the departure of the Prussians to a nocturnal flight, and that of the
+Austrians to a triumphal leave-taking.</p>
+
+<p>In front of the fireplace, the Senator von Bernus, one of the most
+distinguished men in Frankfort, by ability, education, and birth, was
+talking with his colleague, Doctor Speltz, Chief of Police, who, owing
+to the position which he held, was always well informed. A slight
+difference rather than a discussion had arisen between them. Herr Doctor
+Speltz did not completely agree with the opinion of the majority of the
+town's people as to the certain victory of the Austrians. His private
+information, as Chief of Police, was of the kind which may be relied on,
+and which is obtained, not to help the opinions of others, but to form
+one's own, and it represented the Prussian troops as full of enthusiasm,
+admirably armed, and burning with desire for battle. Their two generals,
+Frederick Charles of Prussia and the Crown Prince, were both able to
+command and to execute, and their rapidity and courage no one could
+doubt.</p>
+
+<p>"But," observed Herr von Bernus, "Austria has an excellent army which is
+animated with an equal spirit; it was beaten at Palestro, at Magenta,
+and at Solferino, it is true, but by the French, who also beat the
+Prussians at Jena."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear von Bernus," replied Speltz, "it is a far cry from the
+Prussians of Jena to the Prussians of to-day; the miserable state into
+which the Emperor Napoleon reduced them, by only allowing them to put
+forty thousand men under arms for six years, was the providential cause
+of their strength; for with this reduced army the officers and
+administrators could superintend the smallest details and bring them as
+near as possible to perfection. From this has grown the Landwehr."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said von Bernus, "if the Prussians have the Landwehr, the
+Austrians have the Landsturm; all the Austrian population will rise in
+arms."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, if the first battles are unsuccessful; yes, if there is a chance
+that by rising they can repel the Prussians. But three-quarters of the
+Prussian army are armed with needle guns which fire eight or ten shots a
+minute. The time is past when, as said Marshal Saxe, the rifle is only
+the handle of the bayonet; and of whom did he say that? Was it not the
+French, a fiery and warlike nation, not methodical and military like the
+Austrians. You know, mein Gott, victory is an entirely moral question;
+to inspire the enemy with an unaccountable fear is the secret.
+Generally, when two regiments meet, one of them runs without having ever
+come to grips with the enemy. If the new guns, with which the Prussians
+are armed, do their work, I am very much afraid that the terror in
+Austria will be so great that the Landsturm, from Königsgrätz to
+Trieste, from Salzburg to Pest, will not raise a man."</p>
+
+<p>"Psst!... my dear friend, you have named the real stumbling block; if
+the Hungarians were with us, my hope would be a conviction. The
+Hungarians are the nerve of the Austrian army, and one can say of them
+what the ancient Romans said of the Marsi; 'What are we to do, either
+against the Marsi or without the Marsi?' But the Hungarians will not
+fight until they have their separate government, their constitution, and
+their three ministers, and they are right. For one hundred and fifty
+years Hungary has been promised that constitution, it has been given and
+withdrawn again, and now Hungary is angry; but the emperor has only one
+word to say, one signature to write, and the whole nation would rise for
+him. Then the Szozat would be heard, and in three days they would have a
+hundred thousand men under arms."</p>
+
+<p>"What is the Szozat?" asked a big man, who kept a whole window to
+himself, and whose expansive face testified to great commercial
+prosperity. He was, indeed, the first wine merchant of Frankfort,
+Hermann Mumm.</p>
+
+<p>"The Szozat," said Fischer, still writing his article, "is the Hungarian
+Marseillaise by the poet Vœrœsmarti. What the deuce are you doing
+there, Fellner?" he added, lifting his glasses to his forehead and
+looking at the burgomaster, who was playing with his two youngest
+children.</p>
+
+<p>"I am doing something much more important than your article, councillor,
+I am making a village, of which Master Edward is to be the baron, with
+some houses I got in a box from Nuremburg."</p>
+
+<p>"What does baron mean?" asked the child.</p>
+
+<p>"That is a difficult question. To be a baron is much and it is nothing.
+It is much if you are called 'Montmorency.' It is nothing if you are
+called 'Rothschild.'" And he went back seriously to his village.</p>
+
+<p>"It is said," went on von Bernus to Doctor Speltz, taking up the
+conversation where they had left it before Hermann Mumm's interruption,
+"that the Emperor of Austria has named General Benedek as General in
+Chief with all powers."</p>
+
+<p>"The nomination was discussed in the council and signed yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me a good choice."</p>
+
+<p>"May God grant it."</p>
+
+<p>"Benedek is a self-made man, he has won every step sword in hand. The
+army will love him better than it would love an archduke made
+field-marshal by right of birth."</p>
+
+<p>"You will laugh at me, von Bernus, and will say I am a bad republican.
+Very well, I would rather have an archduke than this self-made man as
+you call him. Yes, if all our officers were self-made men, it would be
+admirable, because, if none knew how to command, they would at least
+know how to obey: as it is, our officers are nobles, who are officers by
+position or by favour. They will not obey, or will only obey such a
+commander unwillingly. Further, you know, I have the misfortune to be a
+fatalist, and to believe in the influence of the stars. General Benedek
+is a Saturnian. May Austria escape his fatal influence! He may have
+patience in a first loss, resolution against a second perhaps; but in a
+third he will lose his head and be good for nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"Also, do you not see that there cannot be two equally Great Powers in
+Germany. Germany, with Prussia in the north, and Austria in the south,
+has two heads like the Imperial Eagle. Now, he who has two heads has
+not even one. Last winter I was at Vienna on New Year's Day. Always, on
+January 1st a new standard is raised on the fortress. The Standard for
+1866 was displayed at six in the morning. A moment afterwards a furious
+storm, such as I have seldom seen, came from the north, the Standard was
+torn, and the rent cut off the two heads of the Eagle. Austria will lose
+her supremacy both in Italy and Germany."</p>
+
+<p>A profound gloom as of painful foreboding seemed to have spread over the
+company. The only person unaffected was "Baron" Edward, who, while
+anxiously considering as to in which corner of his village he should put
+the belfry, had fallen fast asleep.</p>
+
+<p>Herr Fellner rang three times, and a beautiful peasant from Baden,
+answering the signal, came in and took the child. She was carrying him
+away asleep in her arms, when Herr Fellner, wishing to change the
+subject, motioned to the company.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen!" he said, and putting his hand on the nurse's shoulder.
+"Linda," he said, "sing us that song with which the Baden mothers sing
+their children to sleep." Then, turning to the others he said:
+"Gentlemen, listen to this song, which is still sung low in the Duchy of
+Baden. Perhaps, in a few days, the time may have come to sing it aloud.
+Linda learnt it from her mother, who sang it over her brother's cradle.
+Their father was shot by the Prussians in 1848. Now Linda, sing as your
+mother sang."</p>
+
+<p>Linda put her foot on a chair, holding the child in her arms as if she
+were pressing it to her breast and covering it with her body. Then, with
+anxious eyes, in a low and trembling voice, she sang:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">Sleep soft, my child, without a cry,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">For hark! the Prussian passeth by.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The Prussian slew thy father dear</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And robbed thy mother of gold and gear</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The Prussian he will close thine eye.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">Sleep soft, my child, without a cry,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">For hark! the Prussian passeth by.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">All bloody is the Prussian's hand</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">It closes on our dying land.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">So must we all lie still and dumb</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">As doth thy father in his tomb.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">Sleep soft, my child, without a cry,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">For hark! the Prussian passeth by.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">God knows how many a weary day</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">We wait the dawning of that ray</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Those blessed radiance shall restore</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Our liberty to us once more.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">Sleep soft, my child, without a cry,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">For hark! the Prussian passeth by.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">But when that longed for hour shall come,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">However narrow be his tomb,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">His foes within that grave so deep</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Shall share for aye thy father's sleep.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">Then shout, my child, shout loud and high,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">The Prussian in his grave doth lie.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The nurse had sung this song with such expression, that a shudder passed
+over the hearts of those who listened, and none thought of applauding.
+She went out with the child in a profound silence.</p>
+
+<p>Only Helen murmured in her grandmother's ear: "Alas! alas! Prussia means
+Frederic, and Austria means Karl!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h4>
+
+<h3>THE DECLARATION OF WAR</h3>
+
+
+<p>On June 15th, at eleven in the morning, Count Platen of Hallermund,
+presented himself to the King of Hanover. They had conversed for some
+minutes when the king said:</p>
+
+<p>"I must tell this news to the queen. Wait for me here; I will come back
+in a quarter of an hour."</p>
+
+<p>Within the palace King George required no guide. Queen Mary was engaged
+upon a piece of wool work with the young princesses. Seeing her husband
+she went to him and offered him her forehead to kiss. The princesses
+took possession of their father's hands.</p>
+
+<p>"See," said the king, "this is what our cousin the King of Prussia does
+us the honour to communicate through his First Minister." The queen took
+the paper and began to read. "Stay," said the king, "I want to call
+Prince Ernest."</p>
+
+<p>One of the princesses hurried to the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Prince Ernest," she cried to the usher.</p>
+
+<p>Five minutes after the prince came in, embraced his father and sisters,
+and kissed his mother's hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen to what your mother is going to read," said the usher to him.</p>
+
+<p>The Minister Bismarck in the name of his master offered to Hanover an
+offensive and defensive alliance, on the condition that Hanover should
+support Prussia to the utmost of its power with men and soldiers and
+should give the command of its army to King William. The dispatch added
+that if this pacific proposal were not immediately accepted the King of
+Prussia would consider himself as in a state of war with Hanover.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" asked the king of his wife.</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt," she replied, "the king has already decided in his wisdom
+what is best to do; but, if he has not finally decided and such a
+feature as the opinion of a woman is considered to be as a weight in the
+balance, I would say to you, refuse, sire!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, yes, sire!" cried the young prince, "refuse!"</p>
+
+<p>"I thought it right to consult you both," replied the king, "partly
+because of your upright and loyal natures, partly because your interests
+are one with mine."</p>
+
+<p>"Refuse, father: the prediction must be fulfilled to the end."</p>
+
+<p>"What prediction?" asked the king.</p>
+
+<p>"You forget, sire, that the first word which Benedict said to you was
+this: 'You will be betrayed by your near relation.' You are betrayed by
+your German cousin; why should he be wrong about the rest since he was
+right at the beginning?"</p>
+
+<p>"You know that he has predicted our downfall?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but after a great victory. We are little kings, it is true; but we
+are, on the English side, great princes, let us act greatly."</p>
+
+<p>"That is your opinion, Ernest?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is my prayer, sire," said the young prince, bowing.</p>
+
+<p>The king turned to his wife and interrogated her by a movement of his
+head.</p>
+
+<p>"Go, my dear," said she, "and follow your own thought, which is ours
+also."</p>
+
+<p>"But," said the king, "if we are obliged to leave Hanover, what will
+happen to you and the two princesses?"</p>
+
+<p>"We will stay where we are, sire, in our castle of Herrenhausen. After
+all, the King of Prussia is my cousin, and if our crown is in danger
+through him, our lives are not. Summon your council, sire, and take with
+you the two voices which say to you: 'Not only no treason against
+others, but above all no treason against our honour!'"</p>
+
+<p>The king called a council of his ministers, who unanimously voted for
+refusal.</p>
+
+<p>At midnight Count Platen replied verbally to the Prince of Issemburg,
+who had brought the proposal.</p>
+
+<p>"His Majesty the King of Hanover declines the proposals of His Majesty
+the King of Prussia; as he is constrained to do by the laws of the
+Confederation."</p>
+
+<p>This reply was instantly telegraphed to Berlin.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately upon the receipt of the reply, another telegram from Berlin
+ordered the troops concentrated at Minden to enter Hanover. A
+quarter-of-an-hour later, the Prussian troops set foot over the borders
+of Hanover.</p>
+
+<p>A quarter-of-an-hour had sufficed for Prussia to receive the reply and
+to order the opening of the campaign. Already the Prussian troops from
+Holstein, who had obtained permission from His Majesty the King of
+Hanover to cross his territory in order to get to Minden, had stationed
+themselves at Marbourg, and were thus in occupation, within the kingdom,
+as enemies, even before the king's decision.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, King George had only held back his answer until the evening in
+order to secure time for taking measures himself. Orders had been given
+to the different regiments of the Hanoverian army to mobilize and
+assemble at Göttingen. The intention of the king was to manœuvre so
+as to obtain the assistance of the Bavarian army.</p>
+
+<p>Towards eleven at night, Prince Ernest had asked permission of Queen
+Mary to take leave of her and at the same time to present to her his
+friend Benedict. The real object of the young prince was to get his
+mother to entrust her hand to the palmist, and to be reassured by him as
+to the dangers which might encompass the queen.</p>
+
+<p>The queen received her son with a kiss, and the Frenchman with a smile.
+Prince Ernest explained his wish to her. She readily granted his request
+and held out her hand. Benedict knelt on one knee and respectfully put
+his lips to the tips of her fingers.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," she said, "in the circumstances in which we are placed, it is not
+my good- but my ill-fortune that I wish you to tell me."</p>
+
+<p>"If you see misfortunes before you, madam, I may be permitted to seek in
+yourself the powers which Providence has given you to resist them. Let
+us hope that the resistance will be stronger than the strife."</p>
+
+<p>"A woman's hand is feeble, sir, when it has to struggle against that of
+destiny.</p>
+
+<p>"The hand of destiny is brute force, madam; your hand is intelligent
+force. Look, here is a very long first joint to the thumb."</p>
+
+<p>"What does that mean?" asked, the queen.</p>
+
+<p>"Will power, Majesty. Your resolution once taken, reason alone can
+conquer you and make you change&mdash;danger, accident, persecution, never."</p>
+
+<p>The queen smiled and nodded approvingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Also, you can bear to hear the truth, madam. Yes, a great misfortune
+menaces you."</p>
+
+<p>The queen started. Benedict went on quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"But, calm yourself, it is neither the death of the king, nor of the
+prince: the line of life is magnificently marked, on their hands. No,
+the danger is entirely political. Look at the line of fate: it is broken
+here, above the line of Mars, which shows from what direction the storm
+will come; then this line of fate, which might dominate again if it
+stopped at the circle of the middle finger, that is, at the circle of
+Saturn, goes on, on the contrary, to the base of the first finger, a
+sign of ill-fortune."</p>
+
+<p>"God tries every one according to the rank he holds. We will endeavour
+to bear our ill-fortune like Christians if we cannot bear it like
+kings."</p>
+
+<p>"Your hand has answered me before you, madam; the Mount of Mars is
+smooth and without lines, the Mount of the Moon is smooth and even; it
+means resignation, madam, the first of all the virtues. With this power
+Diogenes broke his porringer; with this, Socrates smiled at death; with
+this, the poor man is a king, the king is a god! With resignation and
+calm any strong feeling shown in the hand, worthily developed may
+replace the line of Saturn and create a new good fortune. But there will
+be a long struggle first. That struggle presents strange signs. I see in
+your hand, madam, auguries opposed to each other; a prisoner without a
+prison, wealth without riches: an unhappy queen, a happy wife, and a
+happy mother. The Lord will try you, madam, but as a daughter whom He
+loves. For the rest, you will have every kind of resource, madam; first
+music, next painting; the pointed and slim fingers show that; religion,
+poetry, invention, two princesses who love you at your side, a king and
+a prince who love you from a distance. God tempers the wind to the
+freshly shorn lamb."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, shorn to the quick," murmured the queen, raising her eyes to
+heaven. "After all, perhaps the misfortunes of this world will secure
+the joys of another. In this case, I shall be not only resigned, but
+consoled."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict bowed like a man who, having accomplished what was required of
+him, only awaits his dismissal.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you a sister, sir?" asked the queen of Benedict, as she toyed with
+a string of pearls, fastened by a clasp of diamonds, which evidently
+belonged to one of the young princesses.</p>
+
+<p>"No, madam," replied Benedict, "I am alone in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"Then do me the pleasure to accept this turquoise for yourself. I am not
+making you a present; under that guise it would be worthless. No! it is
+an amulet which I offer you. You know that we people of the north have a
+superstition that turquoises bring good luck. Keep this as a remembrance
+of me."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict bowed, received the turquoise ring and put it on the little
+finger of his left hand. While he did this the queen called Prince
+Ernest to her, and took up a satchel of perfumed leather.</p>
+
+<p>"My son," said she, "we know the place which the exile's first step
+leaves, but not that at which his last will pause. This satchel contains
+500,000 francs worth of pearls and diamonds. If I wished to give them to
+the king, he would refuse to take them."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! mother!"</p>
+
+<p>"But to you, Ernest, I have the right to say <i>I wish it</i>! I wish you,
+dear child, to take this satchel as a last resource, to bribe a gaoler
+if you are made prisoner; to reward devotion&mdash;who knows&mdash;perhaps for the
+personal needs of the king or yourself. Hang it round your neck, put it
+in your belt; but in all cases, keep it always upon you. I embroidered
+it with my own hands; it bears your own monogram. Hush! here is your
+father!"</p>
+
+<p>At this moment the king came in.</p>
+
+<p>"There is not a minute to spare, we must be off," said, he, "Ten minutes
+ago the Prussians entered Hanover."</p>
+
+<p>The king embraced the queen and his daughters; and Prince Ernest, his
+mother and sisters. Then, clinging together, king, queen, prince,
+princesses, went down the steps before which the horses were waiting.
+There took place the last adieus: there, tears flowed from the eyes of
+the most valiant, as well as from those of the most resigned. The king
+set an example by mounting his horse first.</p>
+
+<p>The prince and Benedict rode two horses exactly alike, which were of the
+beautiful Hanoverian race, crossed with an English strain. An English
+carbine, which would send a pointed bullet four thousand yards, hung at
+the saddle-bow; and a pair of double-barrelled pistols, as true as
+duelling pistols, rested in the holsters.</p>
+
+<p>A last farewell passed between the riders already in the saddle and the
+queen and princesses on the steps. Then the cavalcade, preceded by two
+scouts bearing torches, started at a quick trot.</p>
+
+<p>A quarter-of-an-hour later they were in Hanover. Benedict proceeded to
+the Royal Hotel to settle his account with Mr. Stephen. Every one was
+up, for the news of the invasion of the Prussians and the departure of
+the king had already spread. As for Lenhart, he was invited to join the
+main body of the army with his vehicle. The rendezvous, as we know, was
+at Göttingen. As Lenhart was greatly attached to the dog Frisk, Benedict
+did not hesitate to entrust it to his care.</p>
+
+<p>A deputation of the notabilities of the town, with the burgomaster at
+their head, waited on the king to bid him farewell. The king, his voice
+full of emotion, commended his wife and daughters to their care. There
+was but one voice in assuring him of their devotion. The whole town was
+abroad notwithstanding the hour of the night, and accompanied him,
+shouting 'Long live the king! Long live George V! May he return
+victorious!' Again the king commended the queen and the princesses, not
+now to the deputation, but to the whole population. The king entered the
+royal carriage amid a concert of tears and sobs. One would have said
+that every daughter had just lost a father, every mother a son, every
+sister a brother. Women crowded to the door of his carriage to kiss his
+hand. The locomotive had to whistle five or six times, and the signal
+had five or six times to be repeated, before the crowd could be detached
+from the carriage doors. At last the train had to be put into motion so
+as to shake off gently and almost imperceptibly the clusters of men and
+women who clung to it.</p>
+
+<p>Two hours later Göttingen was reached.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h4>
+
+<h3>THE BATTLE OF LANGENSALZA</h3>
+
+
+<p>Two days after, the army, drawn from all parts of the kingdom, was
+assembled round the king.</p>
+
+<p>Among others the regiment of the Queen's Hussars commanded by Colonel
+Hallelt, had remained thirty-six hours on horseback, and had been
+marching for thirty-six hours.</p>
+
+<p>The king was lodged at the Crown Inn. This inn was on the line of march,
+and as each regiment of cavalry or infantry arrived, the king, warned by
+the music, went to the balcony and passed it in review. They filed one
+after another past the inn, flowers on their helmets, and cries of
+enthusiasm on their lips. Göttingen, the town of study, shuddered every
+instant, roused by the cheering warriors.</p>
+
+<p>All the old soldiers on leave, whom there had not been time to recall,
+came of their own accord to rejoin their flag. All of them felt
+joyously, bringing with them from their villages and all along their
+routes a large number of recruits. Lads of fifteen gave their ages as
+sixteen in order to be enlisted.</p>
+
+<p>On the third day they started. During this time the Prussians, on their
+side, had manœuvred. General Manteuffel from Hamburg, General von
+Rabenhorst from Minden, and General Beyer from Wetzlar were approaching
+Göttingen and enclosing the Hanoverian army in a triangle.</p>
+
+<p>The simplest rules of strategy prescribed the union of the Hanoverian
+army, sixteen thousand strong, with the Bavarian, eighty thousand
+strong. The king, in consequence, had sent out couriers to Charles of
+Bavaria, brother of the old King Louis, who ought to have been in the
+valley of the Werra, to warn him, in entering Prussia and crossing
+Mulhausen, that he should proceed towards Eisenach. He added that he was
+followed closely by three or four Prussian regiments, who, united, would
+make twenty or twenty-five thousand men.</p>
+
+<p>They arrived at Eisenach, by way of Verkirchen. Eisenach, defended by
+only two Prussian battalions, was about to be carried at the point of
+the bayonet, when a courier arrived from the Duke of Gotha, on whose
+territory they were, bringing a dispatch from the duke.</p>
+
+<p>The dispatch announced that an armistice was arranged. The duke, in
+consequence, summoned the Hanoverians to retire. Unfortunately, as it
+came from a prince, the message was received without suspicion. The
+vanguard halted and took up its quarters where it was.</p>
+
+<p>Next day, Eisenach was occupied by a regiment of the Prussian army. A
+great deal of time and many men had been lost in taking Eisenach, a
+useless manœuvre: and they resolved to leave Eisenach on the right
+and to proceed to Gotha. In order to put this project into execution,
+the army concentrated on Langensalza.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning the king left, having on his left Major Schweppe, who
+held the sovereign's horse by invisible reins. The Prince Royal was on
+his right, having with him Count Platen, the first minister, and in the
+various uniforms of their regiments or of their calling, Count Wedel,
+Major von Kohlrausch, Herr von Klenck, Captain von Einem, various
+cuirassiers of the Guard, and Herr Meding. The cortège left Langensalza
+very early, and went to Thannesbruck.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict rode near the prince, fulfilling the functions of a staff
+officer.</p>
+
+<p>The army had left its cantonments in order to proceed to Gotha: but at
+ten in the morning, the vanguard, as it arrived on the banks of the
+Unstrut, was attacked by two Prussian regiments, commanded by the
+Generals Flies and Seckendorff. They were able to mount nearly a
+thousand men, both troops of the guard and <i>landwehr</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Among these regiments of the guard was that of Queen Augusta, one of the
+élite. The rapidity of the Prussian fire showed at once that they must
+be armed, at least the greater part of them, with quick-firing rifles.</p>
+
+<p>The king put his horse to the gallop in order to arrive as soon as
+possible on the spot where the battle had begun. The little village of
+Merscleben was on a hill to the left: behind the village, on higher
+ground than the Prussian artillery posts, they placed four batteries
+which at once opened fire.</p>
+
+<p>The king desired to be informed of the disposition of the field. In
+front of him, running to the right and left was the Unstrut and its
+marshes; then a great thicket, or rather, a wood called Badenwaeldschen;
+and behind the Unstrut, upon the steep slope of the mountain, the
+Prussian masses advancing, preceded by formidable artillery which fired
+as it came.</p>
+
+<p>"Is there a higher point whence I can direct the battle?" asked the
+king.</p>
+
+<p>"There is a hill half a kilometre from the Unstrut, but it is under the
+fire of the enemy."</p>
+
+<p>"That is the place for me," said the king. "Come, gentlemen."</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon, sire," said the prince, "but half a gun-shot away from the hill
+where Your Majesty wishes to establish your camp, there is a sort of
+wood of alders and aspens stretching to the river. We must search that
+wood."</p>
+
+<p>"Order fifty skirmishers to go down to the river."</p>
+
+<p>"That will be unnecessary, sire," said Benedict, "there is no need for
+more than one man for that."</p>
+
+<p>And he went off at a gallop, crossed the wood in every direction and
+reappeared.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no one there, sire," said he, saluting.</p>
+
+<p>The king put his horse to the gallop and posted himself on the top of
+the little hill. His horse was the only white one, and served as a
+target for bullets and balls. The king wore his uniform as general of
+the forces, blue, turned up with red; the prince his uniform of the
+hussars of the guard.</p>
+
+<p>Battle was joined. The Prussians had driven back the Hanoverian
+outposts, who had recrossed the river, and a hot cannonade was exchanged
+between the Hanoverian artillery before Merscleben, and Prussians on the
+other side of the Unstrut.</p>
+
+<p>"Sire," said Benedict, "don't you fear that the Prussians will send men
+to hold the wood which I searched just now, and will fire on the king as
+at a target from its outskirts, only three hundred metres away?"</p>
+
+<p>"What would you suggest?" asked the prince.</p>
+
+<p>"I propose, monseigneur, to take fifty men and go to guard the wood. Our
+fire will protect you as the enemy approach."</p>
+
+<p>The prince exchanged a few words with the king, who nodded approvingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Go," said Prince Ernest; "but for heaven's sake don't get killed."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict showed the palm of his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Can a man be killed, who has a double line of life on his hand?"</p>
+
+<p>And he galloped to the infantry of the line.</p>
+
+<p>"Fifty good marksmen for me," said he in German.</p>
+
+<p>A hundred presented themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"Come," said Benedict, "we shall not be too many."</p>
+
+<p>He left his horse with a hussar of the prince's regiment, and threw
+himself into the underwood at the head of his men, who scattered. They
+had scarcely disappeared among the trees, when a terrible fusillade
+burst forth. Two hundred men had just passed the Unstrut; but, as they
+were ignorant of the number of men following Benedict, they retreated
+fighting, supposing him to have superior forces, and leaving a dozen
+dead in the wood. Benedict guarded the bank of the Unstrut, and by a
+well-sustained fire, kept off all approach.</p>
+
+<p>The king had been recognized, the bullets whistled around him and even
+between his horse's legs.</p>
+
+<p>"Sire," said Major Schweppe, "perhaps it would be well to seek a place a
+little further from the field of battle."</p>
+
+<p>"Why so?" asked the king.</p>
+
+<p>"The bullets may reach Your Majesty!"</p>
+
+<p>"What does it matter! Am I not in the hands of the Lord?"</p>
+
+<p>The prince came up to his father.</p>
+
+<p>"Sire," said he, "the Prussians are advancing by great masses towards
+Unstrut, despite our fire."</p>
+
+<p>"What are the infantry doing?"</p>
+
+<p>"They are marching to take the offensive."</p>
+
+<p>"And&mdash;they march well?"</p>
+
+<p>"As on parade, sire."</p>
+
+<p>"The Hanoverian troops were once excellent troops; in Spain they held
+the élite of the French troops in check. To-day, when they fight before
+their king they will prove worthy of themselves, I trust."</p>
+
+<p>And, in fact, all the Hanoverian infantry, formed in column, advanced
+with the calm of veterans under the fire of the Prussian batteries.
+After having been a moment astounded at the hail of bullets which the
+muskets rained upon them, they continued their march, crossed the
+marshes of Unstrut, took the thicket of Badenwaeldschen by bayonet and
+struggled hand to hand with the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment smoke and the unevenness of the ground hid the general
+aspect of the battle. But at that moment a horseman was seen to emerge
+from the smoke and to move towards the hill where the king was
+stationed, riding in hot haste and mounted on the horse of a Prussian
+officer. It was Benedict, who had killed the rider in order to take his
+horse, and who was coming to say that the Prussians had commenced the
+attack.</p>
+
+<p>"Einem! Einem!" cried the king, "haste, order the cavalry to charge."</p>
+
+<p>The captain hastened. He was a giant of over six feet, the most vigorous
+and handsomest man in the army. He put his horse to the gallop, crying,
+"Hurrah!" A minute afterwards, a sound like a hurricane was heard. It
+was the cuirassiers of the guard charging.</p>
+
+<p>It would be impossible to describe the enthusiasm of the men as they
+passed the base of the hill, where stood the heroic king who wished to
+be at the most dangerous post. Cries of "Long live the king! long live
+George V! long live Hanover!" made the air tremble as in a tempest. The
+horses tore up the earth like an earthquake.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict could not restrain himself. He put his spurs to his horse and
+disappeared in the ranks of the cuirassiers. Seeing the storm which was
+bursting upon them, the Prussians formed into squares. The first which
+encountered the Hanoverian cavalry disappeared under their horses' feet;
+then, whilst the infantry fired in their faces, the cuirassiers took the
+Prussian army on the flank, which, after a desperate struggle, tried to
+retreat in order, but, ferociously pursued, found themselves routed.</p>
+
+<p>The prince followed these movements with an excellent pair of field
+glasses and described everything to the king, his father. But soon his
+glasses followed only a group of fifty men, at the head of whom was
+Captain Einem, whom he recognized by his great stature, and of whom
+Benedict, recognizable by his blue uniform among the white cuirassiers,
+was one. The squadron passed on by Nagelstadt and proceeded towards the
+last Prussian battery which still held out. The battery fired on the
+squadron from a distance of thirty yards. Everything vanished in the
+smoke. Twelve or fifteen men alone remained; Captain Einem was lying
+under his horse.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! poor Einem!" cried the prince.</p>
+
+<p>"What has happened to him?" asked the king.</p>
+
+<p>"I think he is dead," said the young man; "but no, he is not dead. There
+is Benedict helping to drag him from under his horse. He is only
+wounded. He is not even wounded! Oh, father, father! There are only
+seven left out of fifty; only one artilleryman is left; he is aiming at
+Einem, he is firing.... Oh, father! you are losing a brave officer, and
+King William a brave soldier; the artilleryman has killed Einem with a
+shot from his carbine, and Benedict has cut him down at his gun with his
+sabre."</p>
+
+<p>The Prussian army was in full flight, the victory was with the
+Hanoverians!...</p>
+
+<p>The Prussians retired to Gotha. The rapidity of the march to the field
+of battle had so fatigued the Hanoverian cavalry that they could not
+pursue the fugitives. In this respect the advantages of the battle were
+lost.</p>
+
+<p>The results were: eight hundred prisoners, two thousand dead or wounded,
+two cannon taken.</p>
+
+<p>The king rode round the field of battle to complete his task by showing
+himself to the unhappy wounded.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict had become an artist once more, and was dreaming of his
+picture. He was seated on the first piece of cannon which had been
+taken, and was sketching a general view of the battlefield. He saw that
+the prince was searching among the killed and wounded officers of the
+cuirassiers.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon, monseigneur," said he, "you are looking for the brave Captain
+Einem, are you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the prince.</p>
+
+<p>"There, monseigneur, there, on your left, in the midst of that heap of
+dead."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said the prince, "I saw him doing miracles."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you believe that after I had drawn him from under his horse, he
+stabbed six with his sabre? Then he was hit for the first time and fell.
+They thought he was dead, and threw themselves upon him. He raised
+himself on one knee and killed two, who cried to him to surrender. Then
+he stood upright and it was at that moment that the last surviving
+artilleryman sent a ball into his forehead, which killed him. As I was
+not able to save him, being too much occupied myself, I avenged him!"</p>
+
+<p>Then, presenting his sketch to the prince as calmly as if in the studio:</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think that is right?" he asked.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h4>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH BENEDICT'S PREDICTION CONTINUES TO BE FULFILLED</h3>
+
+
+<p>The visit to the field of battle having been paid, the king followed the
+highway and entered the town of Langensalza. He established his
+headquarters in the sharpshooters' barracks. The major-general had given
+orders that all should remain quiet during the night.</p>
+
+<p>His Majesty's first care was to send by three different routes
+despatches to the queen to tell her of the day's victory and to ask for
+reinforcements, if not for the next day for the day after. And, as it
+turned out, he had nothing to fear from the Prussians: they were too
+thoroughly beaten not to wish for a day's rest.</p>
+
+<p>The night was gay; money had been given to the soldiers, and they were
+told to pay for everything they had. The bands played "God save the
+King," and the soldiers sang in chorus,&mdash;a song by a Hanoverian
+volunteer, to the Polish tune:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"A thousand soldiers swear on bended knee."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The next day was spent in waiting for news of the Bavarian army, and in
+sending out couriers. The first came back with promises which were never
+kept.</p>
+
+<p>A truce until morning had been offered to the Prussians so that the dead
+might be buried. The Prussians refused, and the Hanoverians alone
+proceeded with this pious work. The soldiers dug great trenches 25 feet
+long and 8 feet wide. The dead were placed in these in two rows. Four
+thousand armed men led by the king and prince stood bare-headed while
+Beethoven's funeral march was played. Over each grave a squadron passed
+and fired a salute by way of military mourning. The municipal officers
+who had come to thank the king for his orders to the soldiers, which had
+been strictly carried out, were present at the ceremony.</p>
+
+<p>At eleven in the evening the men who were on guard towards the north
+announced that a large Prussian army was arriving by way of Mulhausen.
+It proved to be General Manteuffel's.</p>
+
+<p>The third day after the battle, the Hanoverian army had received no news
+of the Bavarian army, and was surrounded by 30,000 men.</p>
+
+<p>Towards midday, a lieutenant-colonel came with a flag of truce, from
+General Manteuffel, to propose that the king should surrender.</p>
+
+<p>The king replied that he knew perfectly well that he was hemmed in on
+all sides, but that he, his son, his major-general, his officers, and
+soldiers, from the highest to the lowest, preferred to die, unless an
+honourable capitulation were offered them.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time he called a council of war which declared unanimously
+for a capitulation, as long as it was honourable. There was, indeed, no
+choice. The army had only three hundred shells left, and rations for one
+night and day. The whole court, the king included, had dined on a piece
+of boiled beef and potatoes; the soup was given to the wounded. Every
+man was allowed but one glass of bad beer.</p>
+
+<p>Each article of the capitulation was discussed, so as to spin out the
+delay as long as possible. The speedy arrival of the Bavarians was
+still hoped for.</p>
+
+<p>At length, during the night, the following conditions were drawn up,
+between General Manteuffel for the King of Prussia, and General von
+Arentschild for the King of Hanover.</p>
+
+<p>The Hanoverian army was to be disbanded and the soldiers sent back to
+their homes. All the officers and non-commissioned officers were to go
+free. They were to retain their arms and equipments. The King of Prussia
+was to guarantee their pay. The king, the prince, and their suite were
+to be free to go wherever they wished. The king's private fortune was to
+be intact and inviolable.</p>
+
+<p>The capitulation being signed, General Manteuffel went to the king's
+quarters. Entering his cabinet he said to him:</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry, sire, to present myself before Your Majesty in such sad
+circumstances. We understand all that Your Majesty suffers, we Prussians
+who have known Jena. I beg Your Majesty to tell me to what place you
+wish to retire, and to give me my orders. It shall be my duty to see
+that you suffer no inconvenience on your journey."</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," replied the king coldly, "I do not know where I shall await the
+finding of the congress which has to decide whether I shall remain king,
+or become once more a simple English prince. Probably with my
+father-in-law, the Duke of Saxe-Altenburg, or with His Majesty the
+Emperor of Austria. In either case I have no need of your protection,
+for which I thank you."</p>
+
+<p>The same day the king's aide-de-camp left for Vienna, to ask permission
+for his master to retire through the Austrian states. As soon as this
+request reached Vienna, one of the emperor's aides-de-camp left to
+serve as guide and escort to the king. This officer was the bearer of
+the Marie-Thérèse medal for the king, and the order of knighthood for
+the prince.</p>
+
+<p>On the same day, the king sent, as messengers to announce his arrival to
+His Majesty the Emperor of Austria; Herr Meding, representing the
+regency, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Herr von Platen, and the
+Minister of War, Herr von Brandis.</p>
+
+<p>The prince asked Benedict to accompany him. As Benedict had never seen
+Vienna, he assented. But upon conditions. His life, as at Hanover, was
+to be entirely independent of the court. He still had to arrange
+Lenhart's business, which, as we know, had been left to Benedict's
+discretion. Benedict had kept Lenhart for seventeen days. He now gave
+him four hundred francs and one hundred more as a gratuity&mdash;an
+unexampled generosity to which Lenhart replied by declaring his
+attachment to the House of Hanover to be such that he would never return
+to Brunswick from the moment when Brunswick became Prussian. This
+declaration was worth two hundred francs to him from the King of
+Hanover, and one hundred francs from the prince.</p>
+
+<p>After this Lenhart's resolution was fixed. He sold, or had sold, all the
+carriages and horses which he had at Brunswick and with the proceeds he
+meant to set up a livery stable in Frankfort, a free town, where you
+seldom see any Prussians. At Frankfort, his brother Hans was in service
+with one of the best families in the town, that of Chandroz. Madame
+Chandroz' daughter, the Baroness von Bülow, was the burgomaster's
+goddaughter. With such connections he could be sure of prospering, and
+Benedict promised him his custom in case he returned to Frankfort.</p>
+
+<p>The adieux between Benedict and Lenhart were most affecting, and still
+more so between Lenhart and Frisk, but they were forced to part.
+Lenhart set out for Frankfort. The king, the prince, Benedict, and
+Frisk, on their arrival at Vienna, took up their residence in the little
+château of Frœhliche Wiederkehr, which means Happy Return.</p>
+
+<p>In this way Benedict's prediction to the king was realized&mdash;of victory,
+overthrow, exile.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h4>
+
+<h3>WHAT PASSED AT FRANKFORT BETWEEN THE BATTLES OF LANGENSALZA AND SADOWA</h3>
+
+
+<p>Frankfort followed from afar and with anxiety the struggle which went on
+in the other parts of Germany. But she did not believe that that
+struggle could reach even her. By June 29th Prince Charles of Bavaria
+had been appointed general of the Federated Troops. On the same day
+Frankfort heard the news of the victory of Langensalza. This caused
+great joy throughout the town, though no one dared to show it. On June
+30th Rudolfstadt and the Hanseatic towns declared that they withdrew
+from the Confederation. The Würtemberg and Baden regiments were in the
+town; the soldiers, in groups of four and five, went gaily about the
+streets in hackney carriages. On July 1st, news came of the capitulation
+of the Hanoverian Army. On July 3rd Mecklenburg, Gotha, and the younger
+branch of Reuss declared that they withdrew from the Confederation. On
+July 4th the Prussian papers accused the people of Frankfort of having
+turned all Prussian subjects out of the town, even those who had been
+established there for ten years, and of having illuminated their streets
+on the news of the victory of Langensalza. They had not done so; but the
+falser the charge, the more it frightened the people of Frankfort.
+Evidently the Prussians were trying to pick a quarrel with them. On July
+5th the gloom increased; news came of the defeat of the Austrians
+between Königsgrätz and Josephstadt. On July 8th the first news of the
+battle of Sadowa arrived in Frankfort.</p>
+
+<p>Everything that that fatalist, Dr. Speltz, had said with regard to
+Marshal Benedek came true. After two checks he lost his head; to speak
+in the language of Herr Speltz, Saturn ruled above Mars and Jupiter.
+What he had foreseen in another direction, about the superior equipment
+of the Prussians&mdash;in conjunction with their natural courage&mdash;also came
+true. In no single encounter had the Austrians the advantage. The only
+victory gained over the Prussians was that when the King of Hanover had
+been in command.</p>
+
+<p>But what particularly terrified Frankfort was the order given by the
+commanding officers of the Allies' Army to make entrenchments in the
+neighbourhood of the town. On this occasion, the Senate awoke from its
+inactivity, it arose and protested to the Diet that Frankfort was an
+unfortified town which was not able, and did not wish to be defended.
+But, in spite of the protestations of the Senate, the troops came to
+Frankfort.</p>
+
+<p>On July 12th a fresh regiment was announced. It was the 8th regiment of
+the Federated Army, under the orders of Prince Alexander of Hesse,
+composed of men from Würtemberg, Baden, and Hesse, and an Austrian
+Brigade commanded by Count Monte Nuovo. They had scarcely entered
+Frankfort, when Count Monte Nuovo enquired for the house of the Chandroz
+family, and got himself billeted upon the widowed Madame von Beling who
+resided there.</p>
+
+<p>Count Monte Nuovo, which title disguised the celebrated name of Neuburg,
+was the son of Marie Louise. He was a handsome, tall, fashionable
+general of forty-eight or fifty, who presented himself to Madame von
+Beling with all the Austrian grace and courtesy, and who, in saluting
+Helen, let fall from his lips the name of Karl von Freyberg.</p>
+
+<p>Helen started. Emma had excused herself, as the wife of a Prussian, from
+doing the honours of her house to a man with whom her husband might be
+fighting on the morrow. This absence gave Count Monte Nuovo the
+opportunity of being alone with Helen. Helen, it is hardly necessary to
+say, awaited this moment with impatience.</p>
+
+<p>"Count," said she, as soon as they were alone, "you mentioned a certain
+name."</p>
+
+<p>"The name of a man who adores you, Fräulein."</p>
+
+<p>"The name of my <i>fiancé</i>," said Helen, rising.</p>
+
+<p>Count Monte Nuovo bowed and signed to her to reseat herself.</p>
+
+<p>"I know it, Fräulein," he said; "Count Karl is my friend. He has bidden
+me hand you this letter and to give you news of him with my own lips."</p>
+
+<p>Helen took the letter.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, sir," she said, and, eager to read it. "You will allow me,
+won't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly," said the count bowing, and he appeared to become absorbed
+in a portrait of Herr von Beling in his uniform.</p>
+
+<p>The letter was all vows of love and protestations of tenderness such as
+lovers write to each other. Old phrases always new; flowers plucked on
+the day of creation, and, after six thousand years, as sweet as on the
+first day.</p>
+
+<p>Having finished the letter, as Count Monte Nuovo still looked straight
+at the portrait:</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said Helen, in a low voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Fräulein?" answered the count, approaching her; "Karl lets me hope that
+you will give me some details yourself," and he adds: 'Before coming to
+grips with the Prussians, he will, or indeed we shall perhaps, have the
+pleasure of seeing you again.'"</p>
+
+<p>"It is possible, Fräulein, especially if we meet the Prussians in three
+or four days."</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you leave him?"</p>
+
+<p>"At Vienna, where he was organizing his volunteer regiment. We arranged
+a meeting-place at Frankfort, my friend Karl von Freyberg having done me
+the honour of wishing to serve under my orders."</p>
+
+<p>"He tells me that he has as his lieutenant a Frenchman whom I know. Do
+you know of whom he is speaking?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; he met him at the King of Hanover's, where he went to pay his
+respects; a young Frenchman called Benedict Turpin."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! yes," said Helen smiling, "he whom my brother-in-law wished me to
+marry in gratitude for the sabre-cut he received from him."</p>
+
+<p>"Fräulein," said Count Monte Nuovo, "these things are riddles to me."</p>
+
+<p>"And a little to me also," said Helen; "I will explain to you." And she
+told him what she knew of Frederic's duel with Benedict. She had
+scarcely finished when some one simultaneously knocked and rang at the
+door. Hans went to open it, and a voice asking for Madame von Beling,
+and reaching her ears through all the closed doors between, made her
+start.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter, Fräulein?" asked Count Monte Nuovo. "You are quite
+pale!"</p>
+
+<p>"I recognize that voice!" exclaimed Helen.</p>
+
+<p>At the same moment the door opened, and Hans appeared.</p>
+
+<p>"Fräulein," said he, "it is Count Karl von Freyberg."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" cried Helen, "I knew it! Where is he? What is he doing?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is below in the dining-room, where he is asking Madame von Beling's
+permission to pay his respects, to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you recognize the gentleman in that?" asked Count Monte Nuovo.
+"Another man would not even have asked for your grandmother, but have
+flown straight to you."</p>
+
+<p>"And I could have pardoned him." Then, in a louder voice. "Karl, dear
+Karl!" she said. "This way!"</p>
+
+<p>Karl came in and threw himself into Helen's arms, who pressed him to her
+breast. Then, looking round him, he saw Count Monte Nuovo, and held out
+his hand to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me, count," said he, "for not having seen you before; but you
+will readily understand that I had eyes for none but her. Is not Helen
+as beautiful as I told you, count?"</p>
+
+<p>"More beautiful," replied he.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! dear, dear Helen," cried Karl, falling on his knees and kissing her
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>Count Monte Nuovo began to laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Karl," said he, "I arrived here an hour ago; I asked to be
+quartered at Madame von Beling's, in order to be able to carry out my
+commission. It was done as you knocked. I have nothing more to do here.
+If I have forgotten anything, here you are, and you can supply it.
+Fräulein, may I have the honour of kissing your hand?"</p>
+
+<p>Helen held out her hand, looking at Karl as if for his permission, which
+he gave with a nod. The count kissed Helen's hand, then that of his
+friend, and went out.</p>
+
+<p>The lovers gave a sigh of relief. Fate gave them, amid all the reverses
+of their political fortunes, one of those rare moments which she grants
+to those whom she favours most.</p>
+
+<p>The news from the north was only too true. But all hope was not lost in
+Vienna. The emperor, the Imperial Family, and the Treasury had retired
+to Pest, and a desperate resistance was being prepared. On the other
+hand, the cession of Venice to Italy gave liberty to a hundred and sixty
+thousand men, as a reinforcement to the army in the north. It only
+remained to revive the spirits of the soldiers by a victory, and it was
+hoped that Count Alexander of Hesse would gain that victory. The battle
+would take place in all probability in the outskirts of Frankfort. This
+is why Karl had chosen to serve in the Prince of Hesse's army, and in
+Count Monte Nuovo's brigade. There at least, he was sure that he should
+see fighting. A second cousin of the Emperor Francis Joseph, brave and
+courageous, he had every interest in risking his life for the House of
+Austria, to which he belonged.</p>
+
+<p>Helen devoured Karl with her eyes. His dress was that which she had seen
+him wear every day when she met him going or returning from the hunt;
+but, without one being able to be precise about it, there was something
+more warlike about him; his expression was&mdash;somewhat more severe. One
+felt that he was conscious of danger at hand, and in meeting it like a
+man he met it as one who clung to life, yet who above his life put
+honour.</p>
+
+<p>During this time, Earl's little troop, whose second in command was
+Benedict, bivouacked a hundred paces from the railway station, just
+under the Burgomaster Fellner's windows. Not that they had anything to
+complain of from the authorities. Karl had sold one of his estates, and
+each of his men received a shilling every day for food. Each man was
+armed with a good carbine, rifle-barrelled and able, like a quick-firing
+gun, to fire eight or ten shots a minute. Each man also carried a
+hundred cartridges, and, in consequence, the hundred men could fire ten
+thousand shots. The two leaders carried double-barrelled carbines.</p>
+
+<p>The burgomaster returning to the Hôtel de Ville, found in front of his
+door the little detachment dressed in an unknown uniform. He stopped
+with that naïve bourgeois curiosity which we call <i>flânerie</i>. After
+staring at the soldiers he went on to their leader before whom he
+stopped, not only with simple curiosity but astonishment. It seemed to
+him that the face of the leader was not entirely unknown to him.</p>
+
+<p>And in fact, the officer, smiling, asked in excellent German:</p>
+
+<p>"May I enquire after Burgomaster Fellner's health?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! heavens and earth!" cried the burgomaster, "I was not mistaken. It
+is M. Benedict Turpin!"</p>
+
+<p>"Bravo! I told you that your memory was unusually well developed. It
+must be so to recognize me in this costume."</p>
+
+<p>"But you have become a soldier?"</p>
+
+<p>"An officer."</p>
+
+<p>"An officer! I beg your pardon."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, an amateur officer."</p>
+
+<p>"Come up to my house; you must be in need of refreshment, and your men
+are thirsty. Aren't you, my friends?"</p>
+
+<p>The men laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"We are always more or less thirsty," one of them replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, I will send twenty-five bottles of wine and beer down to
+you," said the burgomaster. "Come in, M. Benedict!"</p>
+
+<p>"Remember that my eye is upon you from the window," said Benedict, "and
+be careful."</p>
+
+<p>"Be easy in your mind, captain," replied he who had spoken before.</p>
+
+<p>"Madame Fellner," said the burgomaster on entering, "here is a captain
+of volunteers who is quartered on us. We must give him a worthy
+reception."</p>
+
+<p>Madame Fellner, who was doing worsted work, raised her head and looked
+at her guest. An expression resembling her husband's passed over her
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! it is surprising, my dear!" she cried, "how like this gentleman is
+to a young French painter...."</p>
+
+<p>"There!" said Fellner, "there is no need to keep your incognito. Pay
+your respects to my wife, my dear Benedict; you are recognized."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict held out his hand to Madame Fellner. As for the burgomaster, a
+slave to his promise, he looked out amongst a bunch of keys that of the
+cellar, and went down to choose the wine in which he wished Benedict's
+men to drink his health. A few minutes after, shouts of "Long live the
+burgomaster!" told that his wine was found to be of good quality.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h4>
+
+<h3>THE FREE MEAL</h3>
+
+
+<p>The burgomaster was uneasy, and did not try to hide it. The Prussians
+had marched on Frankfort by way of Vogeberg: a combat was bound to take
+place on the frontiers of Bavaria, and, if the Allies' army was beaten,
+the Prussians would occupy Frankfort on the following day. Orders had
+been given of which no one knew, but which could not be kept from him,
+as burgomaster. On July 14th, that is to say on the third day, the
+Federated Assembly, the Military Commission, and the Chancellor's
+Office, had received orders to go to Augsburg, a proof that Frankfort
+was not sure of being able to preserve her neutrality. The conviction,
+held by every one in Frankfort, that this was the moment of supreme
+crisis, had raised the sympathy of the inhabitants for the defenders of
+the cause dear to all, that is to say the cause of Austria, to the
+highest pitch. So, when the dinner hour came, the great houses of
+Frankfort invited the officers, while the bourgeois and working people
+invited the privates. Some took dinner to them, others laid tables
+before their doors.</p>
+
+<p>Hermann Mumm, the famous wine merchant, had invited a hundred privates,
+corporals, and sergeants, and had laid an immense table before his door,
+where each man had his bottle of wine.</p>
+
+<p>Burgomaster Fellner, his brother-in-law, Doctor Kugler, and the other
+inhabitants of the road abutting on the railway station, took care of
+Karl's hundred men. He himself dined with Madame von Beling and Count
+Monte Nuovo. Benedict, whom good Madame Fellner would not suffer to
+depart, could not refuse her invitation. They had invited Senators von
+Bernus and Speltz, but they had each their own guests, and only M.
+Fischer, the journalist, who lived a bachelor life, could come. Prince
+Alexander of Hesse dined with the Austrian consul.</p>
+
+<p>The diners in the street formed strange contrasts with those inside. The
+soldiers, drinking together, careless of the morrow, looked for nothing
+but death; but death to a soldier is only a <i>vivandière</i> in black, who
+pours him the last glass of brandy at the end of the last day. The
+soldier only fears to lose his life, because in losing his life, he
+loses all with it, and at one blow; while the merchant, the banker, even
+the bourgeois, before losing life, may lose fortune, credit, and
+position. He may see his coffers pillaged, his house ransacked, his wife
+and daughters dishonoured, his children calling him, impotent to help
+them. He may be tortured through his family, his money, his flesh, and
+his honour. It was of these things that the citizens of the free town of
+Frankfort thought, and these things prevented them from being as gay as
+they would have wished with their guests.</p>
+
+<p>As for Karl and Helen, they thought of nothing but their happiness. For
+them, the present was everything. They wished to forget: and, by force
+not of wishing, but of love, they did forget.</p>
+
+<p>But the saddest of these gatherings, despite Benedict's efforts, was
+certainly that which took place at the burgomaster's. Herr Fellner was,
+in his administrative capacity, one of the most intelligent burgomasters
+that Frankfort had ever possessed. Furthermore, he was an excellent
+father to his family, adoring his children, and adored by them. During
+fourteen years of married life not the smallest cloud had passed across
+his union. During the whole dinner, in spite of the weighty political
+preoccupation which absorbed him, he attempted, with the help of his
+brother-in-law the councillor, and his friend Fischer, to throw a little
+gaiety over the solemnity of the conversation. At dessert a servant
+entered and informed Benedict that his travelling companion, Lenhart,
+asked leave to offer him his services again. The burgomaster enquired
+who Lenhart was, and, at the moment when Benedict smilingly asked
+permission to go and shake his hand in the vestibule, the ex-livery
+stable keeper slapped the servant on the shoulder to make him give way,
+and came in saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Don't give yourself the trouble, M. Benedict; I'll come right into his
+worship the burgomaster's dining-room. I am not proud. Good day, your
+worship, and ladies and gentlemen."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" said the burgomaster, recognizing the old Saxon accent, "you are
+from Sachsenhausen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and my name is Lenhart, at your service; I am brother to Hans, who
+is in service with Madame von Beling."</p>
+
+<p>"Well then, my friend," said the burgomaster, "drink a glass of wine to
+the health of M. Benedict, whom you wish to see."</p>
+
+<p>"Two, if you like; he well deserves them! Ah! there's no
+stand-offishness with regard to the Prussians about him. Thunder and
+lightning! how he went at them at the battle of Langensalza!"</p>
+
+<p>"What! you were there?" asked the burgomaster of Lenhart.</p>
+
+<p>"On! yes, that I was, and now mad I was at not getting a slap at those
+cuckoos myself!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you call them cuckoos?" asked the journalist.</p>
+
+<p>"Because they take other people's nests to lay their eggs in."</p>
+
+<p>"But how did you know I was here?" asked Benedict, a little embarrassed
+by this unceremonious visit.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Lenhart, "I was walking peacefully along the road, when a dog
+came and jumped at my neck. 'There,' I said, 'it is Frisk, M. Benedict's
+dog.' Your men looked at me as if I were a curiosity, because I
+mentioned your name. 'Is M. Benedict here?' I asked them. They answered
+me: 'Yes, he is there, he is dining with your burgomaster, Herr Fellner,
+a good man, who has good wine.' 'Herr Fellner's good health,' I said to
+myself: 'Here, it's true! he is my burgomaster, because ever since
+yesterday I've been established in Frankfort, and as he is my
+burgomaster, I can go in And call on him, to say good-morning to M.
+Benedict.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Well now that you have said good-morning to me, my good Lenhart, and
+drunk the health of his worship the burgomaster," said Benedict&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but I haven't drunk yours, my young master, my benefactor, my
+idol! for you are my idol, M. Benedict. When I speak of you, when I talk
+about your duel, where you overcame those two men, one with a sabre cut,
+and what a one it was! M. Frederic de &mdash;&mdash;, you know the one I mean,
+don't you? Another with a pistol shot, that was a journalist, a great
+tall, ungainly fellow, like you, Herr Fischer."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks, my friend."</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't said any harm, I hope."</p>
+
+<p>"No, but leave these gentlemen in peace," said Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>"They are very peaceful, M. Benedict; look how they are listening."</p>
+
+<p>"Let him go on," said the doctor.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd go on all the same, even if you wouldn't let me. Ah! when I'm on
+the subject of M. Benedict, I never run dry. Don't shrug your shoulders,
+M. Benedict; if you'd wanted to kill the baron, you'd have killed him,
+and if you'd wanted to kill the journalist, you'd only yourself to
+please."</p>
+
+<p>"As a matter of fact," said the burgomaster, "we have seen that story in
+the 'Kreuz Zeitung.' My word! I read it without ever thinking that it
+was to you it happened."</p>
+
+<p>"And the pretty thing is that it was he who told it you!" continued
+Lenhart. "He is as learned as a sorcerer! Only glanced at the poor King
+of Hanover's hand, and he foretold everything that's happened to him.
+First, the victory, then the pill."</p>
+
+<p>At the moment, when they were going from the dining-room to the
+drawing-room, the sound of trumpets and drums was heard; the trumpet
+sounded "to horse," the drum beat "the alert." Madame Fellner waited
+impatiently; but her husband, smiling, signed to her to be patient. For
+the moment, a more lively and more general preoccupation was started by
+the sound of the alarm.</p>
+
+<p>"This tells me, madam," said Benedict, pointing towards the street, "I
+have only time to drink your husband's health, and to the long and happy
+life you and your beautiful family will have with him."</p>
+
+<p>The toast was repeated by all, and even by Lenhart, who thus drank
+twice, as he had said, to the health of the burgomaster. After which,
+grasping the hands of Herr Fellner, his brother-in-law, and the
+journalist, and kissing that of Madame Fellner, Benedict ran downstairs
+and out, crying: "To arms!"</p>
+
+<p>The same warlike sound had surprised Karl and Helen at the end of
+dinner. Karl felt a terrible blow at his heart. Helen grew pale,
+although she did not know the meaning of the beating of the drums nor
+of the sounding of the trumpets; yet she felt it to be sinister. Then,
+at the glance exchanged between Count Monte Nuovo and Karl, she
+understood that the moment of separation had come. The count had pity on
+the two young lovers, and, to give them a minute for their last adieux,
+he took leave of Madame von Beling, and said to his young friend:</p>
+
+<p>"Karl, you have a quarter-of-an-hour."</p>
+
+<p>Karl threw a rapid glance at the clock. It was half-past four.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, general," he answered. "I will be at my post at the time you
+mention."</p>
+
+<p>Madame von Beling had gone to see Count Monte Nuovo off, and in order to
+be alone, the young people went into the garden, where a thick arbour of
+vines hid their adieux. One might as well try to write down the
+melancholy song of the nightingale, which burst forth a few paces from
+them, as to describe the dialogue interspersed with sighs and tears,
+with vows, with sobs, with promises of love, with passionate outbursts,
+and with tender cries. What had they said at the end of a
+quarter-of-an-hour? Nothing, and everything. The parting was inevitable.</p>
+
+<p>As on the first occasion, Karl's horse was waiting at the door. He
+dragged himself away, leading Helen with him, encircled by his arms,
+there he covered her face with a rain of kisses.</p>
+
+<p>The door was open. The two Styrians beckoned him. A quarter to five was
+striking. He threw himself upon his horse, driving the spurs into him.
+The two Styrians ran beside him, following the galloping horse. The last
+words which Karl heard were these: "Thine, in this world or in the
+next!" and with the ardour of a lover and the faith of a Christian, he
+replied: "So be it."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h4>
+
+<h3>THE BATTLE OF ASCHAFFENBURG</h3>
+
+
+<p>During his dinner, Prince Alexander of Hesse had received this dispatch:</p>
+
+<p>"The Prussian vanguard has appeared at the end of the Vogelsburg pass!"</p>
+
+<p>This news very much astonished the commander-in-chief, who was expecting
+the enemy to come by the pass through the Thuringian Forest. He had, in
+consequence, immediately sent a telegram to Darmstadt to order a
+detachment of three thousand men to come by rail to Aschaffenburg and
+seize the bridge. Then he had immediately sounded the bugle-call and the
+signal to saddle.</p>
+
+<p>Two steamboats were waiting at Hackenhausen. A hundred railway carriages
+were waiting at the station, capable of holding a hundred men each.</p>
+
+<p>We have already mentioned the effect produced by the double trumpet
+call.</p>
+
+<p>There was a moment of confusion: for a moment every one ran to and fro,
+uniforms were confused, cavalry and infantry were mixed, then as if a
+clever hand had put each man in his place, at the end of five minutes
+the cavalry were mounted and the infantry had their proper weapons.
+Everything was ready for a start.</p>
+
+<p>Again, Frankfort showed its sympathy, not exactly to the Austrians, but
+to the defenders of Austria. Beer was handed round in half-pints and
+wine in jugfuls. Gentlemen of the first houses in the town shook hands
+with the officers. Fashionable ladies spoke cheeringly to the soldiers.
+A hitherto unknown brotherhood, born of the common danger, reigned over
+the free town.</p>
+
+<p>People called from windows: "Courage! victory! long live Austria! long
+live the Allies! long live Prince Alexander of Hesse!"</p>
+
+<p>Marie Louise's son was greeted for his part with cries of "Long live the
+Count of Monte Nuovo!" But it must be said that, as they came for the
+most part from ladies, they were due rather to his fine figure and
+military bearing than to his royal birth.</p>
+
+<p>Karl's Styrian sharpshooters received orders to take their places in the
+first carriages. It was they who were to attack the Prussians. They went
+gaily into the station with no other music than the count's two flute
+players. After them came Count Monte Nuovo's Austrian brigade and lastly
+the Allies of Hesse and Würtemberg. The Italian brigade had left by the
+steamboats, protesting against what they had to do, and declaring they
+would never fire on their friends the Prussians for their enemies the
+Austrians.</p>
+
+<p>The train went off, carrying men, rifles, guns, ammunition, horses, and
+ambulances. An hour and a half afterwards they were at Aschaffenburg.
+Night was beginning to fall. They had not seen the Prussians.</p>
+
+<p>Prince Alexander of Hesse sent a party out to reconnoitre. The party
+came back towards eleven at night, after having fired a few shots at the
+Prussians at two hours' journey from Aschaffenburg.</p>
+
+<p>A peasant who had crossed the pass at the same time as the Prussians,
+said that they were nearly five or six thousand strong, and that they
+had stopped because they were waiting for a body of seven or eight
+thousand men which was late. The numbers promised to be nearly equal.</p>
+
+<p>It was found necessary to defend the passage of the Main and to protect
+Frankfort and Darmstadt by gaining the victory. The Styrian
+sharpshooters were placed on the road. Their mission was to do the
+greatest amount of damage possible to the enemy and retire, leaving the
+infantry and cavalry to work in their turn, and to rally at the head of
+the bridge, the allies only means of retreat, and to defend that bridge
+to the last.</p>
+
+<p>During the night each man took up his position for the next day, and
+supped and slept in the open. A reserve of eight hundred men had been
+lodged in Aschaffenburg to defend the town if it were attacked. The
+night passed without disturbance.</p>
+
+<p>At ten o'clock, Karl, growing impatient, mounted his horse and leaving
+the command of his men to Benedict galloped off towards the Prussians
+who at last were beginning to march.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of his gallop Karl went up to Count Monte Nuovo and
+brought back the guns, which were put in position across the road. Four
+felled trees made a sort of entrenchment for the artillery. Karl got on
+to this entrenchment with his two Styrians, who took their flutes from
+their pockets, as if on parade, and began to play their sweetest and
+most charming airs. Karl could resist no longer. In a minute he took his
+pipe from his waistcoat pocket and sent on the wind a last message to
+his country.</p>
+
+<p>The Prussians were advancing all this time. At half-range the booming of
+the two Austrian guns interrupted our three musicians, who put their
+flutes back into their pockets, and took up their rifles. The two
+volleys were well aimed, they killed or wounded a score of men. Again an
+explosion was heard, and a second messenger of death swept through the
+Prussian ranks.</p>
+
+<p>"They are going to try and carry the guns by assault," said Karl to
+Benedict. "Take fifty men, and I'll take fifty; we will creep through
+the little wood on each side of the road. We have time for two shots
+each. We must kill a hundred men and fifty horses. Let ten of your men
+fire at the horses and the rest at the men."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict took fifty men and crept along the right of the road. Karl did
+the same and crept along the left. The count was not mistaken; cavalry
+advanced from the middle on the first rank, and the gleam of the sabres
+was soon visible in the sunshine. Then was heard the thunder of three
+hundred horses, galloping forward.</p>
+
+<p>Now began a fusillade, on both sides of the road, which would have
+seemed a game, if, at the first two shots, the colonel and the
+lieutenant had not been shot down from their horses, and if at each shot
+that followed those two a man or a horse had not fallen. Soon the road
+was strewn with dead men and horses. The first ranks could not advance.
+The charge stopped a hundred paces from the two guns, which kept up
+their fire and completed the confusion in the column.</p>
+
+<p>Behind them the Prussians had brought forward the artillery, and had
+placed in position six guns to silence the two Austrian guns.</p>
+
+<p>But our sharpshooters had advanced to about three hundred paces from the
+battery, and, when the six artillerymen had raised the match to fire
+with the regularity of a Prussian manœuvre, six shots were fired,
+three to the right and three to the left of the road, and the six
+artillerymen fell dead.</p>
+
+<p>Six others took the burning match and fell beside their comrades.
+Meanwhile the two Austrian guns had fired and demolished one of the
+Prussian guns.</p>
+
+<p>The Prussians did what they ought to have done at first; that is, they
+attacked the Styrian sharpshooters. They sent out five hundred Prussian
+sharpshooters with fixed bayonets.</p>
+
+<p>Then, on both sides of the plain began a terrible fusillade, while along
+the road the infantry advanced in columns, firing on the battery as they
+came. The artillerymen harnessed horses to the guns and retreated. The
+two guns, by retiring, left the Neuberg brigade uncovered.</p>
+
+<p>A hillock a little distance from Aschaffenburg was then crowned by a
+battery of six guns, the fire of which raked the Prussian masses.</p>
+
+<p>The count himself seeing that in spite of the fire along the whole line,
+the Prussians were advancing, put himself at the head of a regiment of
+cuirassiers and charged. Prince Alexander ordered all the Baden army to
+support him. Unfortunately, he placed the Italian regiment on his left
+wing and for the second time the Italians told him that they would
+remain neutral, exposed to the shots of both sides, but would not fire
+themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Whether by chance, or because they had been warned of this neutrality,
+the Prussians brought their principal effort to bear upon this left
+wing, which, by standing still, allowed the enemy to unhorse Count Monte
+Nuovo.</p>
+
+<p>The Styrian sharpshooters had done marvels. They had lost thirty men,
+and had killed more than three hundred of the enemy. Then, according to
+their orders, they had rallied at the head of the Aschaffenburg bridge.</p>
+
+<p>From that spot, Karl and Benedict heard a quick fusillade at the other
+end of the town. It was the Prussian right wing which had overthrown
+Prince Alexander's left wing and was attacking the suburbs of the town.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen," said Karl to Benedict, "the day is lost! Fate has overtaken
+the 'house of Austria.' I am going to kill myself, because it is my
+duty; but you, who are not tied to our fortune; you, who are fighting as
+an amateur; you, who are French when all is said and done, it would be
+folly for you to kill yourself for a cause which is not your own, and
+not even that with which you agree. Right to the last moment; then, when
+you know that all resistance is useless, get back to Frankfort, go to
+Helen; tell her that I am dead, if you have seen me die, or that I am in
+retreat on Darmstadt or Würtzburg with the remains of the army. If I
+live, I will write to her. If I die, I die thinking of her. This is my
+heart's testament, I confide it to you."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict pressed Karl's hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," proceeded Karl, "it seems to me that it is a soldier's duty to
+give the most service possible, to the last moment; we have a hundred
+and seventy men left. I am going to take some, I will take half to
+support the defenders of the town. You stay with the others at the
+bridge. Do your best here. I will do my best wherever I am. Do you hear
+the fusillade coming nearer? We have no time to lose. We must say
+farewell."</p>
+
+<p>The two young men threw themselves into each other's arms. Then Karl
+hurried into the streets and disappeared in the smoke. Benedict went to
+a little hill covered with a thicket, where he could defend himself and
+protect the bridge.</p>
+
+<p>He was scarcely there when he saw a cloud of dust rapidly approaching.
+It was the Baden cavalry, which had been driven back by the Prussian
+cuirassiers. The first fugitives crossed the bridge without difficulty;
+but soon the passage was obstructed with men and horses, and the first
+ranks were forced to return upon those who followed them.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment, a volley from Benedict and his men felled fifty men and
+twenty horses. The cuirassiers stopped astonished, and courage returned
+to the Baden infantry. A second volley followed the first, and the click
+of the balls on the cuirasses could be heard like the sound of hail on a
+roof. Thirty men and horses fell. The cuirassiers became disordered, but
+in retiring they encountered a square broken by the lancers, which fled
+before them. The square found itself between the spears of the lancers
+and the sabres of the cuirassiers. Benedict saw them coming mixed
+pell-mell with the lancers and cuirassiers.</p>
+
+<p>"Aim at the officers," cried Benedict, and he himself picked out a
+captain of cuirassiers and fired. The captain fell. The others had each
+chosen officers, but found it more convenient to choose the officers of
+the lancers. Death thus offered a larger target. Almost all the officers
+fell, and the horses bounding riderless joined the squadron. Men were
+still continuing to crowd the bridge.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the greater part of the allies' army arrived almost upon the
+heels of the enemy. At the same time, in the street of the burning town,
+Karl was retreating with his usual calm. He killed a man at each shot.
+He was bare-headed. A ball had carried away his Styrian cap. A trickle
+of blood was running down his cheek.</p>
+
+<p>The two young men greeted each other from afar. Frisk, recognizing Karl,
+whom he considered an admirable hunter, ran towards him, all delight at
+seeing him again.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment, a heavy gallop made the earth shake. It was the Prussian
+cuirassiers returning to the charge. Through the dust of the road and
+the smoke of the firing could be seen the glitter of their breastplates,
+helmets, and sword blades. They made a hole in the centre of the Baden
+and Hessian fugitives, and penetrated a third of the way over the
+bridge.</p>
+
+<p>With a last glance, Benedict saw his friend fighting against a captain,
+into whose throat he twice thrust his bayonet. The captain fell, but
+only to be succeeded by two cuirassiers who attacked Karl, sword in
+hand. Two shots from Benedict's rifle killed one and wounded the other.</p>
+
+<p>Then he saw Karl carried away among the fugitives crossing the bridge,
+in spite of his efforts to rally them. Enclosed on all sides, his sole
+path to hope of safety was the bridge. He threw himself upon it with the
+sixty or sixty-five men who were left. It was a terrible struggle; the
+dead were trodden under foot, the cuirassiers, like giants on their
+great horses, stabbed the fugitives with their shortened swords.</p>
+
+<p>"Fire on them!" cried Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>Those of his men who had their rifles loaded fired; seven or eight
+cuirassiers fell; the bullets rattled on the breastplates of the rest.</p>
+
+<p>A fresh charge brought the cuirassiers into the midst of the Styrian
+infantry. Pressed by two horsemen, Benedict killed one with his bayonet,
+the other tried to crush him with his horse against the parapet of the
+bridge. He drew his short hunting knife and thrust it up to the hilt in
+the horse's chest, the horse reared with a scream of dismay. Benedict
+left his knife with its living sheath, ran between the horse's legs,
+leapt over the parapet of the bridge and sprang, armed as he was, into
+the Main. As he fell, he cast a last look at the spot where Karl had
+disappeared, but his gaze sought his friend in vain.</p>
+
+<p>It was about five o'clock in the evening.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h4>
+
+<h3>THE EXECUTOR</h3>
+
+
+<p>Benedict had jumped into the Main on the left side of the bridge; the
+current carried him towards the arches. When he came to the surface he
+looked round him and saw a boat moored to one of them. A man was lying
+in the boat. Benedict swam towards him with one hand, holding his rifle
+above the water with the other. The boatman seeing him coming raised his
+oar.</p>
+
+<p>"Prussian or Austrian?" asked he.</p>
+
+<p>"French," answered Benedict. The boatman held out his hand.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict, dripping as he was, jumped into the boat.</p>
+
+<p>"Twenty florins," he said, "if we are in Dettingen in an hour. We have
+the current with us and I will row with you."</p>
+
+<p>"That will be easy," said the boatman, "if you are sure you will keep
+your word."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait a minute," said Benedict; throwing down his Styrian tunic and cap,
+and feeling in his pocket, "here are ten."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, come on," said the boatman.</p>
+
+<p>He took one oar, Benedict took the other: the boat impelled by four
+vigorous arms went rapidly down the river.</p>
+
+<p>The struggle was still continuing; men and horses fell from the bridge
+into the stream. Benedict would have liked to stop and watch the
+spectacle, but time did not allow.</p>
+
+<p>No one paid any attention to the little boat flying down stream. In five
+minutes the oarsmen were out of range and out of danger.</p>
+
+<p>While passing a little wood on the edge of the river, called
+Joli-Buisson, he thought he saw Karl fighting desperately in the middle
+of a group of Prussians. But as the uniform of all the Styrians was
+alike, it might have been one of the infantry. Then Benedict fancied he
+saw a dog like Frisk in the throng, and he remembered that Frisk had
+followed Karl.</p>
+
+<p>At the first bend of the river, they ceased to see anything of the
+battle. Further on, they saw the smoke of the burning houses in
+Aschaffenburg. Then at the little village of Lieder, everything
+disappeared. The boat flew down the river and quickly they passed
+Menaschoft, Stockstadt, Kleim, and Ostheim. After that the banks of the
+Main were deserted down to Mainflig. On the other bank, almost opposite,
+stood Dettingen.</p>
+
+<p>It was a quarter-past six, the boatman had earned his twenty florins.
+Benedict gave them to him; but before parting from him he considered for
+a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you like to earn twenty florins more?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I should just think so!" replied the boatman. Benedict looked at his
+watch.</p>
+
+<p>"The train does not go until a quarter-past seven, we have more than an
+hour before us."</p>
+
+<p>"Besides which the trouble at Aschaffenburg will make the train another
+quarter of an hour late, if it does not stop it altogether."</p>
+
+<p>"The deuce it will!"</p>
+
+<p>"Will what I tell you fly away with my twenty florins?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; but go into Dettingen first of all. You are just my height, go and
+buy me a boatman's dress like yours. Complete, you know. Then come back,
+and I will tell you what remains to be done."</p>
+
+<p>The boatman jumped out of the boat and ran down the road to Dettingen. A
+quarter-of-an-hour later, he came back with the complete costume, which
+had cost ten florins. Benedict gave him that amount.</p>
+
+<p>"And now," asked the boatman, "what is to be done?"</p>
+
+<p>"Can you wait for me here three days with my uniform, my rifle, and my
+pistols? I will give you twenty florins."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but if at the end of three days you do not come back?"</p>
+
+<p>"The rifle, the pistols, and the uniform will be yours."</p>
+
+<p>"I will wait here eight days. Gentlemen must have time to settle their
+affairs."</p>
+
+<p>"You are a good fellow. What is your name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Fritz."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, Fritz, goodbye!"</p>
+
+<p>In a few moments Benedict had put on the coat and trousers and covered
+his head with the boatman's cap. He walked a few steps and then stopped
+suddenly:</p>
+
+<p>"By the way, where will you stay at Dettingen?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"A boatman is like a snail, he carries his house on his back. You will
+find me in my boat."</p>
+
+<p>"Night and day?"</p>
+
+<p>"Night and day."</p>
+
+<p>"All is well then."</p>
+
+<p>And in his turn Benedict went towards Dettingen.</p>
+
+<p>Fritz had prophesied truly, the train was half an hour late. Indeed it
+was the last train which went through; hussars were sent to take up the
+rails; lest troops should be sent to Frankfort to help the allies.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict took a third-class ticket, as befitted his humble costume. The
+train only stopped at Manau for a few minutes, and arrived at Frankfort
+at a quarter to nine, scarcely ten minutes late.</p>
+
+<p>The station was full of people who had come to get news. Benedict passed
+through the crowd as quickly as possible, recognized M. Fellner,
+whispered in his ear "beaten," and went off in the direction of the
+Chandroz' house.</p>
+
+<p>He knocked at the door. Hans opened it. Helen was not in the house, but
+he went and asked for Emma. Helen was at the Church of Notre Dame de la
+Croix. Benedict asked the way there, and Hans, who thought he brought
+news of Karl, offered to show him. In five minutes they were there: Hans
+wished to go back, but Benedict kept him, in case there might be some
+order to be given. He left him in the porch and went in. One chapel was
+hit by the trembling light of a lamp. A woman was kneeling before the
+altar, or rather, crouching on the steps. This woman was Helen.</p>
+
+<p>The eleven o'clock train had brought the news that a battle would take
+place that day. At twelve o'clock Helen and her maid had taken a
+carriage, and driven by Hans had gone down the Aschaffenburg road as far
+as the Dornighem wood. There, in the country silence they had heard the
+sound of cannon. It is unnecessary to say that each shot had had an echo
+in her heart. Soon she could listen no longer to the sound which grew
+louder and louder. She went back to Frankfort, and got down at the
+Church of Notre Dame de la Croix, sending back Hans to ease the minds
+of her mother and sister. Hans had not dared to say where Helen was
+without the permission of the baroness.</p>
+
+<p>Helen had been praying since three o'clock. At the sound of Benedict's
+approach she turned. At first sight, and in his disguise, she did not
+recognize the young painter whom Frederic had wished her to marry, and
+took him for a Sachsenhausen fisherman.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you looking for me, my good man?" she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you are bringing me news of Karl?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was his companion in the fight."</p>
+
+<p>"He is dead!" cried Helen, wringing her hands with a sob, and glancing
+reproachfully at the statue of the Madonna. "He is dead! he is dead!"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot tell you for certain that he is alive and not wounded. But I
+can tell you I do not know that he is dead."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't know?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, on my honour, I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>"Did he give you a message for me before you left him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, these are his very words."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, speak, speak!" And Helen clasped her hands and sank on a chair in
+front of Benedict as though before a sacred messenger. A message from
+those whom we love is always sacred.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen; he said to me: 'The day is lost. Fate has overtaken the house
+of Austria. I am going to kill myself because it is my duty.'"</p>
+
+<p>Helen groaned.</p>
+
+<p>"And I!" she murmured. "He did not think of me."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait." He went on, "But you who are not tied to our fortune; you, who
+are fighting as an amateur; you, who are French when all is said, and
+done, it would be folly for you to kill yourself for a cause which is
+not your own. Fight to the last moment, then when you know that all
+resistance is vain, get back to Frankfort, go to Helen, tell her that I
+am dead, if you have seen me die, or that I am in retreat for Darmstadt
+or Würtzburg with the remains of the army. If I live, I will write to
+her if I die, I die thinking of her. This is my heart's testament, I
+confide it to you.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Karl! and then...?"</p>
+
+<p>"Twice we saw each other in the fray. On the bridge at Aschaffenburg,
+where he was slightly wounded in the forehead, then a quarter-of-an-hour
+later, between a little wood called Joli-Buisson and the village of
+Lieder."</p>
+
+<p>"And there?"</p>
+
+<p>"There he was surrounded by enemies, but he was still fighting."</p>
+
+<p>"My God!"</p>
+
+<p>"Then I thought of you.... The war is over. We were the last of
+Austria's vital powers, her last hope. Dead or alive, Karl is yours from
+this hour. Shall I go back to the battlefield? I will search until I get
+news of him. If he is dead, I will bring him back."</p>
+
+<p>Helen let a sob escape her.</p>
+
+<p>"If he is wounded, I will bring him back to you, recovered I assure
+you."</p>
+
+<p>Helen had seized Benedict by the arm, and looked fixedly at him.</p>
+
+<p>"You will go on to the battlefield?" she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"And you will seek for him among the dead?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said he, "until I find him."</p>
+
+<p>"I will go with you," said Helen.</p>
+
+<p>"You?" cried Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>"It is my duty. I recognize you now. You are Benedict Turpin, the French
+painter who fought with Frederic, and who spared his life."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you are a friend and a man of honour. I can trust in you. Let us
+go."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that settled?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is settled."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you seriously wish it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do wish it."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, then, there is not an instant to lose."</p>
+
+<p>"How shall we go?"</p>
+
+<p>"The railways have been destroyed."</p>
+
+<p>"Hans will take us."</p>
+
+<p>"I have a better plan than that. Carriages can be broken, drivers can be
+forced. I have the right man, a man who would break all his carriages
+and lame all his horses for me."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict called, and Hans appeared.</p>
+
+<p>"Run to your brother Lenhart. Tell him to be here within ten minutes
+with his best carriage and horses, and wine and bread. As you pass the
+chemist's tell him to get bandages, lint, and strapping."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sir," said Hans, "I must write that down."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, a carriage, two horses, bread and wine; you mustn't forget
+that. I will see to the rest. Go." Then, turning to Helen, "Will you
+tell your relatives?" asked Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no!" she cried. "They would wish to prevent me from going. I am
+under the protection of the Virgin."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray then. I will come back here for you."</p>
+
+<p>Helen threw herself on her knees. Benedict went quickly out of the
+church. Ten minutes later he came back with all the necessary things
+for the dressing of wounds, and four torches.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we take Hans?" asked Helen.</p>
+
+<p>"No, it must not be known where you are. If we bring back Karl wounded,
+a room must be ready for him, and a surgeon ready. Also, his arrival
+would cause agitation to your sister, scarcely well again, or to your
+grandmother, whose age must be taken into consideration."</p>
+
+<p>"What time shall we get back?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, but we may be expected at four in the morning. You hear,
+Hans? And if they fear for your young mistress&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You will answer," said Lenhart, "that they may be easy, because
+Benedict Turpin is with her."</p>
+
+<p>"You hear, dear Helen. I am ready when you are."</p>
+
+<p>"Let us go," she said, "and not lose a minute. My God! when I think that
+he may be there, perhaps lying on the earth under some tree or bush,
+bleeding from two or three wounds, and calling on me with his dying
+voice for help!" and in high agitation she went on: "I am coming, dear
+Karl, I am coming!"</p>
+
+<p>Lenhart whipped up his horses, and the carriage went off as quickly as
+the wind and as noisily as thunder.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h4>
+
+<h3>FRISK</h3>
+
+
+<p>In less than an hour and a half they were in sight of Dettingen, which
+was the more easy to see because it appeared from afar as the centre of
+a vast fire. As they drew nearer, Benedict said that the light came from
+the camp fires. After the victory, the Prussians had pressed their
+outposts beyond the little town.</p>
+
+<p>Helen feared that they would not be allowed to continue their journey,
+but Benedict reassured her. The pity shown to the wounded, and the
+respect for the dead in all civilized countries, when once the battle is
+over, left him no doubt that Helen would be allowed to seek for her
+<i>fiancé</i>, dead or living, and that he would be allowed to aid her.</p>
+
+<p>In fact, the carriage was stopped at the outposts, and the chiefs of the
+watch could not take it upon themselves to let them pass, but said they
+must refer to General Sturm, who commanded the outposts.</p>
+
+<p>General Sturm had his quarters in the little village of Horstein, rather
+further on than Dettingen. Benedict was told where the house was, and
+went off at a gallop to make up for lost time. When he reached the house
+indicated, he found that General Sturm was away and that he would have
+to speak to the major.</p>
+
+<p>He went in, and an impatient voice called out, "wait a minute."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict had heard that voice before.</p>
+
+<p>"Frederic!" he cried.</p>
+
+<p>It was Baron Frederic von Bülow, whom the King of Prussia had made
+Staff-major to General Sturm. This rank was an advancement from
+brigade-general. Benedict explained that he was searching for Karl, who
+was dead or wounded on the field. Frederic would have liked to go with
+him, but he had work that must be done. He gave Benedict a permit to
+search the battlefield, and to take with him two Prussian soldiers as
+guards, and a surgeon.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict promised to send back the surgeon with news of the expedition,
+and went out to the carriage where Helen was waiting impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" asked she.</p>
+
+<p>"I have got what we want," answered Benedict. Then in an undertone he
+said to Lenhart, "Go on twenty paces, then stop."</p>
+
+<p>He told Helen what had happened, and that if she wished to see her
+brother-in-law it would be easy to go back.</p>
+
+<p>Helen chafed at the very idea of seeing her brother-in-law. He would be
+sure to keep her from going among the dead and wounded, and the thieves
+who were on the battlefield to rob the dead.</p>
+
+<p>She thanked Benedict, and cried to Lenhart:</p>
+
+<p>"Drive on, please!"</p>
+
+<p>Lenhart whipped up his horses. They got back to Dettingen. Eleven
+o'clock struck as they entered the town. An immense fire was burning in
+the principal square. Benedict got down and went towards it. He went up
+to a captain who was walking up and down.</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me, captain," he said, "but do you know Baron Frederic von
+Bülow?"</p>
+
+<p>The captain looked him up and down. It must be remembered that Benedict
+was still in his boatman's dress.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he answered, "I know him, and what then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Will you do him a great service?"</p>
+
+<p>"Willingly; he is my friend; but how came he to make you his messenger?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is at Horstein, and obliged to stay there by order of General
+Sturm."</p>
+
+<p>"He is very uneasy about a friend of his, who was killed or wounded on
+the field. He sent me and a comrade to search for this friend, the
+<i>fiancé</i> of the lady whom you see in the carriage, and said: 'Take this
+note to the first Prussian officer you see. Tell him to read it, and I
+am sure he will have the kindness to give you what you ask for.'"</p>
+
+<p>The officer went to the fire, and read what follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"Order to the first Prussian officer whom my messenger meets, to
+put at the disposal of the bearer two soldiers and a surgeon. The
+two soldiers and the surgeon will follow the bearer wherever he
+leads them.</p>
+
+<p>"From the quarters of General Horstein, eleven at night:</p>
+
+<p>
+"By order, General Sturm.<br />
+"Principal staff officer,<br />
+"BARON FREDERIC VON BÃœLOW."<br />
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Discipline and obedience are the two chief virtues of the Prussian army.
+These are what have made it the first army in Germany. The captain had
+hardly read his superior's order when he dropped the haughty look which
+he had assumed for the poor devil of a boatman.</p>
+
+<p>"Hullo," he called to the soldiers round the fire. "Two volunteers to
+serve the principal staff officer, Frederic von Bülow."</p>
+
+<p>Six men presented themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"That's good, you and you," said the captain, choosing two men.</p>
+
+<p>"Now who is the regiment's surgeon?"</p>
+
+<p>"Herr Ludwig Wiederschall," answered a voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is he billeted?"</p>
+
+<p>"Here in the square," answered the same voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell him he is to go on an expedition to Aschaffenburg to-night, by
+order of the staff officer."</p>
+
+<p>A soldier got up, went across the square and knocked at the door; a
+moment after he came back with the surgeon-major.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict thanked the captain. He answered that he was very happy to do
+anything for the Baron von Bülow.</p>
+
+<p>The surgeon was in a bad temper, because he had been roused out of his
+first sleep. But when he found himself face to face with a young lady,
+beautiful and in tears, he made his excuses for having kept her waiting,
+and was the first to hasten the departure.</p>
+
+<p>The carriage reached the bank of the river by a gentle slope. Several
+boats were anchored there. Benedict called in a loud voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Fritz!"</p>
+
+<p>At the second call a man stood up in a boat and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Here I am!"</p>
+
+<p>Benedict issued his orders.</p>
+
+<p>Every one took their places in the boat; the two soldiers in the prow,
+Fritz and Benedict at the oars, and the surgeon and Helen in the stern.
+A vigorous stroke sent the boat into the middle of the stream. It was
+less easy travelling now, they had to go against the current; but
+Benedict and Fritz were good and strong rowers. The boat went slowly
+over the surface of the water.</p>
+
+<p>They were far from Dettingen when they heard the clock strike midnight.
+They passed Kleim, Ostheim, Menaschoft, then Lieder, then Aschaffenburg.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict stopped a little below the bridge, it was there that he wished
+to begin his search. The torches were lit and carried by the soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>The battle had not been finished until dark; the wounded alone had been
+carried away, and the bridge was still strewn with dead, against whom
+one stumbled in the dark corners, and who could be seen by their white
+coats in the light ones.</p>
+
+<p>Karl, with his grey tunic, would have been easily recognized, if among
+Prussians and Austrians; but Benedict was too sure of having seen him
+below the bridge to waste time in seeking for him where he was not. They
+went down to the fields, strewn with clumps of trees, and at the end of
+which was the little wood called Joli-Buisson. The night was dark, with
+no moon, there were no stars, one would have said that the dust and
+smoke of battle was hanging between the earth and the sky. From time to
+time silent flashes of lightning lifted the horizon like an immense
+eyelid: a ray of wan light leapt out and lighted up the landscape for a
+second with bluish light. Suddenly all became dark again. Between the
+flashes, the only light which appeared on the left bank of the Main was
+that of the two torches carried by the Prussian soldiers, which made a
+circle of light a dozen paces across.</p>
+
+<p>Helen, white as a ghost, and gliding like a ghost over the unevennesses
+of the ground as if they were non-existent, walked in the middle of the
+circle with arms outstretched, saying. "There, there, there!" wherever
+she thought she saw motionless corpses lying. When they came near they
+found them to be corpses indeed, but recognized Prussians or Austrians
+by their uniforms.</p>
+
+<p>From time to time also, they saw something gliding between the trees,
+and heard steps hastening away; these were of some of the miserable
+robbers of the dead who follow a modern army as wolves used to follow
+ancient armies, and whom they disturbed in their infamous work.</p>
+
+<p>From time to time Benedict stopped the group with a gesture; a profound
+silence fell, and in this silence he cried: "Karl! Karl!"</p>
+
+<p>Helen with staring eyes and holding her breath, seemed like a statue of
+suspense. Nothing replied, and the little troop moved on.</p>
+
+<p>From time to time Helen also stopped, and automatically, under her
+breath, as if she was afraid of her own voice, called in her turn,
+"Karl! Karl! Karl!"</p>
+
+<p>They drew near the little wood and the corpses became fewer. Benedict
+made one of these pauses, followed by silence, and for the fifth or
+sixth time cried:</p>
+
+<p>"Karl!"</p>
+
+<p>This time, a lugubrious and prolonged cry replied, which sent a shudder
+through the heart of the bravest.</p>
+
+<p>"What is that cry?" asked the surgeon.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a dog, howling for some one's death," answered Fritz.</p>
+
+<p>"Can it be?" murmured Benedict. Then he went on, "Over here! over here!"
+directing them towards the voice of the dog.</p>
+
+<p>"My God!" cried Helen, "have you any hope?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps, come, come!" and without waiting for the torches he ran ahead.
+When he came to the edge of the wood, he cried again:</p>
+
+<p>"Karl!"</p>
+
+<p>The same lugubrious, lamentable cry was heard, but nearer.</p>
+
+<p>"Come," said Benedict, "it is here!"</p>
+
+<p>Helen leapt over the ditch, entered the wood, and without thinking of
+her muslin dress which was being torn to rags, she pushed on through the
+bushes and thorns. The torch-bearers had been thoughtful enough to
+follow. There in the wood they heard the sound of the robbers fleeing.
+Benedict signed a halt in order to give them time to escape. Then all
+was silent again he called a third time:</p>
+
+<p>"Karl!"</p>
+
+<p>This time a howl, as lamentable as the two first, answered, but so close
+to them that all hearts beat quickly. The men recoiled a step. The
+boatman pointed.</p>
+
+<p>"A wolf!" said he.</p>
+
+<p>"Where?" asked Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>"There," said Fritz pointing. "Don't you see his eyes shining in the
+dark like two coals?"</p>
+
+<p>At that moment a flash of lightning penetrated the trees, and showed
+distinctly a dog sitting beside a motionless body.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, Frisk!" cried Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>The dog made one bound to his master's neck and licked his face; then
+again, taking his place beside the corpse, he howled more lamentably
+than ever.</p>
+
+<p>"Karl is there!" said Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>Helen sprang forward, for she understood it all.</p>
+
+<p>"But he is dead!" continued Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>Helen cried out and fell on Karl's body.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h4>
+
+<h3>THE WOUNDED MAN</h3>
+
+
+<p>The torchbearers had come up and a group, picturesque and terrible, was
+formed, by the bright light of the burning resin. Karl had not been
+plundered like the other corpses, the dog had guarded his body and
+prevented this. Helen was stretched upon him, her lips to his, weeping
+and groaning. Benedict was on his knees beside her, with the dog's paws
+on his shoulders. The surgeon stood, his arms folded, like a man
+accustomed to death and its sadness. Fritz had thrust his head through
+the leaves of a thorn-tree. Every one was silent and motionless for a
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly Helen cried out, she sprang up, covered with Karl's blood, her
+face haggard and her hair wild. They all looked at her.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" she cried. "I am going mad." Then, falling on her knees, "Karl!
+Karl! Karl!" she cried.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" asked Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! have pity on me," said Helen. "But I thought I felt a breath on my
+face. Did he wait for me, to give his last sigh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me, madam," said the surgeon, "but if he whom you call Karl is
+not dead, there is no time to be lost in looking to him."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! come and look, sir," said Helen, moving quickly to one side.</p>
+
+<p>The surgeon knelt down, the soldiers brought the torches near, and
+Karl's pale, but still handsome face was seen. A wound in his head had
+covered his left cheek with blood, and he would have been unrecognizable
+if the dog had not licked the blood away from his face as it flowed.</p>
+
+<p>The surgeon loosened his collar; then he raised him to undo his tunic.
+The wound was terrible, for the back of his tunic was red with blood.
+The surgeon undid his coat, and with the swiftness of habit cut his coat
+up the back; then he called for water.</p>
+
+<p>"Water," repeated Helen in an automatic voice that sounded like an echo.</p>
+
+<p>The river was only fifty paces away, Fritz ran to it and brought back
+the wooden shoe, with which he was accustomed to bail out the boat, full
+of water. Helen gave her handkerchief.</p>
+
+<p>The surgeon dipped into the water and began to wash the wounded man's
+chest, while Benedict supported his body across his knees. It was only
+then that they saw a clot of blood on his arm, this was a third wound.
+That on his head was insignificant. That in his chest seemed the most
+serious at first, but an artery had been cut in his right arm, and the
+great loss of blood had led to a fainting fit during which the blood had
+ceased to flow.</p>
+
+<p>Helen, during this sad examination, had not ceased asking.</p>
+
+<p>"Is he dead? is he dead?"</p>
+
+<p>"We are going to see," said the surgeon. And on examination it proved
+that his blood still flowed. Karl was not dead.</p>
+
+<p>"He lives!" said the surgeon.</p>
+
+<p>Helen cried out and fell on her knees.</p>
+
+<p>"What must we do to bring him to life?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"The artery must be tied," said the surgeon, "will you let me take him
+to the ambulance?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, no!" cried Helen. "I cannot be parted from him. Do you think he
+will bear being taken to Frankfort?"</p>
+
+<p>"By water, yes. And I confess to you that considering the interest you
+take in this young man, I would rather some one else performed this
+operation. Now, if you have any way of taking him quickly by water&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I have my boat," said Fritz, "and if this gentleman" (he pointed to
+Benedict) "will give me a helping hand we will be in Frankfort in three
+hours."</p>
+
+<p>"It remains to be seen," said the surgeon, "considering his great loss
+of blood, whether he will live three hours."</p>
+
+<p>"My God, my God!" cried Helen.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't dare to ask you to look, madam, but the earth is soaked with
+his blood!"</p>
+
+<p>Helen gave a cry of dismay, and put her hand before her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>While talking, while reassuring, while frightening Helen with the
+terrible cold-bloodedness of a man used to death, the surgeon was
+binding up the wound in Karl's chest.</p>
+
+<p>"You say you fear that he has lost too much blood? How much blood can
+one lose without dying?" asked Helen.</p>
+
+<p>"It depends, madam."</p>
+
+<p>"What have I to fear or hope for?" asked Helen.</p>
+
+<p>"You have to hope that he will live to reach Frankfort, that he has not
+lost as much blood as I fear he has, and that a clever surgeon will tie
+up the artery. You have to fear that he will have a second hæmorrhage
+to-day, or in eight or ten days, when the wound is healed."</p>
+
+<p>"But we can save him, can't we?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nature has so many resources, that we must always hope, madam."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Helen, "do not let us lose an instant."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict and the surgeon took the torches, the two soldiers carried the
+wounded man to the bank. They laid him in the stern of the boat on a
+mattress and blanket fetched from Aschaffenburg.</p>
+
+<p>"May I try to rouse him?" asked Helen, "or ought I to leave him in his
+present state?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do not do anything to bring him back to consciousness, madam it is this
+which stops the hæmorrhage, and if the artery is tied before he wakes,
+all may be well."</p>
+
+<p>They all took their places in the boat, the two Prussians stood holding
+the torches; Helen was kneeling, the surgeon supported the wounded man;
+Benedict and Fritz rowed. Frisk, who did not seem to feel pride in
+having played such a splendid part, was sitting in the prow. This time,
+well ballasted, pulled by four arms, vigorous and accustomed to the
+exercise, the boat sped like a swallow over the surface of the water.</p>
+
+<p>Karl remained unconscious. The doctor had thought that the air, cooler
+on the water than on the land, would rouse him, but it did not. He
+remained motionless, and gave no sign of life.</p>
+
+<p>They arrived at Dettingen. Benedict gave a handsome reward to the two
+Prussian soldiers, and asked the surgeon, whom Helen could only thank by
+pressing his hands, to tell Frederic all the details of the expedition.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict called Lenhart, who was sleeping on the box of his carriage,
+and told him to go to Frankfort as fast as possible, and tell some
+porters to wait with a litter on the banks of the Main at Frankfort. As
+for him, with Helen and Earl, he continued his journey by water, that
+being the smoothest road that one can find for a sick man.</p>
+
+<p>Towards Hanau the sky began to get light; a great band of rosy silver
+stretched itself above the Bavarian mountains.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to Helen that the wounded man shuddered. She gave a cry that
+made the two rowers turn, then without another movement, Karl opened his
+eyes, murmured the name of Helen, and closed them again. All this was so
+rapid, that if Fritz and Benedict had not seen it with her, she would
+have doubted it. That opened eye, that gently murmured word did not seem
+a return to life, but the dream of a dying man.</p>
+
+<p>The sun in rising sometimes has this effect on the dying, and before
+closing for ever their eyes look for the last time upon the sun. This
+idea came to Helen.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Heaven!" she murmured, with sobs. "Is he breathing his last sigh?"</p>
+
+<p>Benedict left the oar for a moment and went to Karl. He took his hand,
+felt his pulse; and found it imperceptible. He listened to his heart; it
+seemed to be still.</p>
+
+<p>At each test Helen murmured: "Oh, Heaven!"</p>
+
+<p>At the last test he shared her doubts. He took out a lancet, which he
+always carried, and pricked the shoulder of the wounded man, who did not
+feel or move; but a feeble drop of blood appeared.</p>
+
+<p>"Be of good courage, he is still alive," he said, and again took up his
+oar.</p>
+
+<p>Helen began to pray.</p>
+
+<p>Since the evening, no one had eaten but Fritz. Benedict broke a piece of
+bread and gave it to Helen. She refused it with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>They reached Offenbach, and could see Frankfort in the distance
+silhouetted against the sky. They were due there at about eight o'clock.
+At eight o'clock, in fact, the boat stopped at the landing-place by the
+bridge. Soon they saw Lenhart and his carriage, and close to him a
+litter. They raised the wounded man with the same precautions as before,
+put him in the litter, and drew the curtains round him.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict wished Helen to go in Lenhart's carriage; the bodice of her
+dress was stained with blood. She wrapped herself in a large shawl and
+walked beside the litter. To save time she asked Benedict to go and seek
+for the same doctor who had attended the Baron von Bülow, Doctor
+Bodemacker. She herself crossed all the town from the Sachsenhausen
+Strasse to her mother's house, following the litter which bore Karl.
+People watched her pass with astonishment, and went to question Fritz
+who walked behind. And when he said it was a <i>fiancée</i> who was following
+the body of her lover, and as every one knew that Fräulein Helen von
+Chandroz was engaged to Count Karl von Freyberg, they recognized the
+beautiful young lady, and stepped back bowing respectfully.</p>
+
+<p>When they reached the house the door was already open. Her grandmother
+and sister were waiting on each side of the door, and as she passed
+Helen took a hand of each.</p>
+
+<p>"To my room!" she said.</p>
+
+<p>The wounded man was taken to her room and laid on her bed. At that
+moment Doctor Bodemacker arrived with Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>The doctor examined Karl, and Benedict looked on with anxiety almost
+equal to Helen's.</p>
+
+<p>"Who saw this man before me?" asked, the doctor. "Who bound his
+wounds?"</p>
+
+<p>"A regimental surgeon," answered Helen.</p>
+
+<p>"Why did he not tie the artery?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was at night, by torchlight, in the open air; he did not dare. He
+told me to get a cleverer man, and I came to you."</p>
+
+<p>The surgeon looked at Karl uneasily. "He has lost a quarter of his
+blood," he murmured.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" asked Helen.</p>
+
+<p>The doctor bent his head.</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor," cried Helen, "don't tell me there is no hope: it is always
+said that people quickly recover lost blood."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," replied the doctor, "when he can eat. But never mind, a doctor
+must do all he can. Can you help me?" he asked Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he answered, "I have some idea of surgery."</p>
+
+<p>"You will leave the room, won't you?" the surgeon asked Helen.</p>
+
+<p>"Not for the world!" she cried, "no, no, I will stay to the end."</p>
+
+<p>The operation on the arm was finished with a cleverness which astonished
+Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," said the doctor, "ice water must be slowly dropped on that arm!"</p>
+
+<p>Some ice was procured and in five minutes was upon the arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," said the doctor, "we shall see."</p>
+
+<p>"What shall we see?" asked Helen anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"We shall see the effect of the ice water."</p>
+
+<p>All three were standing by the bed, and it would be difficult to say
+which was the most interested in its success: the doctor, from
+professional pride; Helen, from her great love of the wounded man; or
+Benedict, from his friendship with Karl and Helen.</p>
+
+<p>At the first drops of ice water which fell on the arm, Karl shuddered
+visibly. Then his eyelids trembled, his eyes opened, and he looked round
+him with surprise until they became fixed on Helen. A faint smile
+appeared on his lips and the corners of his eyes. He tried to speak and
+breathed the name of Helen.</p>
+
+<p>"He must not speak," said the doctor, "until to-morrow at least."</p>
+
+<p>"Enough, my beloved," said Helen. "To-morrow you can tell me you love
+me."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII</h4>
+
+<h3>THE PRUSSIANS AT FRANKFORT</h3>
+
+
+<p>In Frankfort all was sorrow and dismay at the news of the defeat. The
+inhabitants were deeply apprehensive of their treatment by the Prussians
+since seeing what had occurred in Hanover. On the evening of the battle,
+as we have said, the news of the disaster had reached Frankfort, and
+from the next day, the 15th, the conviction that its occupation would be
+immediate had cast an aspect of mourning over the town. Not a single
+person was to be seen on the fashionable promenade. The Prussians, so it
+was said, would make their entry on the 16th after midday.</p>
+
+<p>Night came, and with it a strange solitude in the streets, where, if one
+met a wayfarer it was evident from his hurry that he was on urgent
+business, carrying perhaps jewels or valuables for deposit at one of the
+foreign legations. At an early hour the houses had been shut up. Behind
+the bolted doors and windows one guessed that the inmates were silently
+digging holes for the concealment of their treasures.</p>
+
+<p>Morning came and everywhere might be seen affixed placards of the
+Senate, reading as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"The King of Prussia's royal troops will make their entry into Frankfort
+and its suburbs; our relations with them will therefore be materially
+changed from what they were when they were in garrison here. The Senate
+deplores this change which has been brought about in the relations in
+question, but the national sacrifices we have already made will render
+our inevitable pecuniary losses easy in comparison with what we have
+already lost. We all know that the discipline of the King of Prussia's
+troops is admirable. In circumstances of great difficulty the Senate
+exhorts all alike, of whatever rank or position, to give a friendly
+reception to the Prussian troops."</p>
+
+<p>The Frankfort battalion received orders to hold itself ready, with band
+in front, to march out and meet the Prussians and do them honour. From
+ten o'clock in the morning every advantageous spot, all the belfries and
+housetops from which the suburbs, and particularly the road from
+Aschaffenburg could be seen, were crowded with curious spectators.
+Towards noon the Prussians were descried at Hanau. The railway brought
+them by thousands and they were seen occupying as if by magic all the
+strategic points along the line, not without certain precautions which
+indicated their uneasiness as to what might portend.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing occurred, however, until four o'clock. Then successive trains
+left Hanau bearing the victorious army and rolled up to the town gates
+until seven o'clock. It was clear that General Falkenstein now waited
+the submission of the municipality, perhaps believing that the keys of
+the town would be brought him on a silver salver. He waited in vain.</p>
+
+<p>All was silence. None of the inhabitants moved and the Prussian
+soldiers, prominent among whom were the cuirassiers who had charged so
+vigorously in the battle, seemed spectres in their great cloaks and
+steel helmets. In the evening the Zeil is ever a melancholy place. On
+this occasion how sad it looked, despair seemed inextricably
+intermingled with its brooding shadows, in which stood out like a
+squadron of phantoms the Prussian cuirassiers. Now and again the
+trumpets sounded sinister fanfares.</p>
+
+<p>The fact that the Prussians were Germans was completely forgotten; their
+attitude clearly showed that they were enemies.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the music of the battalion of Frankfort broke out, coming from
+the further side of the town. It met the Prussians at the top of the
+Zeil, drew up in ranks and presented arms to the beating of the drums.</p>
+
+<p>The Prussians did not appear to notice these friendly advances. Two
+cannons arrived at a gallop. One was trained on the Zeil, the other on
+the Ross-market. The head of the Prussian column was formed on the
+Schiller Square and commanded the Zeil: for a quarter-of-an-hour the
+cavalry remained in line on horseback, then they dismounted and stood
+awaiting orders. This kind of encampment during which expectation grew
+tenser lasted until eleven. Then, all at once as the clocks struck,
+groups of ten, fifteen, or twenty men detached themselves, struck on the
+doors and invaded the houses.</p>
+
+<p>No order had been given in the town for the provision of rations and
+wine. So the Prussians, treating Frankfort as a conquered world, chose
+the most comfortable houses in which to establish themselves.</p>
+
+<p>The battalion remained a quarter-of-an-hour presenting arms; after which
+the commanding officer ordered muskets to be grounded. The band
+continued to play. It was ordered to cease.</p>
+
+<p>After two hours, as no word had been exchanged between the battalion and
+the Prussian army, the former received the order to retire, arms lowered
+as for a funeral. It was the funeral of Frankfort's liberty.</p>
+
+<p>The whole night passed in the same terrors as if the town had been taken
+by assault. If doors opened slowly, they were broken; cries of terror
+were heard in the houses and no one dared to ask what caused them. As
+the house of Hermann Mumm appeared one of the most important, he had to
+lodge and board two hundred soldiers and fifteen officers this first
+night. Another house, that of Madame Luttereth, lodged fifty men, who
+amused themselves with breaking the windows and furniture, on the
+alleged pretext that she had given evening parties and balls without
+inviting the Prussian officers in garrison. Accusations of this kind,
+accusations which served as the pretext for unheard of violence were
+preferred against all classes of society. And the Prussian officers said
+to their men: "You have a right to get all you can from these Frankfort
+rascals, who have lent Austria twenty-five millions without charging
+interest."</p>
+
+<p>It was vain to say that the town had never had twenty-five millions in
+its coffers; that had it had them such a loan could not have been made
+without a decree of the Senate and the Legislature, and that the most
+skilful investigator would fail to find a trace of such a decree. The
+officers persisted, and, as the soldiers had no need to be encouraged in
+a preliminary pillage while waiting the great day of plunder which had
+been promised them, they gave themselves up to the most brutal
+disorders, believing themselves authorized by the hatred of their chiefs
+towards the unhappy town. From this night commenced what was rightly
+called <i>the Prussian Terror at Frankfort</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Frederic von Bülow, who knew of the orders to treat Frankfort as a
+hostile city, had had a guard placed at the Chandroz' house to secure
+the safety of the family, his pretext being that it had been reserved
+for General Sturm and his staff.</p>
+
+<p>Daylight dawned and presently, few having slept, all the world was
+abroad, lamenting their misfortune and enquiring about those suffered by
+their friends. Then came the billstickers slowly and unwillingly, like
+men under constraint, fixing up the following notice:</p>
+
+
+<blockquote><p>"Authority having been given me over the Duchy of Nassau, the town
+of Frankfort and its suburbs, as also over that part of Bavaria
+which is occupied by the Prussian troops and over the Grand-duchy
+of Hesse, all workmen and functionaries will in future take orders
+from me. These orders will be duly and formally communicated.</p>
+
+<p>"Dated at Frankfort, July 16th, 1866,</p>
+
+<p>
+"The Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Main,<br />
+"Falkenstein."<br />
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Two hours later the general addressed a note to the Deputies Fellner and
+Müller, in which he stated that as armies at war could procure what they
+had need of in the enemy's country, the town of Frankfort would furnish
+to the army of the Main:</p>
+
+<p>"1. For each soldier a pair of boots to sample.</p>
+
+<p>"2. Three hundred good horses ready saddled to replace those lost by the
+army.</p>
+
+<p>"3. The pay of the army for a year to be sent instantly to the army
+treasurer."</p>
+
+<p>By way of recompense the town was to be freed from all imposts, except
+cigars, the general engaging furthermore to reduce the burden of the
+military billeting as much as possible.</p>
+
+<p>The total claimed for army pay was 7,747,008 florins.</p>
+
+<p>The two members hastened to General Falkenstein's headquarters, and were
+admitted to him. His first words were:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sirs, have you brought my money?"</p>
+
+<p>"We beg leave to submit to your Excellency," said Fellner, "that we
+have no authority to decree payment of such a sum, as the government of
+the town having been dissolved, its consent cannot be obtained."</p>
+
+<p>"That does not concern me," said the general, "I have conquered the
+country and I raise an indemnity. It is perfectly regular."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you allow me to say to your Excellency that a town which does not
+defend itself cannot be conquered. Frankfort, a free town, relies for
+its defence on its treaties, and has never thought of opposing your
+army."</p>
+
+<p>"Frankfort has found twenty-four millions for the Austrians," cried the
+general, "and can easily find fifteen or eighteen for us. But if it
+refuses, I myself will find them. Four hours only of pillage and we
+shall see if your street of the Jews and the coffers of your bankers do
+not produce twice as much."</p>
+
+<p>"I doubt, general," said Fellner coldly, "whether Germans can be got to
+treat Germans in such a way."</p>
+
+<p>"Who speaks of Germans? I have a Polish regiment brought expressly."</p>
+
+<p>"We have done no harm to the Poles; we have afforded them a refuge
+against you whenever they required it. The Poles are not our enemies;
+the Poles will not pillage Frankfort."</p>
+
+<p>"That is just what we are going to see," said the general, stamping his
+foot with one of those oaths of which the Prussians enjoy the monopoly.
+"I don't care a damn if I am called a second Duke of Alva, and I warn
+you that if at six o'clock to-day the money is not paid, you will be
+arrested to-morrow and thrown into a dungeon, which you will leave only
+when the last thaler of the 7,747,008 florins is paid."</p>
+
+<p>"We know your first minister's maxim, 'Might is right.' Dispose of us as
+you wish," answered Fellner.</p>
+
+<p>"At five o'clock, the men whom I shall order to receive the seven
+million florins will be at the door of the bank, in readiness to
+transport the money to my headquarters." Then he added so that the
+burgomaster could hear the orders: "Arrest and bring before me, the
+Journalist Fischer, editor in chief of the 'Post Zeitung.' I shall
+commence with him in dealing with the newspaper men and the newspapers."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Two hours later Fischer was arrested in his house where, after a
+communication from Fellner he had remained in expectation of the event,
+and brought to headquarters. General Falkenstein had contrived to keep
+himself at boiling point, so the moment he saw Fischer:</p>
+
+<p>"Let him enter," he said, in the third person, which in Germany is the
+sign of the most profound contempt. And, as Fischer did not enter as
+quickly as the general wished, he cried: "A thousand thunders! if he
+hangs back, shove him in."</p>
+
+<p>"Here I am," said Fischer; "forewarned of your intention I could have
+left Frankfort, but it is my custom to face danger."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! so you knew that you would be in danger, Mr. Pocket-pen, when you
+reached me."</p>
+
+<p>"An unarmed man is always in danger from a powerful armed enemy."</p>
+
+<p>"You consider me your enemy, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"The indemnity you have exacted from Frankfort and your threats against
+Herr Fellner are not those of a friend, you will allow."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! you have no need to await my threats and orders to declare yourself
+my enemy. We know your paper, and it is because we know it that you are
+going to sign the following declaration. Sit down there, take a pen, and
+write."</p>
+
+<p>"I take a pen; but, before using it, what are you about to dictate?"</p>
+
+<p>"You want to know? Well, here it is. I, Dr. Fischer Goullet, Councillor
+of State, editor in chief.... But you are not writing."</p>
+
+<p>"Finish your sentence, sir, and if I decide to write I will do so."</p>
+
+<p>"Editor-in-chief of the 'Post Zeitung,' acknowledge myself guilty of
+systematic and calumnious hostility towards the Prussian Government."</p>
+
+<p>Fischer threw down the pen.</p>
+
+<p>"I will never write that, sir," said he; "it is false."</p>
+
+<p>"Tempests and thunders!" cried the general, making a step towards him.
+"You give me the lie."</p>
+
+<p>Fischer took a newspaper from his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"This will inform you better than I can, sir," he said; "it is the last
+issue of my paper published an hour before your entry here. This is what
+I wrote in it:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"'The history of the days which are to come is written at the point
+of the bayonet. It is not for the citizens of Frankfort to change
+anything. For the population of a small and weak state there is
+nothing else to do but to succour the combatants, whether friends
+or enemies: they must dress wounds, nurse the sick, exercise
+charity towards all. Right behaviour is as much the duty of every
+one as obedience towards the responsible authority.'" </p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Then, seeing the general shrugging his shoulders, Fischer in his turn
+took a step forward and holding out his paper:</p>
+
+<p>"Read yourself, if you doubt me," said he.</p>
+
+<p>The general tore it from his hands.</p>
+
+<p>"You wrote that yesterday," he said white with rage, "because yesterday
+you felt us coming, because, yesterday, you were afraid of us." And
+tearing up the newspaper he crushed it into a ball and threw it in the
+Councillor's face, shouting; "You are a coward."</p>
+
+<p>Fischer threw a wild glance around him as if for a weapon with which to
+avenge this insult; then with his hand to his forehead he staggered,
+turned round with a strangled cry and fell in a heap, killed by the
+bursting of a blood vessel in the brain.</p>
+
+<p>The general went to him, pushed him with his foot, and seeing that he
+was dead:</p>
+
+<p>"Throw this rascal into a corner," said he to his soldiers, "until his
+family comes to fetch him."</p>
+
+<p>The soldiers dragged the corpse into a corner of the ante-room.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Fellner, fearing that harm would befall his friend, had run
+to Hannibal Fischer, the journalist's father, and had told him of the
+general's orders. Hannibal Fischer was an old man of eighty, he went to
+the headquarters and asked for his son. The son had been seen going up
+to the first floor where General Falkenstein held his audiences, but no
+one had seen him leave. The old man went up and asked for the general.
+He had gone to lunch and his door was closed.</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down there," said some one, "he may return."</p>
+
+<p>"Cannot you tell him that it is a father who claims his son?"</p>
+
+<p>"What on?" asked one of the soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>"My son, Councillor Fischer, who was arrested this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, it is the father," said the soldier to his comrade.</p>
+
+<p>"If he wants his son, let him take him," said the other.</p>
+
+<p>"How, take him?" said the old man, bewildered.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly," answered the soldier. "There he is waiting for you." And
+he pointed to the corpse in the corner.</p>
+
+<p>The father approached the body, knelt on one knee and raised his son's
+head.</p>
+
+<p>"Then they have killed him?" he asked the soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed, he died of his own accord."</p>
+
+<p>The father kissed the corpse on the forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"These are unhappy days," he said, "in which fathers bury their
+children."</p>
+
+<p>Then he went down, called a street porter, sent him for three of his
+mates, mounted again to the ante-chamber and showing them the body:</p>
+
+<p>"Take my son," he said, "and bear him to my house." The men took the
+body on their shoulders and bore him to a barrow. The father walked
+before it bare-headed and pale, his eyes bathed in tears; and to all who
+questioned him about this strange procession, carrying a dead man
+through the town without a priest, replied: "It is my son, Councillor
+Fischer, whom the Prussians have killed." And thus the news spread over
+Frankfort.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII</h4>
+
+<h3>GENERAL MANTEUFFEL'S THREATS</h3>
+
+
+<p>At five o'clock in the afternoon of July 17th, as the general had said,
+he sent to the bank a squad of eight men under the command of a
+sergeant-major, accompanied by two men with wheel-barrows for the seven
+million florins. His notion of the weight of the coin, which in gold
+would amount to more than fifty tons, must have been a curious one.
+Seeing his men return without the money, General Falkenstein declared
+that if it were not forthcoming the next day he would permit pillage and
+bombardment. Meanwhile the members Bernus and Speltz were arrested and
+conducted to the guard-room, when, having left them in view behind the
+bars for two hours to convince every one of his power over the town
+authorities, he sent them off to Cologne with four soldiers and a letter
+for the governor.</p>
+
+<p>This act of brutality had its effect. It alarmed a great many
+influential people who went to find the bank manager and urge him to
+advance the seven millions demanded. The directors of the bank gave way
+and the money was paid to the last florin on July 19th.</p>
+
+<p>The same day the city battalion was disbanded in the presence of the
+Prussian Colonel von der Goltz. The soldiers had not expected this, and
+some of the oldest of them shed tears.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time, the Prussians took their fill of the townspeople's
+horses. They requisitioned seven hundred, including two little ponies of
+Madame de Rothschild. The carriages were then seized, and if a lady
+happened to take a cab she was obliged when she met an officer in search
+of one, to get out in the mud and leave him to take her place.</p>
+
+<p>Two orders were circulated. The first enjoined the presentation at the
+police station every morning, before eight o'clock, of a list of all
+travellers who had arrived in the hotels and boarding-houses.</p>
+
+<p>Many societies formed for divers purposes such as gymnastics, education,
+and the like, were called before the commander-in-chief and dissolved.
+Such of them as had for object military exercises were invited to
+deposit their arms. Finally the general addressed to the presidents of
+the societies some kindly words upon the necessity of the measures
+taken, and upon the actual situation in general. You ask me how kindly
+words could be uttered by M. de Falkenstein. Reassure yourself, the
+illustrious general had not altered his habits. Having received his
+millions at two o'clock he had at once left Frankfort. General Wranzel
+acted as his deputy for two or three hours and showed a smiling face
+between two morose ones, for at five o'clock, General Manteuffel
+arrived. He at once issued the following order:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"To assure the subsistence of the Prussian troops a storehouse will
+be at once established in this town of Frankfort-on-the-Main, by
+order of His Excellency the Lieutenant-General Manteuffel,
+commander-in-chief of the army of the Main. It will be provisioned
+as follows:</p>
+
+<pre>
+15.000 loaves of bread of 5 lbs. 9 ozs.
+ 1,480 hundredweight of sea biscuits.
+   600      "        of beef.
+   800      "        of smoked bacon.
+   450      "        of rice.
+   450      "        of coffee.
+   100      "        of salt.
+ 5,000      "        of hay.
+</pre>
+
+<p>"A third part of these quantities is to be placed at our disposal
+in convenient places between now and the morning of the 21st. The
+second third on the 21st in the evening, and the last third on July
+22nd at the latest.</p>
+
+<p>"Frankfort, July 20th, 1866.</p>
+
+<p>"The Military Superintendent of the army of the Main.</p>
+
+<p>
+"KASUISKIL"<br />
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>The unhappy townspeople had believed themselves free from these imposts
+according to General Falkenstein's promise&mdash;except, indeed, as regards
+cigars, of which both the Prussian officers and men required nine
+provided each day.</p>
+
+<p>The next day, while at breakfast with his family towards ten o'clock,
+Fellner received a letter from the new commander. It was addressed: "To
+the Very Illustrious Herren Fellner and Müller, proxies of the town of
+Frankfort." He turned it and turned it about between his hands without
+unsealing it. Madame Fellner trembled, Herr Kugler, his brother-in-law,
+grew pale, and seeing the drops of perspiration on their father's
+forehead as he sighed deeply, the children began to cry. At last he
+opened it, but seeing his pallor as he read, all rose to their feet
+awaiting his first words. But he said nothing, he let his head fall on
+his breast and dropped the letter on the floor. His brother-in-law
+picked it up and read:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"To the Very Illustrious Herren Fellner and Müller, proxies of the
+government in this town.</p>
+
+<p>"You are invited by these presents to take the necessary measures
+for a war indemnity of twenty-five millions of florins to be paid
+within twenty-four hours to the pay office of the Army of the Main
+in this town.</p>
+
+<p>"The Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Main,</p>
+
+<p>
+"MANTEUFFEL"<br />
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>"Oh!" murmured Fellner, "my poor Fischer, you are fortunate."</p>
+
+
+<p>Within two hours bills which Messrs. Fellner and Müller had had printed
+were posted all over the town. They consisted of General Manteuffel's
+letter to them with this addition:</p>
+
+<p>"The Burgomasters Fellner and Müller declare that they will die rather
+than assist in the spoliation of their fellow citizens."</p>
+
+<p>The blow to the city was the more terrible because it was entirely
+unexpected. The city had just paid more than six millions of florins,
+had contributed in goods an equivalent sum, and was billeting soldiers
+at a crushing expense. Some had ten, others twenty, thirty, or even
+fifty soldiers. General Falkenstein had prescribed the soldiers' rations
+as for the officers, they were entitled to anything they asked for. A
+soldier's daily rations comprised, coffee and accessories in the
+morning; a pound of meat, vegetables, bread, and half a bottle of wine
+at noon; a collation with a pint of beer in the evening, in addition
+eight cigars. These cigars had to be specially bought from the dealers
+coming with the army. Usually the soldiers demanded and got an extra
+meal at ten in the morning of bread-and-butter and brandy, and after
+lunch they got coffee. The sergeant-majors had to be treated like
+officers, being provided with roast meat and a bottle of wine at dinner,
+with coffee to follow. Havana cigars, eight in number, were insisted on.</p>
+
+<p>The citizens dared not complain, for the soldiers whatever they did were
+always found to be in the right. But when they heard of this new
+exaction of General Manteuffel, used as they were to theft and rapine on
+the part of the Prussians, the Frankfortians, mute with astonishment,
+looked at each other, not being able to grasp the extent of their
+misfortune. As soon as the news was actually billed they rushed in
+crowds to see it with their own eyes. Hours were spent in deploring the
+enemy's greed, but nothing was done towards obeying the order.
+Meanwhile, some of the chief citizens, M. de Rothschild among them, had
+gone to seek General Manteuffel. In reply to their observations he said:</p>
+
+<p>"To-morrow my cannon will be trained upon all the chief points of the
+town, and if in three days I have not half of the contribution, and the
+rest in six, I double it."</p>
+
+<p>"General," answered M. de Rothschild, "you know the range of your
+cannons I do not doubt, but you do not know that of the measures you are
+taking&mdash;if you ruin Frankfort, you ruin the neighbouring provinces."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, gentlemen," answered Manteuffel, "the contribution, or
+pillage and bombardment."</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the intervention of the foreign legations, those of France,
+Russia, England, Spain, and Belgium, on July 23rd, masses of troops were
+put in movement with loaded cannon. These were ranged on the chief
+spaces in the town. At the same time batteries were established on the
+Muhlberger and the Roederberg, as also on the left bank of the Main.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX</h4>
+
+<h3>GENERAL STURM</h3>
+
+
+<p>Brigadier-General Roeder, who had replaced General Manteuffel, had
+brought with him General Sturm and his brigade. Baron von Bülow was the
+principal staff officer of this brigade, and, as we have related, on the
+day the Prussians entered Frankfort he had safeguarded the Chandroz
+family, by placing four men and a serjeant-major in their house. The
+serjeant-major bore a letter for Madame von Beling, informing her why
+she was thus garrisoned and urging her to prepare the best rooms on her
+first floor for General Sturm and his suite. Madame von Beling acted on
+these instructions, and the men had better rations and cigars supplied
+to them than if the municipality had catered for them.</p>
+
+<p>After the surgeon's departure Karl lay still unconscious, but his
+breathing gradually became more perceptible. Towards evening he uttered
+a sigh, opened his eyes, and by a slight movement of his left hand
+seemed to beckon Helen. She rushed to him, seized his hand and placed
+her lips upon it. Benedict wished her to retire, promising to watch over
+Karl, but Helen refused, saying that no one but herself should nurse
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict being desirous of ridding himself of the sailor's clothes in
+which he had descended the river before General Sturm arrived, and
+having no other suit, left the house to get a new outfit. Lenhart was at
+the front door with his carriage and, driving to the port, he soon found
+Fritz and his boat. There was his uniform, with his pistols and carbine.
+He took them and put them in the carriage. Frisk, who had spent the day
+incessantly watching for his master, joyfully jumped in. Benedict gave
+Fritz twenty florins and sent him back to Aschaffenburg. Then Lenhart
+took him to a tailor where he had no difficulty in obtaining an outfit.
+Next he took a bath. He had fought during the whole of the 14th and had
+not closed his eyes during thirty-six hours, so he found it refreshing.
+Afterwards he allowed Lenhart to take him to his own house, and there he
+got between the sheets.</p>
+
+<p>When he awoke it was ten o'clock; he had slept for six hours. He rushed
+to the Chandrozes. He found Helen as he had left her kneeling by Karl's
+bed. She raised her head and smiled. She also had not slept for thirty
+hours, but the devotion of women knows no bounds. Nature has intended
+them for sisters of charity. Love is as strong as life itself.</p>
+
+<p>Karl seemed to sleep; it was evident that, as no blood flowed to it, the
+brain was in a state of torpor; but every time a spoonful of syrup of
+digitalis was placed in his mouth he absorbed it better. Benedict's work
+was to renew the ice which dripped upon the arm, washing the wound made
+first by the cuirassier's sabre and then by the doctor's lancet.</p>
+
+<p>Towards eight in the morning Emma came into the room for news of the
+wounded man. She found Helen asking Benedict for more ice. He was an
+entire stranger to Emma, but by a flash of intuition she guessed him to
+be the man who had spared her husband's life. She was thanking him when
+Hans came to announce Fellner. The worthy man was afraid that the
+Prussians would break into the house, and came to offer his services.</p>
+
+<p>While they were talking, Frederic arrived with the news that his general
+was only five minutes behind him.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing can describe Emma's joy and happiness in seeing Frederic. The
+war was nearly over, rumours of peace became stronger, her Frederic was
+then out of danger. Love is egoistic, scarcely had she thought of what
+was happening in the city; the entry of the Prussians, their exactions,
+their imposts, their brutalities, the death of Herr Fischer; all these
+seemed vague&mdash;a letter from Frederic had been the important event.
+Frederic: it was he whom she embraced. He was safe and sound, unwounded,
+and no longer in danger. Keenly interested as she was in her sister and
+Karl and their mutual love, she felt how fortunate Frederic was that he
+was not Karl.</p>
+
+<p>Frederic went up to Karl, who recognized him and smiled.</p>
+
+<p>While General Sturm ate a splendid dinner, Frederic, to whom Benedict
+had whispered a few words about the behaviour of the Prussians at
+Frankfort, went out to judge for himself. He was told that the Senate
+was sitting and he went in. The Senate declared that the demand made
+upon it being impossible of fulfilment it submitted itself to the
+general's clemency.</p>
+
+<p>On leaving the Senate, Frederic saw the cannon trained on the town, the
+crowds round all the posted bills. He saw besides, entire families
+driven from their homes by the Prussians, bivouacking on the open
+spaces. The men were swearing, the women were in tears. A mother was
+calling for vengeance, as she tended her child of ten, through whose arm
+a bayonet had been thrust. Without knowing what he did the unfortunate
+child had followed a Prussian, singing the song that the people of
+Sachsenhausen had made on the Prussians:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Warte, kuckuck, warte</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Bald kommt Bonaparte</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Der wird alles wieder holen</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Was ihr hobt bei uns gestohlen.<a name="FNanchor_1_4" id="FNanchor_1_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_4" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The Prussian had used his bayonet on the lad. But instead of consoling
+the mother and calling for vengeance with her, the passers-by had signed
+to her to be quiet, to dry her tears and wipe the blood away; so great
+was the general terror.</p>
+
+<p>The Prussians, however, had not everywhere had a like experience. One of
+them lodging with a man of Sachsenhausen, to frighten him had drawn his
+sabre and placed it on the table. The man without offering any remark
+had gone out and returned within five minutes with an iron trident,
+which he in his turn put on the table. "What does this signify?" the
+Prussian had asked. "Well," was the reply, "you wanted to show me that
+you had a fine knife, and I have wanted to convince you that I have a
+fine fork." The Prussian had taken the joke badly, he had tried to make
+play with his sabre and had been transfixed to the wall with the
+trident.</p>
+
+<p>Passing by Hermann Mumm's house, the baron noticed him sitting at his
+door, his head buried in his hands. He touched him on the shoulder. Mumm
+looked up.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that you?" he said, "and have you pillagers also?"</p>
+
+<p>"Pillagers?" asked Frederic.</p>
+
+<p>"Come and see! Look at my china which my family for three generations
+has collected&mdash;all broken. My cellar is empty, and naturally so, for I
+have been lodging two hundred soldiers and fifteen officers. Listen to
+them!" And Frederic heard shouts from within of "wine, more wine! or we
+blow the place to pieces with cannon balls!"</p>
+
+<p>He went into the house. Poor Mumm's fine house looked like a stable. The
+floors were covered with wine, straw, and filth. Not a window remained
+whole, not an article of furniture was unbroken.</p>
+
+<p>"Look at my poor tables," said the unhappy Mumm. "At them have sat for
+over a century the best people of Frankfort; yes, the king, many
+princes, and the members of the Diet have dined at them. Not a year ago
+Frau and Fräulein von Bismarck complimented me on the collation I gave
+them. And now, days of horror and desolation have come, and Frankfort is
+lost."</p>
+
+<p>Frederic was powerless and could only leave the place. He well knew that
+neither General Roeder nor General Sturm would stop the pillaging.
+Roeder was ruthless, Sturm was mad. He was an old style Prussian
+general, who when opposed struck down the obstacle.</p>
+
+<p>Presently he met Baron von Schele, the postmaster-general. Since the
+entry of the Prussians he had received the order to institute a
+censorship, unsealing letters and drawing up reports upon those who
+discovered hostile feelings to the Prussian government. He had refused
+to obey, and, his successor having arrived from Berlin, the censorship
+was in operation. Von Schele, who looked on Frederic as a Frankfortian
+rather than a Prussian, told him all this and invited him and his
+friends to resist.</p>
+
+<p>He reached Fellner's with a broken heart and found all the family in
+despair. Fellner had just received the official intimation of the
+refusal of the chief commercial houses to pay the millions demanded by
+the Prussians and the decree of the Senate in the matter. Although as a
+member of the Senate he knew its contents, he was re-reading it
+mechanically, while his wife and children sobbed around him, for all
+feared what excesses the Prussians might commit on receipt of the
+refusal. While they sat together, Fellner was informed of the decision
+just come to by the Legislative Assembly, that a deputation should be
+sent to the king to obtain the remission of the imposition of
+twenty-five millions of florins exacted by General Manteuffel.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah," said Frederic, "if only I could see the King of Prussia."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?" said Fellner, catching at a straw.</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible, my dear Fellner, I am only a soldier. When a general
+commands I must obey. But, if the millions are going to be found, my
+family will contribute its share."</p>
+
+<p>Being powerless to assist Fellner, he left him and had walked a few
+steps when a soldier saluted and asked him to proceed to General Sturm
+who was waiting for him.</p>
+
+<p>General Sturm was a biggish, strongly made man of about two and fifty.
+He had a small head, with a high brow. His round face was red and when
+he was angry, which was often, it became crimson. His large eyes were
+almost always injected with blood, and he glared with fixed pupils when,
+as invariably was the case, he wished to be obeyed. All this, with his
+big mouth, thin lips, yellow teeth, menacing eyebrows, aquiline nose,
+and thick, short red neck, made him a formidable looking man. His voice
+was loud and penetrating, his gestures commanding, his movements
+brusque and rapid. He walked with long strides, he despised danger, but
+nevertheless seldom encountered any unless it was worth his while.</p>
+
+<p>He had a passion for plumes, red, waving colours, the smell of powder,
+of gaming; he was as brusque in his words as in his movements; violent
+and full of pride he brooked contradictions ill and readily flew into a
+passion. Then his face grew a crimson-violet, his grey eyes became
+golden and seemed to emit sparks. At such times, he completely forgot
+all the decencies of life, he swore, he insulted, he struck.
+Nevertheless he had some common sense, for knowing that he must from
+time to time have duels to fight, he spent his spare time in sword
+exercise and pistol shooting with the <i>maître-d'armes</i> of the regiment.
+And it must be allowed that he was a first-rate performer with both
+weapons; and, not only so, he had what was called "an unfortunate hand,"
+and where another would have wounded slightly he wounded badly, and
+frequently he killed his adversary. This had happened ten or twelve
+times. His real name was <i>Ruhig</i>, which means peaceful, so inappropriate
+to its owner that he received the surname of <i>Sturm</i>, meaning storm or
+tempest. By this name he was always known. He had made a reputation for
+ferocity in the war against the Bavarians in 1848-49.</p>
+
+<p>When Frederic presented himself he was relatively calm. Sitting in a
+great chair, and it was rare for him to be seated, he almost smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, it is you," he said. "I was asking for you. General Roeder was
+here. Where have you been?"</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me, general," Frederic answered. "I had gone to my mother-in-law
+for news of one of my friends, who was seriously wounded in the battle."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! yes," said the general, "I heard about him&mdash;an Austrian. It is too
+good of you to enquire about such imperial vermin. I should like to see
+twenty-five thousand of them lying on the battlefield, where I would let
+them rot from the first man to the last."</p>
+
+<p>"But, your Excellency, he was a friend&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, very well&mdash;the matter is not in question. I am satisfied with you,
+baron," said General Sturm, in the same voice in which another man would
+have said "I loathe you!" "and I wish to do something for you."</p>
+
+<p>Frederic bowed.</p>
+
+<p>"General Roeder was asking for a man with whom I am well pleased, to
+carry to His Majesty King William I, whom God preserve, the two Austrian
+and Hessian flags taken by us in the battle of Aschaffenburg. I have
+thought of you, dear baron. Will you accept the mission?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your Excellency," replied Frederic, "nothing could honour or delight me
+more. If you recollect, it was the king who placed me near you; to bring
+me into contact with the king in such circumstances is to do me a favour
+and to do him, I dare hope, a pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you must leave within the hour and not come to me with 'my little
+wife,' or 'my grandmother.' An hour suffices for embracing all the
+grandmothers and all the wives in the world, all sisters and children
+into the bargain. The flags are in the ante-room there. Within the hour
+jump on the train on your way to Bohemia, and to-morrow you will be with
+the king at Sadowa. Here is your letter of introduction to His Majesty.
+Take it."</p>
+
+<p>Frederic took the letter and saluted, his heart full of joy; he had not
+had to ask for leave; as if the general had read, had known his dearest
+wish, he had offered it, and with it had done him a favour of which he
+had not dreamt.</p>
+
+<p>In two bounds he had reached Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear friend," he said, "I leave for Sadowa in an hour, but hesitate
+to say with what object."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me all the same," said Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I am taking the flags captured from the Austrians."</p>
+
+<p>"And you can take them without grieving me; for, if all Prussians were
+like yourself, I should have fought with them and not with the
+Hanoverians and Austrians," said Benedict. "Now go and say your adieux."</p>
+
+<p>He was still embracing his wife and little child, when the same soldier
+who had already been sent to him, called to ask him not to take the
+flags without exchanging a last word with the general.</p>
+
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_4" id="Footnote_1_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_4"><span class="label">[1]</span></a>
+</p>
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Wait, wait a bit, cuckoo,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Bonaparte is coming, who</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Soon will force you to restore</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">All you stole from us before.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX</h4>
+
+<h3>THE BREAKING OF THE STORM</h3>
+
+
+<p>The general received Frederic with the same calm and gracious expression
+as before.</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me for delaying," he said, "after I was so anxious to speed you;
+but I have a little service to ask."</p>
+
+<p>Frederic bowed.</p>
+
+<p>"It is about General Manteuffel's subsidy of twenty-five millions of
+florins. You know about it, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Frederic, "and it is a heavy impost for a poor city with
+some 40,000 inhabitants."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean 72,000," said Sturm.</p>
+
+<p>"No, there are only about 40,000 Frankfortians, the remainder of the
+72,000 counted as natives are strangers."</p>
+
+<p>"What does that matter?" said Sturm, becoming impatient. "The statistics
+say 72,000 and General Manteuffel has made his calculation accordingly."</p>
+
+<p>"But if he has made an error, it seems to me that those who are charged
+with the execution of his order should point it out."</p>
+
+<p>"That is not our affair. We are told 72,000 inhabitants, and 72,000
+there therefore are. We are told 25 million florins, and 25 million
+florins there are also. That is all! Just fancy! the senators have
+declared, that we can burn the town, but they will not pay the subsidy."</p>
+
+<p>"I was present," said Frederic quietly, "and the sitting was admirably
+conducted, with much dignity, calm, and sorrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Ta ta ta ta," said Sturm. "General Manteuffel before leaving gave
+General Roeder the order to get in these millions. Roeder has ordered
+the town to pay them. The Senate has chosen to deliberate; that is its
+own affair. Roeder came round to me about it, it is true; but I told him
+that it was nothing to worry about. I said. 'The chief of my staff
+married in Frankfort; he knows the town like his own land, everyone's
+fortune even to shillings and half-pence. He will indicate five and
+twenty millionaires.' There are twenty-five of them here, are there
+not?"</p>
+
+<p>"More than that," answered Frederic.</p>
+
+<p>"Good; we will commence with them, and if there is a balance the others
+shall supply it."</p>
+
+<p>"And have you reckoned on me to give you the names?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. All I require is twenty-five names and five and twenty
+addresses. Sit down there, my dear fellow, and write them out."</p>
+
+<p>Frederic sat down, took a pen and wrote;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"Honour obliging me to decline to denounce my fellow citizens, I
+beg the illustrious Generals von Roeder and Sturm to obtain the
+desired information elsewhere than from myself.</p>
+
+<p>
+"Frankfort, July 22nd, 1866.<br />
+"FREDERIC BARON VON BÃœLOW."<br />
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+
+<p>Then, rising and bowing low, he put the paper in the general's hands.</p>
+
+<p>"What is this?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Read, it, general," said Frederic.</p>
+
+<p>The general read it, and gave his chief of the staff a side glance.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! ah!" he said, "I see how I am answered when I ask a favour; let me
+see how I am answered when I command. Sit there and write&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Order me to charge a battery, and I will do it, but do not order me to
+become a tax collector."</p>
+
+<p>"I have promised General Roeder to get him the names and addresses and
+have told him that you will supply them. He will send for the list
+directly. What am I to say to him?"</p>
+
+<p>"You will tell him that I have refused to give it."</p>
+
+<p>Sturm crossed his arms and approached Frederic.</p>
+
+<p>"And do you think that I will allow a man under my orders to refuse me
+anything?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think you will reflect that you gave me not only an unjust but a
+dishonouring order and you will appreciate the reason of my refusal. Let
+me go, general, and call a police officer; he will not refuse you, for
+it will be all in his work."</p>
+
+<p>"Baron," replied Sturm, "I considered I was sending the king a good
+servant for whom I asked a reward. I cannot reward a man of whom I have
+to complain. Give me back His Majesty's letter."</p>
+
+<p>Frederic disdainfully tossed the letter on the table. The general's face
+grew purple, livid marks appeared upon it, his eyes flamed.</p>
+
+<p>"I will write to the king," he cried furiously, "and he will learn how
+his officers serve him."</p>
+
+<p>"Write your account, sir, and I will write mine," answered Frederic,
+"and he will see how his generals dishonour him."</p>
+
+<p>Sturm rushed and seized his horsewhip.</p>
+
+<p>"You have said dishonoured, sir. You will not repeat the word, I
+trust?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dishonoured," said Frederic coldly.</p>
+
+<p>Sturm gave a cry of rage and raised his whip to strike his young
+officer, but observing Frederic's complete calm he let it fall.</p>
+
+<p>"Who threatens strikes, sir," Frederic answered, "and it is as if you
+had struck me."</p>
+
+<p>He turned to the table and wrote a few lines. Then he opened the door of
+the ante-room and calling the officers who were there:</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen, he said, I confide this paper to your loyalty. Read what it
+says aloud."</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"I tender my resignation as chief of General Sturm's staff and
+officer in the Prussian army.</p>
+
+<p>"Dated at noon July 22nd, 1866.</p>
+
+<p>
+"FREDERIC VON BÃœLOW."<br />
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>"Which means?" asked Sturm.</p>
+
+<p>"Which means that I am no longer in His Majesty's service nor in yours,
+and that you have insulted me. Gentlemen, this man raised his horsewhip
+over me. And having insulted me, you owe me reparation. Keep my
+resignation, gentlemen, and bear witness that I am free from all
+military duty at the moment I tell this man that he is no longer my
+chief, and consequently that I am not his inferior. Sir, you have
+injured me mortally, and I will kill you, or you will kill me."</p>
+
+<p>Sturm burst out laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"You give your resignation," he said, "well, I do not accept it. Place
+yourself in confinement. Sir," said he, stamping his foot and walking
+towards Frederic, "to prison for fifteen days with you."</p>
+
+<p>"You have no longer the right to give me an order," said Frederic,
+detaching his epaulettes.</p>
+
+<p>Sturm, exasperated, livid, foaming at the mouth, again raised his whip
+upon the chief of his staff, but this time he slashed his cheek and
+shoulder with it. Frederic, who until now had held himself in, uttered a
+cry of rage, made a bound aside and drew his sword.</p>
+
+<p>"Imbecile," shouted Sturm, with a burst of laughter, "you will be shot
+after a court martial."</p>
+
+<p>At this Frederic lost his head completely and threw himself upon the
+general, but he found four officers in his path. One whispered to him:
+"Save yourself; we will calm him."</p>
+
+<p>"And I," said Frederic, "I who have been struck; who will calm me?"</p>
+
+<p>"We give you our word of honour that we have not seen the blow," said
+the officers.</p>
+
+<p>"But <i>I</i> have <i>felt</i> it. And as I have given my word of honour that one
+of us must die, I must act accordingly. Adieu, gentlemen."</p>
+
+<p>Two of the officers trying to follow him:</p>
+
+<p>"Thunders and tempests! gentlemen," called the general after them. "Come
+back; no one leaves this room except this madman who will be arrested by
+the provost marshal."</p>
+
+<p>The officers came back hanging their heads. Frederic burst out of the
+room. The first person he met on the stairs was the old Baroness von
+Beling.</p>
+
+<p>"Gracious heavens! what are you doing with a drawn sword?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>He put the sword in its scabbard. Then he ran to his wife and embraced
+her and the baby.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Ten minutes later an explosion was heard in Frederic's room. Benedict,
+who was with Karl, rushed to it and burst open the door.</p>
+
+<p>Frederic was lying on the floor dead, his forehead shattered by a
+bullet. He had left this note on the table:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"Struck in the face by General Sturm, who has refused to give me
+satisfaction, I could not live dishonoured. My last wish is that my
+wife in her widow's dress should leave this evening for Berlin, and
+there beg from Her Majesty the Queen the remission of the subsidy
+of twenty-five million florins, which the town as I testify is
+unable to pay.</p>
+
+<p>My friend, Benedict Turpin, will, I know, avenge me.</p>
+
+<p>
+"FREDERIC, BARON VON BÃœLOW."<br />
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Benedict had just time to read this when he turned at a cry behind him.
+It was from the poor widow.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict, leaving Emma in her mother's care, went to his room and wrote
+four notes, each in these terms:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"Baron Frederic von Bülow has just shot himself in consequence of
+the insult offered him by General Sturm, who has refused to give
+him satisfaction. His body lies in the house of the Chandroz
+family, and his friends are invited to pay their last respects
+there.</p>
+
+<p>
+"His executor,<br />
+"BENEDICT TURPIN.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"P.S.&mdash;You are asked to make the news of his death known as widely
+and publicly as possible." </p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Having signed them he sent them by Hans to four of Frederic's most
+intimate friends. Then he went down to General Sturm's rooms and sent in
+his name.</p>
+
+<p>The name, "Benedict Turpin," was entirely unknown to General Sturm; he
+had with him the officers who had witnessed the quarrel with Frederic,
+and at once said: "Ask him to come in." Although he knew nothing of what
+had passed the general's face plainly showed traces of furious passion.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict came in.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," he said, "probably you are ignorant of the sequel to the
+occurrence between you and my friend, Frederic von Bülow&mdash;the incident
+which led to your insult. I have to inform you that my friend, since you
+refused to give him satisfaction, has blown out his brains."</p>
+
+<p>The general started in spite of himself. The officers, dismayed, looked
+at each other.</p>
+
+<p>"My friend's last wishes are recorded on this piece of paper. I will
+read them."</p>
+
+<p>The general, seized with nervous tremor, sat down.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict read, speaking courteously and calmly.</p>
+
+<p>"Struck in the face by General Sturm, who has refused to give me
+satisfaction, I could not live dishonoured."</p>
+
+<p>"You hear me, sir?" Benedict asked.</p>
+
+<p>The general made a sign of assent.</p>
+
+<p>"My last wish is that my wife in her widow's dress should leave this
+evening for Berlin, and there beg from Her Majesty the Queen the
+remission of the subsidy of twenty-five million florins which the town,
+as I testify, is unable to pay."</p>
+
+<p>"I have the honour to inform you, sir," added Benedict, "that I am going
+to conduct Madame von Bülow to Berlin."</p>
+
+<p>General Sturm got up.</p>
+
+<p>"One moment," said Benedict. "There is a final line to read, and you
+will see it is of some importance."</p>
+
+<p>"My friend, Benedict Turpin, will, I know, avenge me."</p>
+
+<p>"Which means, sir?" said, the general, while the officers stood
+breathlessly by.</p>
+
+<p>"Which means, that you shall hear from me immediately respecting the
+time and place and weapons, for I mean to kill you and so avenge
+Frederic von Bülow."</p>
+
+<p>And Benedict, saluting first the general and then the young officers,
+left the room before they had recovered from their surprise.</p>
+
+<p>When he gained the other room, Emma, who had read her husband's last
+words, was already making her preparations for her journey to Berlin.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI</h4>
+
+<h3>THE BURGOMASTER</h3>
+
+
+<p>Two things had principally struck Sturm in Frederic's short will. First;
+the legacy to Benedict of vengeance; but we must do him the justice to
+say that this was a minor consideration. There is an unfortunate error
+amongst military men that courage is only to be found under a uniform,
+and that one must have seen death at close quarters in order not to fear
+it. Now we know that Benedict in this respect was on a level with the
+bravest soldier. Under whatever aspect he encountered death, whether it
+might be at the point of the bayonet, by the talons of a tiger, the
+trunk of an elephant, or the poisonous fang of a serpent; still it was
+death&mdash;the farewell to sunshine, life, love; to all that is glorious and
+all that makes the breast beat high; and in its place, that dark mystery
+which we call the grave. But Sturm did not recognize the threat of
+death, for he was protected by his individual temperament and character
+from perceiving it. He could only recognize an actual menace accompanied
+by shouts, gesticulations, threats, and oaths. And Benedict's extreme
+politeness gave him no idea of serious danger. He supposed, as all
+vulgarians do, that any one who goes duelling with the courtesy of the
+ordinary forms of life is arming at preserving by his politeness a means
+of retreat.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore Frederic's legacy to Benedict troubled him little. But it was
+also prescribed that Madame von Bülow should start for Berlin to beg of
+the queen the remission of the fine imposed upon Frankfort. He decided
+to see General von Roeder without a moment's delay and tell him what had
+occurred.</p>
+
+<p>He found Roeder furious at the Senate's decision. After listening to
+Sturm he determined to have recourse again to his old tactics. He took a
+pen and wrote:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"To Herren Fellner and Müller, burgomasters of Frankfort and
+government administrators.</p>
+
+<p>"I have to request you to supply me by ten o'clock to-morrow
+morning with a list of the names and addresses of all members of
+the Senate, of the permanent house of representation, and of the
+Legislative Assembly, house-property owners being identified as
+such.</p>
+
+<p>
+"VON ROEDER.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"P.S.&mdash;Scales for weighing gold are waiting at General von Roeder's
+address. An answer to this despatch is requested." </p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Then he directed an orderly to deliver the document to Fellner as the
+senior burgomaster. Fellner was not at home. He had just received
+Benedict's sad tidings; and being one of Frederic's most intimate
+friends had hastened to the Chandroz' house, telling the news to all
+whom he met on the way.</p>
+
+<p>In less time than it takes to relate, the fact of Frederic's death burst
+upon the town, and its leading citizens, scarcely able to credit it,
+flocked to the room where his body lay.</p>
+
+<p>Fellner was astonished at not seeing Emma; heard that she had gone to
+Berlin, and was asking the cause of this incomprehensible step when
+Councillor Kugler burst in, General Roeder's letter in his hand.
+Fellner opened it at once, read it, meditated; and approaching the bier
+gazed at his dead friend. After a few seconds of contemplation, he
+stooped, kissed the forehead, and murmured: "It is not only the soldier
+who knows how to die."</p>
+
+<p>Then he slowly left the house, crossed the town with bent head, reached
+the house and shut himself up in his room. Supper time came. Supper is
+an important meal in Germany. It is the cheerful repast, at which, in
+commercial towns especially, the head of the family has time to enjoy
+the society of his wife and children; for dinner at two o'clock is only
+an interval hastily snatched in business hours. But by eight, o'clock
+business people have thrown off their harness; the hour of domestic
+pleasure has come. Before refreshing sleep descends to prepare men for
+another day there is an interval in which to enjoy all that they hold
+dear within the four walls of home.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing of the sort was possible on this evening of July 22nd at the
+Fellners'. The burgomaster showed perhaps even more than his customary
+fondness for his children, but it was touched with melancholy. His wife,
+whose gaze never left him, was unable to speak a word; tears stood in
+her eyes. The elder children observing their mother's sadness sat
+silent; and the little ones' voices like the chirping of birds, drew for
+the first time no smiling response from their parents.</p>
+
+<p>Herr von Kugler was mournful. He was one of those men who act promptly
+and vigorously, without deviating from the straight course of honour. No
+doubt he had already said to himself: "Were I in his place, this is what
+I should do."</p>
+
+<p>Supper dragged on. All seemed reluctant to rise from the table. The
+children had dropped asleep, no summons having come from the nurse. At
+last, Mina, the eldest girl, went to the piano to close it for the night
+and unconsciously touched the keys.</p>
+
+<p>The burgomaster shivered.</p>
+
+<p>"Come Mina," he said, "play Weber's 'Last Thought'; you know it's my
+favourite."</p>
+
+<p>Mina began to play, and the pure melancholy notes poured forth like
+golden beads dropped on a salver of crystal. The burgomaster propped his
+bowed head in his hands as he listened to that sweet poetic melody, the
+final note of which expired like the last sigh of an angel exiled to
+earth.</p>
+
+<p>Fellner rose and kissed the girl. She exclaimed in alarm:</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter with you, father? you are crying."</p>
+
+<p>"I?" said Fellner quickly. "What nonsense, my child," and he tried to
+smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" murmured Mina, "you can say what you like, father, but I felt a
+tear; and see," she added, "my cheek is wet."</p>
+
+<p>Fellner put a hand on her mouth. Mina kissed it.</p>
+
+<p>At this the father nearly gave way, but Kugler murmured in his ear:</p>
+
+<p>"Be a man, Fellner!" He grasped his brother-in-law's hand.</p>
+
+<p>Eleven o'clock struck&mdash;never except for a dance or evening party had the
+family sat up so late. Fellner kissed his wife and the children.</p>
+
+<p>"But, surely you are not going out?" said Madame Fellner.</p>
+
+<p>"No, my dear."</p>
+
+<p>"Your kiss was like a goodbye."</p>
+
+<p>"Goodbye for a little while," said the burgomaster, trying to smile.
+"Don't be uneasy, I am going to work with your brother, that is all."</p>
+
+<p>Madame Fellner looked at her brother and he gave a sign of assent. Her
+husband took her to her bed-room door:</p>
+
+<p>"Go to sleep, dear one," he said, "we have much work before us that must
+be done before morning." She stood where she was until she had seen him
+enter her brother's room.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Fellner spent the night in prayer. This simple woman, whose only
+eloquence was to say "I love you," found words to implore God for her
+husband. She prayed so long and ardently, that at length sleep came to
+her where she knelt; for great was her need of it.</p>
+
+<p>When she opened her eyes the first light of the dawn was filtering
+through the window blinds. Everything seems strange, fantastic, at such
+an hour. It is neither night nor day and nothing looks as it does at any
+other time. She gazed around. She felt weak and chilly and afraid. She
+glanced at the bed&mdash;her husband was not there. She rose, but everything
+danced before her eyes. "Is it possible," she thought, "that sleep
+overtook him also while he worked? I must go to him." And, groping her
+way through the passages, which were darker than her own room, she
+reached his. She knocked on the door. There was no answer. She knocked
+louder, but all was silent. A third time she knocked and called her
+husband's name.</p>
+
+<p>Then, trembling with anguish, under a premonition of the sight that
+awaited her, she pushed open the door. Between her and the window, black
+against the sun's first rays, hung her husband's body suspended above an
+overturned chair.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII</h4>
+
+<h3>QUEEN AUGUSTA</h3>
+
+
+<p>All through the night that was so sorrowful for the Fellner family the
+Baroness von Bülow was travelling rapidly to Berlin, where she arrived
+about eight o'clock in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>In any other circumstances she would have written to the queen, asked
+for an audience, and fulfilled all the requirements of etiquette. But
+there was no time to lose; General von Roeder had allowed only
+four-and-twenty hours for the payment of the indemnity. It was due at
+ten o'clock, and in case of refusal the city was threatened with
+immediate pillage and bombardment. Notices at the corners of all the
+streets proclaimed that at ten o'clock on the morrow the general with
+his staff would be waiting in the old Senate Hall to receive the levy.
+There was, indeed, not a moment to lose.</p>
+
+<p>On leaving the train, therefore, Madame von Bülow took a cab and drove
+straight to the Little Palace, where the queen had been living since the
+beginning of the war. There Madame von Bülow asked for the chamberlain,
+Waals, who, as has been said already, was a friend of her husband's; he
+came instantly, and seeing her dressed all in black, cried out:</p>
+
+<p>"Good God! has Frederic been killed?"</p>
+
+<p>"He has not been killed, my dear count, he has killed himself,"
+answered the baroness, "and I want to see the queen without a moment's
+delay."</p>
+
+<p>The chamberlain made no objections. He knew how highly the king valued
+Frederic; he knew, also, that the queen was acquainted with his widow.
+He hastened to go and beg the desired audience. Queen Augusta is known
+throughout Germany for her extreme kindness and her distinguished
+intelligence. No sooner had she heard from her chamberlain that Emma had
+come, dressed in mourning, probably to implore some favour, than she
+exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Bring her in! Bring her in!"</p>
+
+<p>Madame von Bülow was immediately summoned and, as she left the room in
+which she had been waiting, she saw the door of the royal apartments
+open and Queen Augusta waiting for her in the doorway. Without advancing
+another step the baroness bent one knee to the ground. She tried to
+speak, but the only words that escaped her lips were:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Your Majesty!"</p>
+
+<p>The queen came to her and raised her up.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want, my dear baroness?" she asked. "What brings you, and
+why are you in mourning?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am in mourning, Your Majesty, for a man and for a city very dear to
+me, for my husband who is dead, and for my native city which is at
+death's door."</p>
+
+<p>"Your husband is dead! Poor child! Waals told me so, and he added that
+he had killed himself. What can have driven him to such a deed? Some
+injustice must have been done him. Speak, and we will redress it."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not that which brings me, madam; I am not the person to whom my
+husband has left the duty of avenging him; in that respect I need only
+leave God's will and his to take their course; what brings me, madam,
+is the despair of my city upon whose ruin your armies, or rather your
+generals, seem to be resolved."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, my child, and tell me about it," said the queen.</p>
+
+<p>She led Emma into her drawing-room and seated herself beside her; but
+Emma slipped from the sofa and knelt once more before the queen.</p>
+
+<p>"Madam, you know the city of Frankfort."</p>
+
+<p>"I was there last year," said the queen, "and had the kindest possible
+reception."</p>
+
+<p>"May the remembrance of it help my words! General Falkenstein when he
+came to our city began by laying upon it a tax of seven million florins;
+that levy was paid, together with one, about equally heavy, in kind.
+That made fourteen millions already, for a small town of seventy-two
+thousand inhabitants, half of whom were foreigners, and consequently did
+not contribute to the payment."</p>
+
+<p>"And did Frankfort pay it?" asked the queen.</p>
+
+<p>"Frankfort paid it, madam, for that was still possible. But General
+Manteuffel arrived and put on a tax, in his turn, of twenty-five million
+florins. Such a tax, if imposed upon eighteen million subjects, madam,
+would yield more milliards of coin than the whole world contains. Well,
+and at this very hour cannon are planted in the streets and on the
+positions that command the town. If the sum is not paid at ten o'clock
+to-day&mdash;and it will not be paid, madam, it is impossible&mdash;the city will
+be bombarded and given over to pillage, a neutral unwalled city, which
+has no gates, which has not defended itself and cannot defend itself."</p>
+
+<p>"And how comes it, my child," asked the queen, "that you, a woman, have
+taken upon yourself to ask justice for this city? It has a Council."</p>
+
+<p>"It has one no longer, madam; the Council has been dissolved, and two of
+the councillors arrested."</p>
+
+<p>"And the burgomasters?"</p>
+
+<p>"They do not dare to take any step for fear of being shot. God is my
+witness, madam, that I did not put myself forward to come and plead for
+that unhappy city. It was my dying husband who said to me 'Go!' and I
+came."</p>
+
+<p>"But what can be done?" said the queen.</p>
+
+<p>"Your Majesty needs no adviser but your heart. But, I repeat, if by ten
+o'clock to-day, no counter-order comes from the king, Frankfort is
+lost."</p>
+
+<p>"If only the king were here," said the queen.</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks to the telegraph, Your Majesty knows that there are no distances
+now. A telegram from Your Majesty can receive an answer in half-an-hour,
+and in another half-hour that answer can be sent to Frankfort."</p>
+
+<p>"You are right," said Queen Augusta as she went towards a little bureau
+loaded with papers.</p>
+
+<p>She wrote:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"To His Majesty the King of Prussia.</p>
+
+<p>
+"BERLIN, <i>July 23rd</i>, 1866.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"Sire, I approach you to entreat humbly and earnestly that the
+indemnity of twenty-five million florins arbitrarily imposed upon
+the city of Frankfort, which has already paid fourteen millions in
+money and in kind, may be withdrawn.</p>
+
+<p>"Your very humble servant and affectionate wife,</p>
+
+<p>
+"AUGUSTA.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"P.S. Please reply immediately." </p></blockquote>
+
+<p>She handed the paper to Emma who read and returned it. Herr von Waals
+was summoned and came instantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Take this telegram to the telegraph office and wait for the answer. And
+you, my child," continued the queen, "let us think about you. You must
+be worn out, you must be starving."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, madam!"</p>
+
+<p>A second time the queen touched her bell.</p>
+
+<p>"Bring my breakfast here," said she; "the baroness will take some with
+me."</p>
+
+<p>A collation was brought in, which the baroness scarcely touched. At
+every footstep she started, believing it to be that of Herr von Waals.
+At length hurried steps were heard, the door opened and Herr von Waals
+appeared, holding a telegram in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>Emma, forgetful of the queen's presence, rushed towards him, but paused
+half-way, ashamed.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, madam, forgive me," said she.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," replied the queen, "take it and read it."</p>
+
+<p>Emma, trembling, opened the despatch, glanced at it and uttered a cry of
+joy. It contained these words:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"At the request of our beloved consort, the indemnity of
+twenty-five million florins levied by General Manteuffel is
+countermanded. WILLIAM." </p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"Well," said the queen, "to whom should this despatch be sent in order
+that it may arrive in time? You, dear child, are the person who has
+obtained this favour, and the honour of it ought to rest with you. You
+say it is important that the king's decision should be known in
+Frankfort by ten o'clock. Tell me to what person it should be
+addressed."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, madam, I do not know how to make any answer to so much
+kindness," said the baroness, kneeling and kissing the queen's hands. "I
+know that the proper person to whom to send it would be the
+burgomaster; but who can tell whether the burgomaster may not have fled
+or be in prison? I think the safest way&mdash;excuse my egoism, madam&mdash;but if
+you do me the honour of consulting me, I would beg that it may be
+addressed to Madame von Beling, my grandmother; she, very certainly,
+will not lose a moment in putting it into the proper hands."</p>
+
+<p>"What you wish shall be done, my dear child," said the queen, and she
+added to the despatch:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"This favour has been granted to Queen Augusta by her gracious
+consort, King William; but it was asked of the queen by her
+faithful friend, Baroness Frederic von Bülow, her principal
+lady-in-waiting."</p>
+
+<p>
+"AUGUSTA."<br />
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>The queen raised Emma from her knees, kissed her, unfastened from her
+own shoulder the Order of Queen Louisa and fastened it on the baroness's
+shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"As for you," she said, "you need some hours' rest, and you shall not go
+until you have taken them."</p>
+
+<p>"I beg Your Majesty's pardon," replied the baroness, "but two persons
+are waiting for me, my husband and my child."</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, as no train left until one in the afternoon, and as the
+hour could neither be hastened nor retarded, Emma resigned herself to
+waiting.</p>
+
+<p>The queen gave orders that she should receive the same attentions as
+though she were already a lady-in-waiting, made her take a bath and some
+hours' rest, and engaged a carriage for her in the train for Frankfort.</p>
+
+<p>That city, meanwhile, was in consternation. General Roeder, with his
+staff, was waiting in the Council Hall for the payment required; scales
+were ready for the weighing. At nine o'clock the gunners, match alight
+and in hand, came to take their places at the batteries.</p>
+
+<p>The deepest terror prevailed throughout the town. From the arrangements
+which they saw being made, the Frankforters judged that no mercy was to
+be expected from the Prussian generals. The whole population was shut up
+indoors waiting anxiously for the stroke of ten o'clock to announce the
+town's doom.</p>
+
+<p>All at once a terrible rumour began to circulate, that the burgomaster,
+rather than denounce his fellow-citizens, had ended his life&mdash;had hanged
+himself. At a few minutes before ten, a man dressed in black came out of
+Herr Fellner's house; it was his brother-in-law, Herr von Kugler, and he
+held in his hand a rope. He walked straight on, without speaking to
+anybody, or stopping till he reached the Roemer, pushed aside with his
+arm the sentinels who attempted to prevent his passing, and, entering
+the hall in which General von Roeder was presiding, he advanced to the
+scales and threw into one of them the rope that he had been carrying.</p>
+
+<p>"There," said he, "is the ransom of the city of Frankfort."</p>
+
+<p>"What does this mean?" asked General von Roeder.</p>
+
+<p>"This means that, rather than obey you, Burgomaster Fellner hanged
+himself with this rope. May his death fall upon the heads of those who
+caused it."</p>
+
+<p>"But," returned General von Roeder brutally, while he continued to smoke
+his cigar, "the indemnity must be paid all the same."</p>
+
+<p>"Unless," quietly said Benedict Turpin, who had just come in, "King
+William should withdraw it from the city of Frankfort."</p>
+
+<p>And, unfolding the despatch that Madame von Beling had just received,
+he read the whole of it in a loud voice to General von Roeder.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said he, "I advise you to put the twenty-five million florins
+into your profit and loss account. I have the honour to leave you the
+despatch as a voucher."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII</h4>
+
+<h3>THE TWO PROCESSIONS</h3>
+
+
+<p>Two very different pieces of news, one terrible, one joyful, ran
+simultaneously through Frankfort. The terrible news was that the
+burgomaster, who had filled two of the highest positions in the little
+republic now extinct, who was the father of six children and a model of
+the household virtues, had just hanged himself rather than yield to a
+greedy and brutal soldier the secrets of private wealth. The joyful news
+was that, thanks to Madame von Bülow's intervention and to the appeal
+made by the queen to her husband, the city of Frankfort had been
+relieved from the tax of twenty-five million florins.</p>
+
+<p>It will easily be understood that nobody in the town talked of any other
+subject. Astonishment and curiosity were even more aroused owing to the
+occurrence of two mysterious deaths at the same time. People wondered
+how it happened that Frederic von Bülow, after having been insulted by
+his superior officer, should before he shot himself have charged his
+wife with her pious errand to Berlin, seeing that he was no citizen of
+Frankfort, but belonged, body and soul, to the Prussian army. Had he
+hoped to redeem the terrible deeds of violence committed by his
+countrymen? Moreover, the young officers who had been present at the
+quarrel between Frederic and the general had not observed entire silence
+about that quarrel. Many of them were hurt in their pride at being
+employed to execute a vengeance of which the cause lay far back amid the
+obscure resentments of a minister who had once been an ambassador. Those
+who felt this said among themselves that they were acting the part not
+of soldiers but of bailiffs and men-in-possession. They had repeated
+some words of the dispute that had taken place before them and had left
+the rest to be guessed.</p>
+
+<p>Orders had been given prohibiting the printing of any placard without
+the authorization of the officer in command; but every printer in
+Frankfort was ready to contravene the order, and at the very moment when
+Councillor Kugler threw the burgomaster's rope into the scale, a
+thousand unseen and unknown hands were pasting upon the walls of
+Frankfort the following notice.</p>
+
+<p>"At three o'clock our worthy burgomaster Fellner hanged himself and
+became the martyr of his devotion to the city of Frankfort. Citizens,
+pray for him."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict, on his part, had visited the printer of the "Journal des
+Postes" who engaged to furnish, within two hours, two hundred copies of
+the telegrams interchanged by the king and queen. He further undertook,
+on condition that the notices were not unduly large, to get them posted
+by his usual billstickers, who were ready to take the risk of officially
+announcing the good news to their neighbours. Accordingly, two hours
+later, two hundred bills were stuck beside the former ones. They
+contained the following words:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"Yesterday, at two in the afternoon, as is already known, Baron von
+Bülow blew out his brains, in consequence of a quarrel with General
+Sturm, in the course of which the general had insulted him. The
+causes of this quarrel will remain a secret for such people only as
+do not care to solve it.</p>
+
+<p>"One clause of the baron's will instructed Madame von Bülow to go
+to Berlin, and to beg of Her Majesty Queen Augusta that the levy of
+twenty-five million florins, imposed by General Manteuffel, might
+be withdrawn. The baroness paused only long enough to put on
+mourning garments before setting out.</p>
+
+<p>"We are happy to be able to communicate to our fellow-citizens the
+two royal despatches which she sent to us." </p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The crowds that collected before these notices can be imagined. For one
+moment the stir that passed through the whole population assumed the
+aspect of a riot; drums beat, patrols were organized, and the citizens
+received an order to stay at home.</p>
+
+<p>The streets became deserted. The gunners, whose matches, as we have said
+already, had been lighted at ten in the morning, once more stood by
+their cannon with their lighted matches in hand. This sort of threat
+continued for thirty hours. However, as at the end of that time the
+crowds were no longer collecting, as no conflicts took place, and no
+shot was fired, all these hostile demonstrations ceased between the 25th
+and the 26th.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning fresh placards had been stuck up. They contained the
+following notice:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"To-morrow, July 26th, at two in the afternoon the funerals will
+take place of the late burgomaster, Herr Fellner, and of the late
+chief staff officer, Frederic von Bülow.</p>
+
+<p>"Each party will start from the house of mourning and the two will
+unite at the cathedral, where a service will be held for the two
+martyrs.</p>
+
+<p>"The families believe that no invitation beyond the present notice
+will be necessary, and that the citizens of Frankfort will not fail
+in their duty.</p>
+
+<p>"The funeral arrangements for the burgomaster will be in the hands
+of his brother-in-law, Councillor Kugler, and those of Major
+Frederic von Bülow in the hands of M. Benedict Turpin, his
+executor." </p></blockquote>
+
+<p>We will not endeavour to depict the homes of the two bereaved families.
+Madame von Bülow arrived about one o'clock on the morning of the 24th.
+Everybody in the house was up, and all were praying round the deathbed.
+Some of the principal ladies of the town had come and were awaiting her
+return; she was received like an angel bearing the mercies of heaven.</p>
+
+<p>But after a few minutes the pious duty that had brought her so swiftly
+to her husband's side was remembered. Everybody withdrew, and she was
+left alone. Helen, in her turn, was watching by Karl. Twice in the
+course of the day she had gone downstairs, knelt by Frederic's bedside,
+uttered a prayer, kissed his forehead, and gone up again.</p>
+
+<p>Karl was better; he had not yet returned to life, but he was returning.
+His eyes reopened and were, able to fix themselves upon Helen's; his
+mouth murmured words of love, and his hand responded to the hand that
+pressed it. The surgeon, only, still remained anxious, and, while
+encouraging the wounded man, would give Helen no reply; but, when he was
+alone with her, would only repeat in answer to all her questions:</p>
+
+<p>"We must wait! I can say nothing before the eighth or ninth day."</p>
+
+<p>The house of Herr Fellner was equally full of mourning. Everybody who
+had filled any post in the old republic, senators, members of the
+Legislative Assembly, etc., came to salute this dead and just man, and
+to lay on his bed wreaths of oak, of laurel, and <i>immortelles</i>.</p>
+
+<p>From early in the morning of the 26th, as soon as the cannon were
+perceived to have disappeared and the town to be no longer threatened
+with slaughter at any unexpected moment, all the inhabitants congregated
+about the two doors that were hung with black. At ten o'clock all the
+trade guilds met together in the Zeil with their banners, as if for some
+popular festivity of the free town. All the dissolved societies of the
+city came with flags flying&mdash;although they had been forbidden to display
+these ensigns&mdash;determined to live again for one more day. There was the
+Society of Carabineers, the Gymnastic Society, the National Defence
+Society, the new Citizens' Society, the young Militia Society, the
+Sachsenhausen Citizens' Society, and the Society for the Education of
+the Workers. Black flags had been hung out at a great number of houses,
+among others at the casino in the street of Saint Gall, which belonged
+to the principal inhabitants of Frankfort; at the club of the new
+Citizens' Union, situated in the Corn Market, at that of the old
+Citizens' Union in Eschenheim Street, and, finally, at the Sachsenhausen
+Club&mdash;a club of the people, if there ever was one&mdash;belonging to the
+inhabitants of that often mentioned suburb.</p>
+
+<p>A gathering, almost as considerable, was collecting at the corner of the
+Horse Market, near to the High Street. Here, it may be remembered, the
+house was situated which was generally known in the town as the Chandroz
+house, although nobody of that name now existed in it except Helen,
+whose maiden name had not yet been changed for that of a husband. But in
+the street that led to the burgomaster's house, the middle and
+working-classes were assembled, while opposite to the Chandroz house the
+crowd was made up mainly of that aristocracy of birth to which the house
+belonged.</p>
+
+<p>The strangest feature of this second crowd was the number of Prussian
+officers who had assembled to render the last honour to their comrade at
+the risk of displeasing their superiors, Generals Roeder and Sturm.
+These latter had had the good sense to leave Frankfort without making
+any attempt whatever to suppress the display of public feeling.</p>
+
+<p>When Councillor Kugler emerged from the burgomaster's house, following
+the coffin and holding the dead man's two sons by the hand, cries of
+"Hurrah for Madame Fellner! Hurrah for Madame Fellner and her children!"
+rang out, in expression to her of the gratitude felt to her husband. She
+understood this outburst rising to her from so many hearts at once, and
+when she appeared, dressed in black, upon the balcony with her four
+daughters, dressed likewise in black, sobs broke forth and tears flowed
+from every eye.</p>
+
+<p>The same thing happened as Frederic's coffin began its journey; it was
+to Frederic's widow that Frankfort owed its escape from ruin. The cry of
+"Hurrah for Madame von Bülow!" rose from hundreds of throats, and was
+repeated until the fair young widow, wrapped in her draperies of black
+crape, came forward to accept the expression of gratitude offered her by
+the whole town.</p>
+
+<p>Although the officers had received no order to attend Frederic's
+funeral, although neither the drummers who usually precede the coffin of
+a superior officer, nor the soldiers who usually follow it, had been
+commanded to do so, yet, either from their military training or their
+sympathy for the dead man, the drummers were present and so was the
+escort of soldiers when the procession started, and it advanced towards
+the cathedral to the sound of muffled drums. At the agreed point the two
+processions united and went forward side by side, occupying the whole
+width of the street. Only, like two rivers which run parallel, but of
+which the waters do not mingle, the leaders of the two parties walked
+forward. Behind the burgomaster's hearse followed the burghers and the
+populace; behind that of Baron von Bülow the aristocracy and the
+military. For the moment peace appeared to have been made between these
+two populations, one of which weighed so cruelly upon the other that
+only the death of a man universally esteemed could hold them together
+for a few instants, leaving them to fall asunder immediately afterwards
+into mutual hostility.</p>
+
+<p>At the great door of the cathedral the coffins were lifted from the
+hearses and laid side by side. Thence they were borne into the choir,
+but the church had been so filled since early morning by a crowd, eager,
+as the dwellers in large towns always are, for a spectacle, that there
+was scarcely room for the two coffins to pass to the nave. The military
+escort, the drums, and the company of soldiers followed them, but when
+the crowd that accompanied the coffins tried to enter and find a place
+in the building, it was impossible to do so, and more than three
+thousand persons were left in the porch and in the street.</p>
+
+<p>The ceremony began, solemn and lugubrious, accompanied by the occasional
+roll of drums and the sound of gun stocks touching the ground; no one
+could have said to which of the dead these military honours were being
+paid, so that the unfortunate burgomaster had his share in the funeral
+honours bestowed by the very body of men who had caused his death. It is
+true that from time to time the Choral Society sang funeral hymns and
+that the voices of the congregation, rising like a wave, stifled these
+other sounds.</p>
+
+<p>The service was long, and, although it lacked the impressive Roman
+Catholic pomp, it did not fail to produce an immense effect upon those
+who were present. Then the two processions set out for the cemetery, the
+burgomaster attended by funeral chants, the officer by martial music.</p>
+
+<p>The vault of the Chandroz family and that of the burgomaster were at a
+distance from each other, so that the two parties separated. At the
+grave of the civilian there were hymns, speeches, and wreaths of
+<i>immortelles</i>, at that of the officer, firing and wreaths of laurel. The
+double ceremonies were not entirely concluded until the evening, nor did
+the gloomy and silent crowd return until then into its usual channels,
+while the drummers, privates, and officers went to their quarters, if
+not like a hostile troop, at least like a body altogether apart from the
+inhabitants.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict had had in his mind throughout the ceremony the idea of
+presenting himself on the morrow to General Sturm in the character of
+Frederic's executor, and, as such, demanding satisfaction for the insult
+offered to his friend. But when he returned to the house he found Emma
+so overcome, Karl so weak, and the old Baroness von Beling so exhausted
+by age and woe together, as to make him think that the unhappy Chandroz
+family still needed him. Now in such a duel as that which he meant to
+propose to General Sturm, one of the results must inevitably ensue;
+either he would kill the general or the general would kill him. If he
+killed the general, he would clearly have to leave Frankfort that very
+moment, in order to escape the vengeance of the Prussians. If he were
+killed he would become completely useless to the family which seemed in
+need even more of his moral protection than of his material support. He
+determined, therefore, to wait for some days, but promised himself, to
+send his card daily to General Sturm&mdash;and he kept his word. General
+Sturm could thus be sure, every morning, that though he might forget
+Benedict, Benedict did not forget him.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV</h4>
+
+<h3>THE TRANSFUSION OF BLOOD.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Three days had elapsed since the events just narrated. The first bursts
+of grief in the two bereaved households were appeased, and though there
+were still tears there were no longer sobs.</p>
+
+<p>Karl grew better and better; for two days past he had raised himself in
+his bed and had been able to give signs of consciousness, not only by
+broken utterances, tender exclamations, and endearing words, but by
+taking part in conversation. His brain, which like the rest of his body
+had been greatly enfeebled, was gradually recovering the supremacy which
+it exercises over the rest of the body in health.</p>
+
+<p>Helen, who beheld this resurrection, and was at the age when youth gives
+one hand to love and one to hope, rejoiced in this visible recovery as
+though heaven itself had promised that no accident should come to
+disturb it. Twice a day the surgeon visited the wounded man, and without
+destroying Helen's hopes he persisted in withholding any assurance of
+complete safety. Karl saw her hope; but he remarked, too, the reserve
+with which the surgeon received all her joyful schemes for the future.
+He, also, was making schemes, but of a sadder kind.</p>
+
+<p>"Helen," said he, "I know all you have done for me. Benedict has told me
+of your tears, your despair, your weariness. I love you with so selfish
+a love, Helen, that I wish, before I die&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>And as Helen made a movement, he added:</p>
+
+<p>"If I die, I wish first to call you my wife, so that in case there
+exists&mdash;as they tell us, and as our own pride leads us to believe&mdash;a
+world beyond this, I may find my wife there as here. Promise me, then,
+my sweet nurse, that if any one of those accidents that trouble the
+doctor's mind should occur, promise me that you will instantly send for
+a priest, and with your hand in mine say: 'Give us your blessing,
+father, Karl von Freyberg is my husband.' And I swear to you, Helen,
+that my death will be as easy and calm then as it would be full of
+despair if I could not say: 'Farewell, my beloved wife.'"</p>
+
+<p>Helen listened with that smile of hope upon her lips with which she made
+answer to all Karl's words, whether sad or happy. From time to time,
+when she saw her patient becoming excited, she would sign to him to be
+still, and taking down from her bookshelves Uhland, or Goethe, or
+Schiller, would read aloud to him, and almost always Karl would close
+his eyes and presently fall asleep to the sound of her melodious, liquid
+voice. His need of sleep, after so great a loss of blood, was enormous;
+and then, as though she could see the sleep-bringing shadows thickening
+over his brain, she would let her voice grow dim, little by little, and
+with her eyes half upon the sick man and half upon her page would cease
+to speak at the very moment when he began to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>At night she allowed Benedict to take her place by Karl for two or three
+hours, because Karl entreated it, but she did not go out of the room. A
+curtain was drawn across the recess in which her bed&mdash;now brought into
+the middle of the room for the patient, previously stood, and behind the
+curtain she slept on a couch, slept so lightly that at the least
+movement in the room, or the first word uttered, the curtain would be
+lifted and her voice would ask anxiously:</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>Helen was a sister of those delightful creations that are to be found on
+every page of Germany's popular poetry. We attribute great merit to
+those poetic dreamers who perceive Loreleis in the mist of the Rhine and
+Mignons in the foliage of thickets, and do not remind ourselves that
+there is, after all, no such great merit in finding these charming
+images, because they are not the visions of genius, but actual copies,
+whose originals the misty nature of England and of Germany sets before
+them as models weeping or smiling, but always poetical. Observe, too,
+that on the shores of the Rhine, the Main, or the Danube, it is not
+necessary to seek these types&mdash;rare, if not unknown among ourselves&mdash;in
+the ranks of the aristocracy, but they may be seen at the citizen's
+window or the peasant's doorway, where Schüler found his Louisa, and
+Goethe his Margaret. Thus Helen accomplished deeds that seem to us the
+height of devotion with the most entire simplicity, and never knew that
+her loving toil deserved a glance of approval from man, or even from
+God.</p>
+
+<p>On the nights when Helen sat up, Benedict rested in Frederic's room,
+throwing himself fully dressed upon the bed, so as to be ready at the
+first call to run to Helen's assistance or to go for the surgeon. We
+have already said that a carriage ready harnessed was always at the
+door, and, oddly enough, the further recovery progressed, the more the
+doctor insisted that this precaution should not be neglected.</p>
+
+<p>July 30th had been reached, when, after having watched by Karl during a
+part of the night, Benedict had yielded his post to Helen, had returned
+to Frederic's room and flung himself upon the bed, when, all at once he
+thought he heard himself loudly called. Almost at the same moment his
+door opened, and Helen, pale, dishevelled, and covered with blood,
+appeared in the doorway making inarticulate sounds that seemed to stand
+for "Help!"</p>
+
+<p>Benedict guessed what had happened. The doctor, less reserved towards
+him than towards the young girl, had told him what possibilities he
+feared, and evidently one of these possibilities had come to pass.</p>
+
+<p>He rushed to Karl's room; the ligature of the artery had burst and blood
+was flowing in waves and in jets. Karl had fainted.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict did not lose an instant; twisting his handkerchief into a rope
+he tied it round Karl's upper arm, broke the bar of a chair with a kick,
+slipped the bar into the knot of the handkerchief, and turning the stick
+upon its axis, made what is known in medical language as a <i>tourniquet</i>.
+The blood stopped instantly.</p>
+
+<p>Helen flung herself distractedly upon the bed, she seemed to have gone
+mad. She did not hear Benedict calling to her: "The doctor! the doctor!"</p>
+
+<p>With his free hand&mdash;the other was pressing upon Karl's arm&mdash;Benedict
+pulled the bell so violently that Hans, guessing something unusual to be
+the matter, arrived quite scared.</p>
+
+<p>"Take the carriage and fetch the doctor," cried Benedict. Hans
+understood everything, for in one glance he had seen all. He flung
+himself downstairs and into the carriage, calling out in his turn: "To
+the doctor's!"</p>
+
+<p>As it was scarcely six o'clock in the morning, the doctor was at home,
+and within ten minutes walked into the room.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing the blood streaming over the floor, Helen, half fainting, and,
+above all, Benedict compressing the wounded man's arm, he understood
+what had happened, the rather that he had dreaded this.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I foresaw this!" he exclaimed, "a secondary hæmorrhage, the artery
+has given way."</p>
+
+<p>At his voice Helen sprang up and flung her arms about him.</p>
+
+<p>"He will not die! he will not die!" she cried, "you will not let him
+die, will you?"</p>
+
+<p>The doctor disengaged himself from her grasp, and approached the bed.
+Karl had not lost nearly so much blood as last time, but to judge from
+the pool that was spreading across the room he must have lost over
+twenty-eight ounces, which in his present state of weakness was
+exorbitant.</p>
+
+<p>However, the doctor did not lose courage; the arm was still bare; he
+made a fresh incision and sought with his forceps for the artery, which,
+fortunately, having been compressed by Benedict, had moved only a few
+centimetres. In a second the artery was tied, but the wounded man was
+completely unconscious. Helen, who had watched the first operation with
+anxiety, followed this one with terror. She had then seen Karl lying
+mute, motionless, and cold, with the appearance of death, but she had
+not seem him pass, as he had just done, from life to death. His lips
+were white, his eyes closed, his cheeks waxen; clearly Karl had gone
+nearer to the grave than even on the former occasion. Helen wrung her
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, his wish! his wish!" she cried, "he will not have the joy of seeing
+it fulfilled. Sir," she said to the doctor, "will he not reopen his
+eyes? Will he not speak again before he dies? I do not ask for his
+life&mdash;only a miracle could grant that. But, make him open his eyes,
+doctor. Doctor! make him speak to me! Let a priest join our hands! Let
+us be united in this world, so that we may not be separated in the
+next."</p>
+
+<p>The doctor, despite his usual calm, could not remain cold in the
+presence of such sorrow; though he had done all that was in the power of
+his art and felt that he could do no more, he tried to reassure Helen
+with those commonplaces that physicians keep in reserve for the last
+extremities.</p>
+
+<p>But Benedict, going up to him, and taking him by the hand, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor, you hear what she asks; she does not ask for her lover's life,
+she asks for a few moments' revival, long enough for the priest to utter
+a few words and place a ring upon her finger."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes!" cried Helen, "only that! Senseless that I was not to have
+yielded when he asked and sent at once for the priest. Let him open his
+eyes, let him say 'Yes,' so that his wish may be accomplished and I may
+keep my promise to him."</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor," said Benedict, pressing the hand which he had retained in his,
+"how, if we asked from science the miracle that Heaven seems to deny?
+How if we were to try transfusion of blood?"</p>
+
+<p>"What is that?" asked Helen.</p>
+
+<p>The doctor considered for a second and looked at the patient: then he
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"There is no hope; we risk nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"I asked you," said Helen, "what is transfusion of blood?"</p>
+
+<p>"It consists," replied the doctor, "in passing into the exhausted veins
+of a sick man enough warm, living blood to give him back, if only for a
+moment, life, speech, and consciousness. I have never performed the
+operation, but have seen it once or twice in hospitals."</p>
+
+<p>"So have I," said Benedict, "I have always been interested in strange
+things, so I attended Majendie's lectures, and I have always seen the
+experiment succeed when the blood infused belonged to an animal of the
+same species."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said the doctor, "I will go and try to find a man willing to
+sell us some twenty or thirty ounces of his blood."</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor," said Benedict, throwing off his coat, "I do not sell my blood
+to my friends, but I give it. Your man is here."</p>
+
+<p>At these words Helen uttered a cry, flung herself violently between
+Benedict and the doctor, and proudly holding out her bare arm to the
+surgeon, said to Benedict:</p>
+
+<p>"You have done enough for him already. If human blood is to pass from
+another into the veins of my beloved Karl it shall be mine; it is my
+right."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict fell on his knees before her and kissed the hem of her skirt.
+The less impressionable doctor merely said:</p>
+
+<p>"Very well! We will try. Give the patient a spoonful of some cordial. I
+will go home and get the instruments."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV" id="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV</h4>
+
+<h3>THE MARRIAGE <i>IN EXTREMIS</i></h3>
+
+
+<p>The doctor rushed from the room as rapidly as his professional dignity
+would allow.</p>
+
+<p>During his absence Helen slipped a spoonful of a cordial between Karl's
+lips while Benedict rang the bell. Hans appeared.</p>
+
+<p>"Go and fetch a priest," said Helen.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it for extreme unction?" Hans ventured to ask.</p>
+
+<p>"For a marriage," answered Helen.</p>
+
+<p>Five minutes later the doctor returned with his apparatus, and asked
+Benedict to ring for a servant.</p>
+
+<p>A maid came.</p>
+
+<p>"Some warm water in a deep vessel," said the doctor, "and a thermometer
+if there is one in the house."</p>
+
+<p>She came back with the required articles.</p>
+
+<p>The doctor took a bandage from his pocket and rolled it round the
+wounded man's left arm, the right arm being injured. After a few moments
+the vein swelled, proving thereby that the blood was not all exhausted,
+and that circulation still continued, although feebly. The doctor then
+turned to Helen.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you ready?" he enquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Helen, "but make haste. Oh, God, if he should die!"</p>
+
+<p>The doctor compressed her arm with a bandage, placed the apparatus upon
+the bed so as to bring it close to the patient, and put it into water
+heated to 35 degrees centigrade, so that the blood should not have time
+to cool in passing from one arm to the other. He placed one end of the
+syringe against Karl's arm and almost simultaneously pricked Helen's so
+that her blood spurted into the vessel. When he judged that there were
+some 120 to 130 grammes he signed to Benedict to staunch Helen's
+bleeding with his thumb, and making a longitudinal cut in the vein of
+Karl's arm he slipped in the point of the syringe, taking great care
+that no air-bubble should get in with the blood. While the operation,
+which lasted about ten minutes, was going on, a slight sound was heard
+at the door. It was the priest coming in, accompanied by Emma, Madame
+von Beling, and all the servants. Helen turned, saw them at the door,
+and signed to them to come in. At the same moment Benedict pressed her
+arm; Karl had just quivered, a sort of shudder ran through his whole
+body.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" sighed Helen, folding her hands, "thank God! It is my blood
+reaching his heart!"</p>
+
+<p>Benedict had ready a piece of court-plaster, which he pressed upon the
+open vein and held it closed.</p>
+
+<p>The priest approached; he was a Roman Catholic who had been Helen's
+director from her childhood up.</p>
+
+<p>"You sent for me, my child?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Helen; "I desire, if my grandmother and elder sister
+will allow, to marry this gentleman, who, with God's help, will soon
+open his eyes and recover his senses. Only, there is no time to lose,
+for the swoon may return."</p>
+
+<p>And, as though Karl had but awaited this moment to revive, he opened his
+eyes, looked tenderly at Helen and said, in a weak, but intelligible
+voice:</p>
+
+<p>"In the depth of my swoon, I heard everything; you are an angel, Helen,
+and I join with you in asking permission of your mother and sister that
+I may leave you my name."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict and the doctor looked at each other amazed at the
+over-excitement which for the moment restored sight to the dying man's
+eyes and speech to his lips. The priest drew near to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Louis Karl von Freyberg, do you declare, acknowledge, and swear, before
+God and in the face of the holy Church, that you now take as your wife
+and lawful spouse, Helen de Chandroz, here present?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"You promise and vow to be true to her in all things as a faithful
+husband should to his wife according to the commandments of God?"</p>
+
+<p>Karl smiled sadly at this admonition of the Church; meant for people who
+expect to live long and to have time for breaking their solemn vow.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said he, "and in witness of it, here is my mother's wedding-ring,
+which, sacred already, will become the more sacred by passing through
+your hands."</p>
+
+<p>"And you, Helen de Chandroz, do you consent, acknowledge, and swear,
+before God and the holy Church, that you take for your husband and
+lawful spouse, Louis Karl von Freyberg, here present?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, yes, father," exclaimed the girl.</p>
+
+<p>In place of Karl, who was too weak to speak, the priest added:</p>
+
+<p>"Take this token of the marriage vows exchanged between you."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke he placed upon Helen's finger the ring given him by Karl.</p>
+
+<p>"I give you this ring as a sign of the marriage that you have
+contracted."</p>
+
+<p>The priest made the sign of the cross upon the bride's hand, saying in a
+low voice:</p>
+
+<p>"In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen!"</p>
+
+<p>Stretching out his right hand towards the pair, he added, aloud:</p>
+
+<p>"May the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob join you together and
+bestow His blessing upon you. I unite you in the name of the Father, the
+Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen!"</p>
+
+<p>"Father," said Karl to the priest, "if you will now add to the prayers
+that you have just uttered for the husband the absolution for the dying,
+I shall have nothing more to ask of you."</p>
+
+<p>The priest, raising his hand, pronounced the consecrated words, as if
+Karl's soul had delayed until this solemn moment to depart from the
+body. Helen, who had raised him in her arms, felt herself drawn to him
+by an irresistible power. Her lips clung to those of her lover, and
+between them escaped the words:</p>
+
+<p>"Farewell, my darling wife; your blood is my blood. Farewell."</p>
+
+<p>His body fell back upon the pillow. Karl had breathed his last breath
+upon Helen's mouth. One sob only was heard from the poor girl, and the
+complete prostration with which she fell back upon his body showed
+everybody that he was dead. The spectators rose from their knees. Emma
+threw herself into Helen's arms, exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>"Now we are doubly sisters, by birth and by affliction." Then, feeling
+that this sorrow required solitude, one after another slipped away,
+slowly, gently, and on tiptoe, leaving Helen alone with her husband's
+body.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of a couple of hours, Benedict, growing uneasy, ventured to
+go to her and knocked slowly at the door, saying.</p>
+
+<p>"It is I, sister."</p>
+
+<p>Helen, who had locked herself in, came to open the door. With amazement
+he beheld her dressed completely in bridal attire. She had put on a
+wreath of white roses, diamond earrings hung from her ears, and the
+costliest of necklaces surrounded her neck. Her fingers were loaded with
+valuable rings. Her arm from which the blood had been drawn to perform
+the miracle of resurrection was covered with bracelets. A magnificent
+lace shawl was thrown over her shoulders and covered a satin gown
+fastened with knots of pearls.</p>
+
+<p>"You see, my friend," she said to Benedict, "that I have tried to fulfil
+his wishes completely. I am dressed not as his betrothed but as his
+wife."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict looked at her sadly&mdash;the rather that she did not weep&mdash;on the
+contrary, she smiled. It seemed as though she had given all her tears to
+the living Karl and had none left for the dead. Benedict saw with
+profound surprise that she went to and fro in the room, busied with a
+number of little matters relating to Karl's burial and every moment
+showed him some fresh article.</p>
+
+<p>"Look!" she would say, "he liked this; he noticed that; we will put it
+beside him in his coffin. By the way," she added suddenly, "I was just
+forgetting my hair which he liked so much."</p>
+
+<p>She unfastened her wreath, took hold of her hair, which hung below her
+knees, cut it off, and made a plait which she knotted round Karl's bare
+neck.</p>
+
+<p>Evening came. She talked at length with Benedict of the hour at which
+the funeral should take place on the morrow. As it was now but six in
+the evening, she begged him to see to all the details that would be so
+painful to the family, and indeed, almost as painful to him who had
+loved Frederic and Karl like two brothers. He was to order a wide oak
+coffin, himself:</p>
+
+<p>"Why a wide one?" Benedict asked.</p>
+
+<p>Helen only answered:</p>
+
+<p>"Do as I ask you, dear friend, and blessings will be upon you."</p>
+
+<p>She gave orders herself for the body of her husband to be placed in its
+shroud at six the next morning.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict obeyed her in everything. He spent his whole evening over these
+funeral preparations and did not return to the house until eleven
+o'clock. He found Helen's room transformed, a double row of candles
+burning around the bed. Helen was sitting on the bed and looking at
+Karl.</p>
+
+<p>Even as she no longer wept she now no longer prayed. What had she left
+to ask of Heaven now that Karl was dead? Towards midnight her mother and
+sister, who had been praying, and who understood her calmness no more
+than Benedict did, went to their own rooms. Helen embraced them sadly
+but without tears and asked that the little child might be brought, so
+that she might kiss him too. She held him some time in her arms and then
+gave him back to his mother. When she was left alone with Benedict she
+said to him:</p>
+
+<p>"Pray take some hours' rest, either here or at home; do not be uneasy
+about me. I will be down, dressed, and sleep beside him."</p>
+
+<p>"Sleep!" said Benedict, more and more amazed.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Helen simply, "I feel tired. While he was alive, I could not
+sleep. Now&mdash;" She did not finish the sentence.</p>
+
+<p>"When shall I come back?" asked Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>"When you please," said Helen. "Let it be about eight in the morning."</p>
+
+<p>Then, looking through the open casement towards the sky, she said:</p>
+
+<p>"I think there will be a storm to-night."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict pressed her hand and was going, but she called him back.</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me, dear friend," said she, "have you been told that they are
+coming at six in the morning to wrap him in his shroud?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Benedict, his voice choked with tears.</p>
+
+<p>Helen guessed at his feelings.</p>
+
+<p>"You do not mean to kiss me then, my friend?" she observed.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict pressed her to his heart and broke into sobs.</p>
+
+<p>"How weak you are!" said she. "Look how calm <i>he</i> is; so calm that one
+would think he was happy." And as Benedict was about to answer, she
+added: "Go, go; to-morrow at eight."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>As Helen had foretold, the night was stormy; with morning a terrible
+tempest broke out; rain fell in torrents, accompanied by such flashes of
+lightning as are only seen in storms that announce or cause great
+misfortunes.</p>
+
+<p>At six o'clock the women who were to perform the last offices for Karl
+arrived. Helen had looked out the finest sheets she could find, and had
+spent a part of the night in embroidering them with Karl's monogram and
+her own. Then, when her pious task was completed she did as she had
+said, lay down beside Karl on his bed and encircled by the double row of
+lighted candles, slept with as sound a sleep as though she were already
+in her grave. The two women, knocking at the door, awoke her. Seeing
+them come in, the material aspect of death was forcibly presented to
+her, and she could not abstain from shedding tears. Stolid as these
+poor creatures who live by the services that they render to the dead
+generally are, when they saw the young girl so beautiful, so adorned, so
+pale, they could not help feeling an emotion unknown to them until then.
+They trembled as they took the sheets from Helen's hands and asked her
+to withdraw while they fulfilled their funeral office.</p>
+
+<p>Helen uncovered Karl's face, over which the two Ministers of Fate had
+already thrown the shroud, kissed his lips, murmured into his ear some
+words that the women did not hear, then, addressing one of them, said:</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to pray for my husband in the Church of Notre Dame de la
+Croix. If between now and eight o'clock a young man named Benedict comes
+here, please give him this note."</p>
+
+<p>She drew from her bosom a paper already folded, sealed, and addressed to
+Benedict, and went away. The storm was roaring in all its violence. At
+the door she found Lenhart's carriage and Lenhart himself. He was
+astonished to see her coming out so early, dressed in so elegant a
+costume; but when she had directed him to the church of Notre Dame de la
+Croix, to which he had driven her two or three times before, he
+understood that she was going to pray at her usual shrine.</p>
+
+<p>Helen entered the church. The day was so dark that it would have been
+impossible to find one's way if the flashes of lightning had not shot
+their snakes of fire through the coloured panes.</p>
+
+<p>Helen went straight to her accustomed chapel. The statue of the Virgin
+stood in its place, silent, smiling, decked with gold lace and jewels,
+and crowned with diamonds. At her feet Helen recognized the wreath of
+white roses that she had hung there on the day when she had come with
+Karl and sworn to him to love him always and to die with him. The day
+to keep her vow had come, and she was here to tell the Virgin of her
+readiness to keep her promise, as though that promise were not an
+impiety. Then, as if that were all that she had to do, she made a short
+prayer, kissed the Holy Mother's feet, and went out again to the porch
+of the church.</p>
+
+<p>The weather had cleared a little. For the moment rain had ceased to
+fall, and a gleam of blue shone between two clouds. The air was full of
+electricity. The thunder was roaring in noisy outbursts and the flashes
+threw their blue light almost uninterruptedly upon the pavement and the
+houses. Helen left the church. Lenhart hurried forward with his carriage
+for her to get in.</p>
+
+<p>"I feel stifled," said she, "let me walk a little."</p>
+
+<p>"I will follow you, madam," said Lenhart.</p>
+
+<p>"As you please," she answered.</p>
+
+<p>Eight o'clock was chiming from the cathedral.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>At the same hour Benedict was just entering Helen's room where Karl lay
+in his shroud. The two women, who had been entrusted with that pious
+duty, were praying by the bed, but Helen was absent. Benedict began by
+looking in every direction, expecting to see her praying in some corner,
+but not perceiving her in any, he enquired where she could be.</p>
+
+<p>One of the women replied:</p>
+
+<p>"She went out an hour ago, saying that she would go to the Church of
+Notre Dame de la Croix."</p>
+
+<p>"How was she dressed?" asked Benedict. "And," he added, with an uneasy
+presentiment, "did she not say anything or leave any message for me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Are you the gentleman called M. Benedict?" returned the woman who had
+answered his previous questions.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"Then here is a letter for you."</p>
+
+<p>She handed him the note that Helen had left. He opened it hastily. It
+contained only these few lines:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"MY BELOVED BROTHER,</p>
+
+<p>"I promised Karl, before Notre Dame de la Croix, not to outlive
+him; Karl is dead, and I am about to die.</p>
+
+<p>"If my body is recovered, see, my dear Benedict, that it is placed
+in my husband's coffin; this was the reason why I asked you to have
+it made wide. I hope that God will permit me to sleep in it by
+Karl's side throughout eternity.</p>
+
+<p>"I bequeath a thousand florins to the person who finds my body, if
+it should be some boatman or fisherman, or poor man with a family.
+If it should be some person who cannot or will not accept the
+money, I leave him my last blessing.</p>
+
+<p>"The morrow of Karl's death is the day of mine.</p>
+
+<p>"My farewells to all who love me."</p>
+
+<p>
+"HELEN."<br />
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Benedict was finishing the reading of this letter when Lenhart appeared
+in the doorway, pale and dripping with water, and calling out:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how shall I tell you, M. Benedict! Madame Helen has just thrown
+herself into the river. Come, come at once!"</p>
+
+<p>Benedict looked round, seized a handkerchief that was lying on the bier,
+still perfumed and damp with the poor girl's tears, and rushed from the
+room. The carriage was at the door; he sprang into it.</p>
+
+<p>"To your house," he called sharply to Lenhart. The latter, accustomed to
+obey Benedict without asking why, put his horses to the gallop;
+moreover, his house was on the way to the river. The house being
+reached, he leaped from the carriage, took the staircase in three
+strides, and opening the door, called:</p>
+
+<p>"Here! Frisk!"</p>
+
+<p>The dog rushed out after his master and was in the carriage as soon as
+he.</p>
+
+<p>"To the river!" cried Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>Lenhart began to understand; he whipped up his horses and they galloped
+on as quickly as before. As they drove, Benedict divested himself of his
+coat, waistcoat, and shirt, retaining only his trousers. When they
+arrived at the river bank, he saw some sailors with boathooks who were
+raking the water for Helen's body.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see her throw herself into the water?" he enquired of Lenhart.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, your honour," he answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Where was it?"</p>
+
+<p>Lenhart showed him the spot.</p>
+
+<p>"Twenty florins for a boat!" shouted Benedict.</p>
+
+<p>A boatman brought one. Benedict, followed by Frisk, sprang into it.
+Then, having steered it into the line along which Helen's body had
+disappeared, he followed the current, holding Frisk by the collar, and
+making him smell the handkerchief that he had taken up from Karl's bed.</p>
+
+<p>They came to a place in the river where the dog gave a melancholy howl.
+Benedict let him loose, he sprang out and disappeared at once. An
+instant later he came to the surface and swam about above the same place
+howling dismally.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Benedict, "yes, she is there."</p>
+
+<p>Then he, in his turn, dived, and soon reappeared bearing Helen's body on
+his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>As Helen had wished, her body was, by Benedict's care, laid in the same
+coffin as Karl's. Her bridal garments were allowed to dry upon her and
+she had no other shroud.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI</h4>
+
+<h3>"WAIT AND SEE"</h3>
+
+
+<p>When Karl and Helen had been laid in their place of eternal rest,
+Benedict considered that the time had now arrived when, having no more
+services to perform for the family to which he had devoted himself, he
+might remind Sturm that he was Frederic von Bülow's executor.</p>
+
+<p>Always obedient to convention he dressed himself with the greatest care,
+hung the Cross of the Legion of Honour and the Guelphic Order to his
+buttonhole by a line gold chain and sent in his name to General Sturm.
+The general was in his study. He ordered Benedict to be shown in at
+once, and as he entered rose from his seat, showed him a chair, and sat
+down again. Benedict indicated that he preferred to stand.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said he, "the succession of misfortunes which has befallen the
+Chandroz family leaves me free, earlier than I expected, to come and
+remind you that Frederic, when he was dying, bequeathed to me a sacred
+duty&mdash;that of vengeance."</p>
+
+<p>The general bowed and Benedict returned his bow.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing now keeps me in Frankfort but my wish to fulfil my friend's
+last injunction. You know what that injunction was, for I have told you;
+from this moment I shall have the honour of holding myself at your
+disposal."</p>
+
+<p>"That is to say, sir," said General Sturm, striking his fist upon the
+writing-table before him, "that you come here to challenge me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," answered Benedict. "A dying man's wishes are sacred, and
+Frederic von Bülow's wish was that one of us&mdash;either you or I&mdash;should
+disappear from this world. I deliver it to you the more readily because
+I know you, sir, to be brave, skilful in all bodily exercises, and a
+first-rate swordsman and shot. I am not an officer in the Prussian army;
+you are in no sense my chief. I am a Frenchman, you are a Prussian; we
+have Jena behind us and you have Leipzig; we are therefore enemies. All
+this makes me hope that you will place no difficulty in my way, and will
+consent to send me two seconds to-morrow, who will find mine at my house
+between seven and eight in the morning, and will do me the pleasure of
+announcing to them the hour, place, and weapons that you have chosen.
+Everything will be acceptable to me; make what conditions you like in
+the best way you can. I hope that you are satisfied."</p>
+
+<p>General Sturm had shown frequent signs of impatience during Benedict's
+speech; but had controlled himself like a well-bred man.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said he, "I promise you that you shall hear from me by the hour
+you name, and perhaps earlier."</p>
+
+<p>This was all that Benedict wanted. He bowed and withdrew, delighted that
+everything had passed off so properly. He was already at the door when
+he remembered that he had omitted to give the general his new address,
+at Lenhart's. He went to a table and wrote the street and number below
+his name on his card.</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me," said he, "I must not fail to let your Excellency know where
+I am to be found."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you not my neighbour?" asked the general.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Benedict. "I have left this house since the day before
+yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>On the same evening, since he expected to leave Frankfort immediately
+after next day's duel&mdash;unless, indeed, some wound should detain
+him&mdash;Benedict left cards of farewell at all the houses where he had
+visited, withdrew his money from the bank, and, his banker having
+detained him, remained at his house until eleven o'clock, and then took
+leave to return to Lenhart's. But, as he was crossing the corner of the
+Ross Market an officer accosted him and, saying that he had a
+communication to make on behalf of the officer in command of the town,
+begged Benedict to accompany him. The latter made no difficulty about
+entering the market place where military were quartered, and there, at a
+sign from the officer, soldiers surrounded him.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said the officer, "will you kindly read this paper, which
+concerns you."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict took the paper and read it:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"By order of the colonel in command of the town and as a measure of
+public safety, M. Benedict Turpin is instructed to leave Frankfort
+instantly upon receipt of the present order. Should he refuse to
+obey willingly, force is to be employed. Six privates and an
+officer will accompany him to the station, enter the same carriage
+in the Cologne train and only leave him at the frontier of the
+Prussian territory.</p>
+
+<p>"This order to be carried out before midnight.</p>
+
+<p>
+"Signed ***."<br />
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Benedict looked round; he had no possible means of resistance.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said he, "if I had any way of escaping from the order that I have
+just read, I declare to you that I would do anything in the world to get
+out of your hands. The great man who is your minister, and whom I
+admire although I do not like him, has said 'Might is right.' I am ready
+to yield to force. But I should be greatly obliged if one of you would
+go to 17, Beckenheim Street, to a man who lets out carriages, named
+Lenhart, and kindly ask him to bring me my dog, of which I am very fond.
+I will take occasion to give him some orders in your presence that are
+of no particular consequence, but rather important to a man who has been
+living in a town for three months and is leaving when he had no
+expectation of doing so."</p>
+
+<p>The officer ordered a soldier to fulfil Benedict's wish.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said he, "I know that you were intimate with a man to whom we
+were all attached, Herr Frederic von Bülow; although I have not the
+honour of your personal acquaintance, I should be sorry that you should
+carry away a bad impression of me. I was ordered to arrest you in the
+manner that I have done. I hope you will pardon an action entirely
+outside my own wishes, and which I have tried to perform with as much
+courtesy as possible."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict held out his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been a soldier, sir; and therefore I am obliged to you for an
+explanation that you might easily have refrained from making."</p>
+
+<p>A minute or so later Lenhart arrived with Frisk.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Lenhart," said Benedict, "I am leaving Frankfort unexpectedly;
+be so kind as to collect any things belonging to me that you may have
+and send them to me, in two or three days, unless you prefer to bring
+them yourself to Paris, which you do not know and where I would try to
+make you spend a pleasant fortnight. I do not offer any terms; you know
+that you may safely leave such matters in my hands."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I will go, sir, I will go," said. Lenhart. "You may be sure of
+that."</p>
+
+<p>"And now," said Benedict, "I think it must be time for the train; no
+doubt you have a carriage waiting; let us go if you have nothing more to
+wait for, and if you have not a travelling companion to give me."</p>
+
+<p>The soldiers lined up and Benedict passed between them to the carriage
+that was waiting. Frisk, always delighted to go from one place to
+another, leapt in first, as if to invite his master to follow. Benedict
+stepped in, the officer followed him; four privates followed the
+officer, a fifth seated himself beside the driver, a sixth jumped up
+behind, and the conveyance set out for the station.</p>
+
+<p>The engine was just ready to start as the prisoner arrived; he had not
+even the trouble of waiting a few minutes. At the carriage door Frisk
+was, as usual, the first to jump in, and although it is not customary,
+especially in Prussia, for dogs to travel first-class, Benedict obtained
+for him the favour of remaining with them. Next morning they were at
+Cologne.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said Benedict to the officer, "I am accustomed, every time that I
+pass through this town, to provide myself with Farina's eau-de-Cologne
+for my dressing-table. If you are not pressed for time I would propose
+two things to you: in the first place my word of honour to play fair and
+not give you the slip before reaching the frontier; in the second place,
+a good breakfast for these gentlemen and you, all breakfasting together
+at the same table without any distinction of rank, like brothers. Then
+we will take the midday train, unless you prefer to trust my word that I
+will go straight to Paris."</p>
+
+<p>The officer smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said he, "we will do what you please. I should like you to carry
+away the impression that we are only uncivil and tormentors when we are
+ordered to be. You want to stay; then let us stay! You offer me your
+word; I accept it. You wish to have us all breakfast with you; although
+it does not conform either to Prussian habits or Prussian discipline, I
+accept. The only precaution we will take&mdash;and that rather to do you
+honour than because we doubt your word&mdash;will be to see you off at the
+station. Where do you wish us to meet you again?"</p>
+
+<p>"At the Rhine Hotel, if you please, gentlemen, in an hour's time."</p>
+
+<p>"I need not say," added the officer, speaking in French that the
+soldiers should not understand him, "that after the way I have behaved
+to you I ought to be cashiered."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict bowed with an air that seemed to say "You need be under no
+uneasiness, sir."</p>
+
+<p>Benedict went away to the cathedral square, where Jean Marie Parina's
+shop is situated, and the officer took off his men in another direction.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict supplied himself with eau-de-Cologne, which he could the more
+easily do because, having no other luggage, he could carry his purchase
+with him, and then proceeded to the Rhine Hotel, where he was accustomed
+to stay. He ordered the best breakfast that the proprietor could promise
+him, and awaited his guests, who appeared at the agreed time.</p>
+
+<p>The breakfast was a thoroughly cheerful one; the prosperity of France
+and the prosperity of Prussia were toasted, the Prussians courteously
+setting the example; and after breakfast Benedict was escorted to the
+station, and, by military order, had a carriage to himself, instead of
+sharing one with six private soldiers and an officer.</p>
+
+<p>At the moment of the train's starting the officer put into Benedict's
+hand a letter, which the traveller opened as soon as the train had
+passed out of the station. He gave a glance at the signature. It came,
+as he expected, from General Sturm and contained these words:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"MY DEAR SIR,</p>
+
+<p>"You will understand that it does not become a superior officer to
+set a bad example by accepting a challenge of which the object is
+to avenge an officer who was punished for disobedience to his
+chief. If I were to fight you for a reason so contrary to all
+military discipline I should be setting a fatal example to the
+army. I refuse, therefore, for the present, to meet you, and in
+order to avoid a scandal, I employ one of the most courteous
+measures at my disposal. You, yourself, were so good as to
+acknowledge that I had a reputation for courage, and you added that
+you knew me to be a first-rate shot and swordsman. You cannot,
+therefore, attribute my refusal to any fear of facing you. A
+proverb, common to all countries, says: 'Mountains do not meet, but
+men do.' If we meet anywhere else than in Prussia, and if you are
+still desirous of killing me, we will see about settling this
+little matter; but I warn you that the result is by no means a
+foregone conclusion, and that you will have more trouble than you
+expect in keeping your promise to your friend Frederic." </p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Benedict refolded the letter with the utmost care, placed it in his
+pocket-book and slipped his pocket-book into his pocket, arranged
+himself as comfortably as he could in a corner, and closing his eyes for
+sleep, murmured: "Well, well, we will wait and see!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="CONCLUSION" id="CONCLUSION"></a>CONCLUSION</h3>
+
+
+<p>The presence of the Prussians in Frankfort and the terror that they
+caused there did not end with the events which have just been related,
+and to which the present narrative ought to confine itself. A few lines
+only must be added that our work may close as it opened, by a page of
+politics.</p>
+
+<p>Towards the end of September 1866 it was announced that the city of
+Frankfort, losing its nationality, its title of a free town, its
+privilege of having the Diet held there, and finally its rights as a
+member of the Confederation, was to be united on October 8th to the
+kingdom of Prussia.</p>
+
+<p>The morrow was gloomy and rainy; no house had hung out the
+black-and-white flag; no citizen, sad or cheerful, was in the streets,
+every window was shuttered, every door closed. It seemed a city of the
+dead. The flag flew only over the barracks, the Exchange, and the post
+office.</p>
+
+<p>But in the Roemer Square there was an assemblage of some three or four
+hundred men, all belonging to the suburb of Sachsenhausen. It was a
+curious thing that each of these men had a dog of some description with
+him: a bulldog, mastiff, spaniel, hound, griffon, greyhound, or poodle.
+Amidst these bipeds and quadrupeds, Lenhart went up and down relating
+what fine things he had seen in Paris, and holding everybody's
+attention. He it was who had devised this meeting of his fellow
+inhabitants of Sachsenhausen, and who, by whispered instructions, had
+invited them to bring their dogs. Men and dogs alike gazed towards the
+window from which the proclamation was to be made. They had been waiting
+there since nine in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>At eleven the members of the Senate, the Christian and Jewish clergy,
+the professors, the chief officials, and Major-General Boyer, with the
+officers of the garrison, were gathered together in the Hall of the
+Emperors in the Roemer, to witness the taking possession of the formerly
+free town of Frankfort by His Gracious Majesty, the King of Prussia.</p>
+
+<p>The civil governor, Baron Patow, and the civil Commissioner, Herr von
+Madaï, came from the Senate Hall (once the hall in which the Emperors of
+Germany were elected) into the great hall. After some little preamble on
+Baron Patow's part he read to the persons present the patent by which
+the former free town of Frankfort was taken into possession, and then
+the royal proclamation which announced that the town had been added to
+the Prussian dominions.</p>
+
+<p>The same documents were now to be read to the people of Frankfort. The
+window was opened to an accompaniment of joyful murmurs and mocking
+acclamation from the men of Sachsenhausen and the yawns of their dogs.
+The square was occupied, we forgot to mention, not only by the men from
+Sachsenhausen but by a company of the 34th regiment of the line and its
+band.</p>
+
+<p>Herr von Madaï read aloud the following proclamation:</p>
+
+<p>"The very high and very powerful proclamation of His Majesty the King
+of Prussia to the inhabitants of the former free town of Frankfort."</p>
+
+<p>Either because the voice of Herr von Madaï was particularly disagreeable
+to his hearers or because the words "former free town of Frankfort"
+aroused their sensibility, several dogs howled dismally. Herr von Madaï
+paused until silence was restored, and continued, still in the king's
+name:</p>
+
+<p>"By the patent that I cause to be published to-day I unite you,
+inhabitants of the city of Frankfort-on-the-Main and its suburbs, to my
+subjects, your German neighbours and brothers."</p>
+
+<p>Five or six howls protested against this union. Herr von Madaï seemed to
+give no heed to them and proceeded.</p>
+
+<p>"By the decision of the war and the reorganization of our common German
+Fatherland, you are deprived of the independence which you have hitherto
+enjoyed, and now enter the union of a great country, whose population is
+sympathetic to you by language, customs, and identity of interests."</p>
+
+<p>This news did not appear agreeable to the prejudices of some hearers;
+there were complaints, growls, and a certain number of lamentations.
+Herr von Madaï seemed to understand these sad protestations.</p>
+
+<p>"If," said he, "it is not without pain that you resign former
+connections that were dear to you, I respect such feelings and esteem
+them as a guarantee that you and your children will be faithfully
+attached to me and my house."</p>
+
+<p>An enormous bulldog replied by a single bark, which appeared, however,
+to speak the opinion of the two or three hundred companions around him.
+The interruption did not disturb Herr von Madaï, and he went on:</p>
+
+<p>"You will recognize the force of accomplished facts; if the fruits of an
+obstinate war and of bloody victories are not to be lost to Germany, the
+duty of self-preservation and care for national interests imperatively
+demand that the town of Frankfort shall be joined to Prussia, solidly
+and for ever."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment a dog broke its chain and despite shouts of "Arrest the
+rebel! Arrest the rebel!" and the pursuit of some five or six
+Sachsenhausen urchins, disappeared into the Jewry.</p>
+
+<p>"And, as my father of blessed memory declared," resumed Herr von Madaï,
+"it is solely for the profit of Germany that Prussia has enlarged its
+boundaries. I offer this for your serious reflection, and I confide in
+your upright German good sense to swear allegiance to me with the same
+sincerity as my own people. May God grant it!"</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 17em;">"WILLIAM"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"Given at my castle of Babelsberg, October 3rd, 1866."</p>
+
+
+<p>And raising his voice, Herr von Madaï added, by way of peroration:</p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah for King William! Hurrah for the King of Prussia!"</p>
+
+<p>At the same instant the black-and-white flag was hoisted on the topmost
+gable of the Roemer. No shout replied to Herr von Madaï's, only the
+voice of Lenhart was heard like that of a drill sergeant:</p>
+
+<p>"And now, my little doggies, as you have the honour to be Prussian dogs,
+shout 'Hurrah for the King of Prussia!'"</p>
+
+<p>Then every man pressed his toe upon the tail, the ear, or the paw of his
+dog, and there arose such frightful uproar, including the deepest and
+the shrillest notes, as could only be covered by the band of the 34th
+Prussian Regiment playing "<i>Heil dir im Siegeskranze</i>," which means
+"Hail to thee in the crown of victory."</p>
+
+<p>Thus was the former free town of Frankfort united to the kingdom of
+Prussia. But many people say that it is not stitched, but only tacked
+on.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="EPILOGUE" id="EPILOGUE"></a>EPILOGUE</h3>
+
+
+<p>On June 5th, in the year 1867, a young man of some twenty-five to
+twenty-seven years of age, elegantly dressed, and wearing at his
+buttonhole a ribbon half red and half blue-and-white, had just finished
+his cup of chocolate at the Café Prévôt, which was at the corner of the
+Boulevard and the Rue Poissonière. He asked for the "Étandard"
+newspaper.</p>
+
+<p>He had to repeat the name twice to the waiter, who, not having the paper
+on the premises, went out to the Boulevard for a copy and brought it to
+his customer. The latter cast his eyes rapidly over it, looking
+evidently for some article that he knew to be there. His glance settled
+at last upon the following lines:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"To-day, Wednesday, June 6th, the King of Prussia will enter Paris.
+We give a complete list of the persons who will accompany His
+Majesty:</p>
+
+<p>"M. de Bismarck.</p>
+
+<p>"General de Moltke.</p>
+
+<p>"Count Puckler, Lord Marshal.</p>
+
+<p>"General de Treskow.</p>
+
+<p>"Count de Goltz, Brigadier-General.</p>
+
+<p>"Count Lehendorff, Aide-de-Camp to the king.</p>
+
+<p>"General Achilles Sturm&mdash;" </p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Doubtless the young man had seen all that he wanted to see, for he
+carried no further his investigations into the persons accompanying His
+Majesty.</p>
+
+<p>But he tried, to discover at what hour King William was to arrive, and
+found that he was expected at a quarter-past four at the Gare du Nord.</p>
+
+<p>He immediately took a carriage and placed himself upon the road which
+the king would have to follow in going to the Tuileries.</p>
+
+<p>The king and his escort were some minutes behind their time. Our young
+man was waiting at the corner of the Boulevard de Magenta; he placed
+himself at the end of the procession, and accompanied it to the
+Tuileries, keeping his eyes particularly, as he did so, upon the
+carriage which contained General von Treskow, Count von Goltz, and
+General Achilles Sturm. That carriage entered the courtyard of the
+palace with the King of Prussia's, but came out again, almost
+immediately, with the three generals who occupied it, in order to go to
+the Hôtel du Louvre.</p>
+
+<p>There the three generals alighted; they were clearly intending to lodge
+in the neighbourhood of the Tuileries where their sovereign was staying.
+Our young man, who also had alighted, saw a waiter lead them to their
+several rooms. He waited a moment, but none of them came out again. He
+got into his carriage again and disappeared round the corner of the Rue
+des Pyramides. He knew all that he wanted to know.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, about eleven o'clock, the same young man was walking in
+front of the café belonging to the hotel, and smoking a cigarette. At
+the end of ten minutes his expectation was satisfied. General Sturm came
+from the Hôtel du Louvre into the restaurant, sat down at one of the
+marble tables arranged just inside the windows and asked for a cup of
+coffee and a glass of brandy. This was just opposite the Zouave
+Barracks.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict entered the barracks and came out a minute later, with two
+officers. He led them in front of the window and showed them General
+Sturm.</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen," said he, "that is a Prussian general with whom I have so
+serious a quarrel that one of us must be left upon the field. I have
+applied to you to do me the favour of acting as my seconds, because you
+are officers, because you do not know me, and do not know my adversary,
+and consequently, will not have any of those little delicate
+considerations for us that fashionable people have towards those for
+whom they act as seconds. We will go in and sit down at the same table
+with him. I will reproach him with what I have to reproach him with, and
+you will see whether the matter is serious enough for a duel to the
+death. If you judge it to be so, you will do me the honour of being my
+seconds. I am a soldier like yourselves; I went through the Chinese war
+with the rank of lieutenant, I fought at the battle of Langensalza as
+orderly to Prince Ernest of Hanover, and, finally, I fired one of the
+last shots at the battle of Aschaffenburg. My name is Benedict Turpin,
+and I am a knight of the Legion of Honour and of the Guelphic Order."</p>
+
+<p>The two officers stepped back a pace, exchanged a few words in a low
+voice, and returned to Benedict's side, to tell him that they were at
+his command.</p>
+
+<p>All three then entered the café and went to seat themselves at the
+general's table. The latter looked up and found himself face to face
+with Benedict, whom he recognized at the first glance.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, it is you, sir," said he, growing rather pale.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," answered Benedict. "And here are these gentlemen who are
+still unacquainted with the explanation that I am about to have with you
+and are here to hear what I say, and will be kind enough to assist me in
+our combat. Will you allow me to explain to these gentlemen, in your
+presence, the cause of our meeting, and afterwards will you give them
+details of our antecedents as we go together to the place decided upon?
+You remember, sir, that, nearly a year ago you did me the honour of
+writing to me that mountains did not meet, but that men did, and that
+whenever I had the honour of meeting you outside the kingdom of His
+Majesty, King William, you would put no difficulty in the way of giving
+me satisfaction."</p>
+
+<p>The general rose.</p>
+
+<p>"It is useless," said he, "to prolong an explanation in a café where
+everybody can hear what we say; you can give any explanations to these
+gentlemen of the grounds of complaint which you consider yourself to
+have against me, and which I am not in any degree bound to disclaim to
+you. I wrote to you that I was ready to give you satisfaction; I am.
+Give me time to go into the hotel and fetch two friends. That is all I
+ask of you."</p>
+
+<p>"Do so, sir," said Benedict, bowing.</p>
+
+<p>Sturm left the café. Benedict and the two officers followed him. He went
+into the Hôtel du Louvre. The three gentlemen waited at the door.</p>
+
+<p>In the ten minutes during which they waited Benedict told them the whole
+story, and was just concluding it as the general reappeared with his
+seconds&mdash;two officers of the king's retinue. All three came towards
+Benedict and bowed to him. Benedict introduced his own seconds to those
+of the general by a wave of the hand. All four drew apart a little.
+Presently Benedict's seconds came back to him.</p>
+
+<p>"You have left the choice of weapons to the general?" said he.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, and he has chosen the sword; we are to go to a sword cutler
+and choose a couple of blades that neither of you will have seen
+before; then we are to go to the nearest convenient spot for the
+meeting. We suggested the fortifications, and these gentlemen have
+agreed; they are to take an open carriage, we are to take another; and,
+as they do not know the way and we do, we shall guide them along the
+boulevard, and at the first sword-cutler's we will buy the swords."</p>
+
+<p>Everything was arranged accordingly. Two waiters were sent for two
+carriages. The seconds suggested that the surgeon-major of the Zouaves
+should accompany the party, and the suggestion being accepted, one of
+the officers went to fetch him. He joined Benedict and the two
+Frenchmen, while General Sturm and his seconds followed at some
+distance.</p>
+
+<p>At the sword-cutler's&mdash;which was Claudin's, Benedict said in an aside to
+the shopman, whom he knew:</p>
+
+<p>"The swords are to be charged to me; let the gentlemen who are in the
+second carriage choose them."</p>
+
+<p>Three different swords were shown to General Sturm, who selected the one
+that best suited his hand, and asked its price; he was told that they
+were paid for. The two carriages went as far as the Étoile turnpike by
+way of the Maillot gate. Thence they followed the line of the
+fortifications for a short distance, then, when they had reached a
+tolerably deserted spot, the two Zouave officers alighted from their
+chaise, looked up and down the fosse, and finding it empty beckoned
+their adversaries to join them. In another minute the whole party was
+standing at the base of the walls. The ground was level and offered
+every facility for a combat of the kind that was now to take place.</p>
+
+<p>The general's seconds presented the two swords to Benedict who had not
+previously seen them; he cast a quick glance at them and saw that they
+were <i>montées en quarte</i>, a circumstance which suited his designs
+admirably. Apparently it suited General Sturm's, also, since he had
+chosen the swords.</p>
+
+<p>"When is the fight to stop?" asked the seconds.</p>
+
+<p>"When one of us is killed," answered the two antagonists together.</p>
+
+<p>"Coats off, gentlemen!" said the seconds.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict threw aside his jacket and waistcoat, displaying his shirt.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you ready, gentlemen?" asked the seconds.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," replied both at the same time.</p>
+
+<p>One of the Zouave officers took one sword and put it into Benedict's
+hands; one of the Prussian officers took the other and put it into
+General Sturm's hands.</p>
+
+<p>The seconds crossed the two swords at a distance of three inches from
+the points, and, moving aside to leave the combatants face to face,
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"Now, gentlemen!"</p>
+
+<p>The words were scarcely uttered when the general swiftly made himself
+master of his opponent's sword by a double engagement, making as he did
+so a stride forward with all the usual impetuosity of a man who knows
+himself an adept in fencing.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict leapt back; then, looking at the general's guard:</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, ah!" he murmured, "a quick fellow on his feet. Attention!"</p>
+
+<p>He exchanged a quick glance with his seconds, to tell them not to be
+uneasy.</p>
+
+<p>But at the same moment, and without any interval, the general, while
+entangling the sword by a skilful pressure advanced in a crouching
+attitude, and lunged with so rapid a <i>dégagement</i> that it needed all
+Benedict's close handling to parry by a <i>counter quarte</i>, which, quick
+though it was, could not save his shoulder from a graze. The shirt tore
+upon the sword's point and became slightly tinged with blood.</p>
+
+<p>The return thrust came so swiftly that the Prussian by luck or by
+instinct had not time to resort to a circular parry and mechanically
+employed the <i>parade de quarte</i> and was now on the defensive. The thrust
+was parried, but it had been given with such energy that General Sturm
+staggered on his legs and could not deliver his counter thrust.</p>
+
+<p>"He is a pretty fencer, after all," thought Benedict. "He gives one
+something to do."</p>
+
+<p>Sturm stepped back and lowered his point.</p>
+
+<p>"You are wounded," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come," returned the young man, "no nonsense! Here's a fuss about
+a scratch. You know very well, general, that I have got to kill you. One
+must keep one's word, even to a dead man." He put himself in position
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"You? Kill me! Upstart!" exclaimed the general.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I, greenhorn as you think me," replied Benedict. "Your blood for
+his, although all yours is not equal to one drop of his."</p>
+
+<p>"Cursed rascal!" swore Sturm, growing crimson. And, rushing upon
+Benedict, he made as he came, two successive <i>coups de seconde</i>, so
+hasty and so furious that Benedict had barely time to parry them, by
+twice retiring, and then a <i>parade de seconde</i> delivered with such
+precision and energy that the loose shirt was torn above the waistband,
+and Benedict felt the cold steel. Another stain of blood appeared.</p>
+
+<p>"What! Are you trying to tear off my shirt?" said Benedict, sending his
+enemy a high <i>thrust de quarte</i>, which would have run him through, but
+that, feeling himself in danger, he flung himself forward in such a
+manner that the hilts touched, and the two adversaries stood with their
+swords up face to face.</p>
+
+<p>"Here!" cried Benedict, "this will teach you to steal my thrust."</p>
+
+<p>And before the seconds could interpose their swords to separate them,
+Benedict, freeing his arm like a spring, drove the two hilts like the
+blow of a fist in his adversary's face, who staggered back, his face
+lacerated and bruised by the blow.</p>
+
+<p>Then followed a scene which made those who beheld it shudder.</p>
+
+<p>Sturm drew back for an instant, his mouth half-open and foaming, his
+teeth clenched and bleeding, his lips turned back, his eyes gleaming,
+bloodshot and almost starting from their sockets, his whole countenance
+reddish purple.</p>
+
+<p>"Blackguard! Dog!" he yelled, waving his stiff-held sword and crouching
+back for his guard like a jaguar ready to spring.</p>
+
+<p>Benedict stood calm, cold, contemptuous. He extended his sword towards
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"You belong to me, now," he said in a solemn voice. "You are about to
+die."</p>
+
+<p>He fell back to his guard, exaggerating the pose as a sort of challenge.
+He had not to wait long.</p>
+
+<p>Sturm was too good a fencer to throw himself unprotected upon his enemy.
+He advanced sharply one pace, making <i>un double engagement</i>, of which
+Benedict turned aside the second by a <i>dégagement fait comme on les
+passe au mur</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Anger had disturbed Sturm's guard, he was lunging with his head down&mdash;an
+attitude which, for this once at least, saved him. The <i>dégagement</i>
+merely grazed his shoulder by the neck. Blood appeared.</p>
+
+<p>"A sleeve for a sleeve," retorted Benedict, falling back quickly to his
+guard, and leaving a great distance between the general and himself.
+"Now for it!"</p>
+
+<p>The general found himself too far off, took a step forward, gathered all
+his powers, made a frenzied beating with his sword and struck straight,
+lunging at the full stretch of his body. All his soul, that is to say,
+all his hope, was in that blow.</p>
+
+<p>This time Benedict, planted firmly on his feet, did not yield an inch;
+he caught the sword <i>par un demi cercle</i>, executed in due form, with his
+nails held upwards as though he were in a fencing school, and standing
+over the point of his sword inclined towards his feet:</p>
+
+<p>"Now then," he said, delivering his thrust.</p>
+
+<p>The sword entered the upper part of the chest and disappeared completely
+in the general's body where Benedict left it, as he sprang back&mdash;as a
+bull fighter leaves his dagger in the breast of the bull. Then, folding
+his arms, he waited.</p>
+
+<p>The general remained standing for a second, staggered, tried to speak;
+his mouth became full of blood, he made a movement with his sword and
+the sword fell from his hand; then he, himself, like an uprooted tree,
+fell full length upon the turf.</p>
+
+<p>The surgeon rushed to the body of Sturm; but he was already dead.</p>
+
+<p>The point of the sword had gone in below the right shoulder blade, and
+come out on the left hip, after passing through the heart.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Sapristi!</i>" muttered the surgeon, "that's a man well killed."</p>
+
+<p>Such was Sturm's funeral oration.</p>
+
+
+<p>THE END</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Prussian Terror, by Alexandre Dumas
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Prussian Terror, by Alexandre Dumas
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Prussian Terror
+
+Author: Alexandre Dumas
+
+Translator: R.S. Garnett
+
+Release Date: May 2, 2011 [EBook #36016]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRUSSIAN TERROR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Andrea Ball & Marc D'Hooghe at
+http://www/freeliterature.org (From images generously made
+available by the Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+THE PRUSSIAN TERROR
+
+BY
+
+ALEXANDRE DUMAS
+
+
+A FIRST TRANSLATION FROM THE FRENCH
+
+BY
+
+R.S. GARNETT
+
+
+WITH AN INTRODUCTION
+
+
+LONDON: STANLEY PAUL & CO
+
+PHILADELPHIA: DAVID MCKAY COMPANY
+
+1916
+
+
+[Illustration: ALEXANDRE DUMAS.]
+
+
+
+
+"L'ennemi, c'est le Prussien"
+
+GAMBETTA.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION
+
+CHAPTER I. BERLIN
+        II. THE HOUSE OF HOHENZOLLERN
+        III. COUNT VON BISMARCK
+        IV. IN WHICH BISMARCK EMERGES FROM AN IMPOSSIBLE POSITION
+        V. A SPORTSMAN AND A SPANIEL
+        VI. BENEDICT TURPIN
+        VII. KAULBACH'S STUDIO
+        VIII. THE CHALLENGE
+        IX. THE TWO DUELS
+        X. WHAT WAS WRITTEN IN A KING'S HAND
+        XI. BARON FREDERIC VON BULOW
+        XII. HELEN
+        XIII. COUNT KARL VON FREYBERG
+        XIV. THE GRANDMOTHER
+        XV. FRANKFORT-ON-MAIN
+        XVI. THE DEPARTURE
+        XVII. AUSTRIANS AND PRUSSIANS
+        XVIII. THE DECLARATION OF WAR
+        XIX. THE BATTLE OF LANGENSALZA
+        XX. IN WHICH BENEDICT'S PREDICTION CONTINUES TO BE FULFILLED
+        XXI. WHAT PASSED AT FRANKFURT BETWEEN THE BATTLES OF LANGENSALZA
+               AND SADOWA
+        XXII. THE FREE MEAL
+        XXIII. THE BATTLE OF ASCHAFFENBURG
+        XXIV. THE EXECUTOR
+        XXV. FRISK
+        XXVI. THE WOUNDED MAN
+        XXVII. THE PRUSSIANS AT FRANKFORT
+        XXVIII. GENERAL MANTEUFFEL'S THREATS
+        XXIX. GENERAL STURM
+        XXX. THE BREAKING OF THE STORM
+        XXXI. THE BURGOMASTER
+        XXXII. QUEEN AUGUSTA
+        XXXIII. THE TWO PROCESSIONS
+        XXXIV. THE TRANSFUSION OF BLOOD
+        XXXV. THE MARRIAGE _IN EXTREMIS_
+        XXXVI. "WAIT AND SEE"
+               CONCLUSION
+               EPILOGUE
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+"The enemy passed beneath our window and then out of view. A moment
+afterwards we heard the sound as it were of a hurricane; the house
+trembled to the gallop of horses. At the end of the street the enemy had
+been charged by our cavalry; and, not knowing our small numbers, they
+were returning at full speed hotly pursued by our men. Pell-mell they
+all passed by--a whirlwind of smoke and noise. Our soldiers fired and
+slashed away, the enemy on their side fired as they fled. Two or three
+bullets struck the house, one of them shattering a bar of the
+window-shutter through which I was looking on. The spectacle was at once
+magnificent and terrible. Pursued too closely the enemy had decided to
+face about, and there, twenty paces from us, was going on a combat life
+for life. I saw five or six of the enemy fall, and two or three of our
+men. Then, defeated after a ten minutes' struggle, the enemy trusted
+themselves again to the swiftness of their horses, and cleared off at
+full gallop. The pursuit recommenced, the whirlwind resumed its course,
+leaving, before it disappeared, three or four men strewn on the
+pavement. Suddenly we heard the drum beating to the charge. It was our
+hundred infantry soldiers who were coming up in their turn. They marched
+with fixed bayonets and disappeared at the bend of the road. Five
+minutes later we heard a sharp platoon firing. Then we saw our hussars
+reappearing, driven by five or six hundred cavalry; they reappeared the
+pursued, as they had started the pursuers. Amid this second tempest of
+men it was impossible to see or distinguish anything; only, when it was
+past, three or four dead bodies more lay stretched on the ground."
+
+The boy who saw these scenes, to record them in his Memoirs many years
+later, was living with his mother at Villers-Cotterets, on the Soissons
+road in the Aisne, where fierce fighting between our little army and our
+allies the French on the one hand, and the Germans on the other, is
+taking place as these lines are being written. The time was 1814.
+Napoleon had retreated from Moscow and had lost the battle of Leipzig,
+and the Russians, Prussians, and Austrians in alliance were gradually
+closing in on France. All confidence in Napoleon's star had disappeared.
+Every hour was bringing the roar of cannon nearer to Paris: in a few
+days the Allies were to enter it and Napoleon to sign the decree of
+abdication and leave for Elba.
+
+The name of the boy was Alexandre Dumas. His mother had filled her
+cellar with furniture, bedding, and household goods, and had then had a
+new plank floor made for the room above, so that treasure seekers might
+look in vain, and had buried her little store of money in a box in the
+middle of the garden. She was as much in terror of Napoleon as she was
+of the Prussian and Russian troops. If her own countrymen, the French,
+were beaten, she and her son might be killed, but if Napoleon was
+victorious he would want her son as a soldier. Now Alexandre was twelve
+and conscription began at sixteen.
+
+The boy's father, General Alexandre Dumas, was dead, and as on account
+of his republican principles the First Consul had disgraced, exiled, and
+ruined him, so by the Emperor the widow and her son were disowned,
+forgotten and left to starve. In spite of this Madame Dumas's neighbours
+called her a Bonapartist, her husband having fought under Bonaparte, and
+the term Bonapartist was one which was presently to amount to an
+accusation as Louis XVIII neared the throne.
+
+The enemy seen by the boy fighting in the street were
+Prussians--Prussians long expected by his mother, who had made three
+successive enormous dishes of haricot mutton for their pacification.
+Although young Alexandre had partaken of the mutton and thought very
+little of the threatened danger before it occurred, he never forgot the
+sudden Prussian inroad and the dead men left outside this door. And he
+often said that the Valley of the Aisne might see the Prussians again.
+
+In 1848, when a candidate for the Chamber of Deputies, Dumas lost many
+votes by making a speech in the course of which, when passing the state
+of Europe in review, he said. "Geographically, Prussia has the shape of
+a serpent, and like a serpent it seems always to sleep and prepare to
+swallow everything around it--Denmark, Holland, and Belgium; and when it
+has engulfed them all you will see that Austria will pass in its turn
+and perhaps, alas! France also."
+
+In June 1866 Prussia's rapid campaign against Austria startled Europe.
+Every thoughtful man was calculating the consequences of the
+preponderance of Prussia in Germany, and Dumas was one of those
+Frenchmen who were seized with sad presentiments of the future for their
+own country. Particularly does he appear to have been struck with the
+barbarous conduct of the Prussians in the free city of Frankfort[1]
+which the newspapers were daily reporting. Unable to remain at home
+while such events were occurring, he travelled to Frankfort and observed
+them for himself. Then he went to Gotha, Hanover, and Berlin; he visited
+the battlefields of Langensalza and Sadowa and returned to Paris with
+his notebooks crammed with precious details, his pockets bulging with
+unpublished documents.
+
+Then M. Hollander, the owner of the political journal "The Situation,"
+came running to the author of "The Three Musketeers," "Queen Margot,"
+and of so many other famous historical romances to ask for one to be
+called "The Prussian Terror." Dumas, who like M. Hollander was anxious
+to do all he could to arouse France, fast crumbling under the Second
+Empire, to a sense of her danger from Prussia, gladly complied. Such is
+the genesis of this book in which on every page the author seems to
+say--"Awake! the danger is at hand."
+
+To render it more easily intelligible to readers of the present day who
+appear to us to know very little of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, let
+us glance at the important events which the newspaper proprietor and the
+historical romancer had in mind.
+
+The death of the King of Denmark occurred in 1863[2] and North Germany
+buzzed like a swarm of angry bees over the Duchies of Schleswig,
+Holstein, and Luxemburg. By the treaty of London (1852), which fixed the
+succession to the Danish Crown, Austria and Prussia, although
+signatories to it, denied the right of the new king to those duchies and
+claimed them as part of Germany. In February 1864 Austrian and Prussian
+troops crossed the Danish border. The Danes fought well, but were forced
+to submit and eventually the duchies were made over to their enemies.
+
+Then Prussia, which had long looked with jealousy on the power of
+Austria and considered a war with her inevitable sooner or later,
+opposed her desire to form the duchies into a separate state under the
+Duke of Augustenburg. Austria referred the matter to the Frankfort Diet,
+which decided in favour of the duke, but Bismarck, as Prussia's Prime
+Minister, to secure the complete control of North Germany, required
+that, not only the duchies but the whole of Hanover, Hesse Cassel, Hesse
+Nassau, and the city of Frankfort should be absorbed in Prussia. Both
+Prussia and Austria prepared for war, Prussia entering into an alliance
+with Victor Emanuel. On June 7th Prussian troops entered Holstein.
+
+On June 14th, in regard to the decisive question whether the federal
+army should be mobilized, Hanover voted in the Diet with Austria, and by
+so doing irrevocably declared on which side she would range herself in
+the approaching struggle. Prussia at once issued an ultimatum to
+Hanover, requesting her to maintain neutrality and to accept her scheme
+for the reformation of the Confederation. Hanover immediately rejected
+these demands and Prussian troops at once crossed the frontier. The
+resulting battles are known as those of Langensalza and Aschaffenburg.
+The Austrians were disastrously defeated in the terrific battle of
+Sadowa or Konigsratz, and Bismarck was thus nearer to the formation of
+German Unity under Prussia.
+
+After Sadowa, the first act of the Prussians was to enter the "free"
+city of Frankfort, which did not attempt any defence, relying as it did
+on its treaties, and terrorise its inhabitants. It was these "acts of
+terror," then, of which M. Hollander and Dumas were particularly
+thinking, hoping that the recital of them in a popular romance would do
+something to awaken France.
+
+It has been repeatedly stated that before the Franco-German War of 1870
+the German soldiers were guiltless of acts of atrocity. This story
+proves the contrary, and it is not a little curious that no work in the
+English language, save books of reference, covering the ground traversed
+by "The Prussian Terror," appears to be now accessible. For this reason
+alone Dumas's book, which, though in story form, is an authoritative
+contribution to history, deserves attention at the present time. Apart
+from this, it is so spirited and interesting that it is quite surprising
+that at so late a date--forty-seven years after its original issue--I
+should be the first to offer a version[3] to the British public.
+
+Dumas was still living in Paris when, in the summer of 1869, war was
+declared with Germany. His health was now bad, and his son, the author
+of "La Dame aux Camelias," did not wish him to remain during the siege.
+In the autumn he took his father with him to Puys near Dieppe, where he
+had a villa. There Dumas died on December 5th, 1870.
+
+He did not know it--news being kept from him--but during his last days
+his worst prognostications had been verified. A detachment of the
+Prussian army was actually taking possession of Dieppe as he breathed
+his last. While the soldiers marched along the streets, their bands
+playing German airs and the inhabitants hid in their houses behind
+shuttered windows, the news flew round the town that the country had
+lost Alexandre Dumas, the most typically French writer who has ever
+existed. The coffin was borne to the grave at Neuville, where the
+German soldiers were in occupation, before a Prussian patrol. In 1872
+the body was exhumed, and buried in the family tomb at Villers-Cotterets.
+Hard by, where as a boy of twelve Dumas heard the Prussian cannon, three
+nations are now fighting.
+
+R.S. GARNETT.
+
+
+[1] Dumas knew Frankfort well, having lived there for some time in 1838
+with Gerard de Nerval, the author of "Les Filles de Feu."
+
+[2] These facts are taken from the "Encyclopaedia Britannica."
+
+[3] It should be stated that M. Hollander, who wished the brilliant name
+of Dumas to shine on as many issues of his newspaper as possible,
+stipulated for not less than sixty _feuilletons_. Dumas complied, but
+was forced to include some hunting stories which he puts into the mouth
+of his hero, Benedict Turpin. These stories will not be found in the
+present volume.
+
+
+
+
+THE PRUSSIAN TERROR
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+BERLIN
+
+
+The architect of Berlin appears to have carefully designed his plan
+according to line and rule in order to produce a capital of dullness as
+far removed from the picturesque as his ingenuity could accomplish. Seen
+from the cathedral, which is the loftiest point attainable, the place
+suggests an enormous chess-board on which the Royal Palace, the Museum,
+Cathedral, and other important buildings fairly represent kings, queens,
+and castles. And, much as Paris is intersected by the Seine, so is
+Berlin divided by the Spree, except that instead of surrounding one
+island, as does the former river, two artificial canals branch out right
+and left like the handles of a vase, and form two islands of unequal
+size in the centre of the town. Berlin being the capital of Privilege,
+one of these islands is distinguished by possessing the Royal Palace,
+the Cathedral, the Museum, the Bourse, most other public buildings, and
+a score of houses which in Turin, the Berlin of Italy, would certainly
+be called palaces; the other contains nothing remarkable, corresponding
+to the Parisian Rue Saint-Jacques and the quarter Saint-Andre-des-Arts.
+
+The aristocratic, the smart Berlin lies to the right and left of the
+Friedrich Strasse, which extends from the Place de La Belle Alliance by
+which one enters Berlin to that of Oranienburg by which one leaves it,
+and which is crossed nearly in the middle by the Unter den Linden. This
+famous promenade traverses the fashionable quarter and extends from the
+Royal Palace to the Place d'Armes. It owes its name to two rows of
+magnificent lime trees which form a charming promenade on each side of
+the broad carriage-way. Both sides abound in cafes and restaurants,
+whose crowds of customers, overflowing in summer on to the public road,
+cause a considerable amount of lively motion. This, however, never rises
+into noisy horse-play or clamour, for the Prussian prefers to amuse
+himself _sub rosa_, and keeps his gaiety within doors.
+
+But on June 7th, 1866, as beautiful a day as Prussia can produce, Unter
+den Linden, at about six in the evening, presented a scene of most
+unusual commotion. The excitement was caused in the first place by the
+increasingly hostile attitude assumed by Prussia towards Austria, in
+refusing to allow the States of Holstein to proceed to the election of
+the Duke of Augustenburg, also by the general arming on all sides, by
+reports concerning the immediate calling up of the Landwehr and the
+dissolution of the Chamber, and finally by rumours of telegrams from
+France containing threats against Prussia, said to have been made by
+Louis Napoleon himself.
+
+It is necessary to travel in Prussia before one can in the least
+comprehend the sort of hatred therein cherished against the French. It
+is a species of monomania which distorts even the very clearest vision.
+No minister can be popular, no orator will gain a hearing unless the one
+lets it be supposed his policy is for war, and the other can produce
+some brilliant epigram or clever _sous-entendu_ levelled against France.
+Nor will the title of poet be allowed, unless the claimant can qualify
+by being the author of some popular rhyme, entitled "The Rhine,"
+"Leipzig," or "Waterloo."
+
+Whence comes this hatred for France--a deep, inveterate, indestructible
+hatred which seems to pervade the very earth and air? It is impossible
+to say. Can it date from the time when a legion from Gaul, the advanced
+guard of the Roman army, first entered Germany? Abandoning this idea we
+come down to the battle of Rosbach as a possible cause, in which case
+the German national character must be an uncommonly bad one, seeing they
+beat us there. Still later, it might possibly be explained by the
+military inferiority shown by the pupils of Frederic the Great ever
+since the Duke of Brunswick's famous manifesto threatening that not one
+stone of Paris should be left on another! One battle, that of Valmy,
+expelled the Prussians from France in 1792; and another, that of Jena,
+opened the gates of Berlin to us in 1806. Still, to these dates, our
+enemies--no, our rivals--can oppose the names of Leipzig and of
+Waterloo. Of Leipzig, however, they cannot claim more than a quarter,
+seeing their army was combined with those of Russia, Austria, and
+Sweden, to say nothing of that of Saxony, which also deserves to be
+remembered. Nor is more than one-half of Waterloo to their credit, for
+Napoleon, who till then had the advantage, was already exhausted by a
+six hours' struggle with the English when they arrived.
+
+Consequently, remembering this heritage of hate, which, indeed, they
+have always shown quite openly--one could not be surprised at the
+popular emotion caused by a rumour, non-official but widely spread, that
+France would throw down the gauntlet and join in the impending conflict.
+Many, however, doubted the news, as not a word of it had appeared in the
+"Staat's Anzeiger" that morning. Berlin, like Paris, has its faithful
+adherents to the Government and the "Moniteur," who believe that the
+latter cannot lie, and that a paternal Government would never, never
+keep back news interesting to its affectionate subjects. These were
+joined by the readers of the "Tages Telegraphe" ("Daily Telegraphic
+News"), certain that their special organ would have known whatever was
+to be known, and also by those of the ministerial and aristocratic
+"Kreuz Zeitung," who equally declined to believe anything not contained
+in its usually well-informed columns. And besides these one heard the
+names of a dozen other daily or weekly issues bandied from side to side
+in the excited crowd, until suddenly a harsh cry of "French news! French
+news! Telegraphic News" "One kreutzer," succeeded in dominating the din.
+
+The effect produced on the crowd may be imagined. Despite the proverbial
+Prussian economy, every hand sought its pocket and drawing forth a
+kreutzer, proceeded to exchange it for the square bit of paper
+containing the long-desired news. And indeed the importance of the
+contents made amends for the delay in obtaining it. The dispatch ran as
+follows:
+
+"June 6th, 1866. His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon III, having gone to
+Auxerre, in order to be present at the provincial assembly, was met at
+the gates of the town by the mayor, who presented an address, offering
+the respectful homage of himself and the inhabitants. His Majesty
+replied in the following terms, which do not require to be explained to
+our countrymen. Their meaning must be sufficiently clear to all.
+
+"I see with much pleasure that Auxerre still remembers the First Empire.
+Let me assure you that I, on my side, have inherited the feelings of
+affection entertained by the Chief of our family for the patriotic and
+energetic communities which supported him alike through good and evil.
+And I myself owe a debt of gratitude to the department of the Yonne as
+being one of the first to declare for me in 1848. It knew, as indeed the
+greater part of the nation knew, that its interests and mine were
+identical and that we both equally detested those treaties of 1815,
+which are used to-day as a means of controlling our external policy."
+
+Here the dispatch broke off, the sender evidently not considering the
+remainder of the emperor's discourse worth transcribing. Certainly his
+meaning was sufficiently clear without it. Nevertheless some minutes
+elapsed before the sense of the communication was understood by the
+readers, and evoked the display of hatred which naturally followed.
+
+When at last they began to comprehend and to see the hand of the nephew
+of Napoleon the Great overshadowing their beloved Rhine, there arose
+from one end of Unter den Linden to the other such a tempest of threats,
+howls, and hurrahs, that, to borrow Schiller's lively expression, one
+would have thought the encircling hoops of the heavenly concave must all
+be burst asunder. Threatening toasts were called, curses shouted, and
+fists shaken against offending France. A Gottingen student springing on
+a table began to recite with due emphasis Rueckert's ferocious poem
+entitled "The Return," in which a Prussian soldier, having returned home
+in consequence of peace being declared, bitterly regrets the various
+outrages he is in consequence debarred from committing. Needless to say,
+this recital was enthusiastically applauded. Shouts of "Bravo!" and
+"Hurrah!" mixed with cries of "Long live King William!" "Hurrah for
+Prussia!" "Down with France!" formed an accompaniment which would
+doubtless have been continued to the next piece, the reciter proposing
+to give a lyric by Theodor Korner. The announcement was received with
+loud applause.
+
+It was, however, by no means the only safety valve at which the passion
+of the surging crowd, now at white heat, sought and found a vent. A
+little lower down, at the corner of the Friedrich Strasse, a well-known
+singer happened to be returning from rehearsal, and as he chanced on one
+occasion to have made a hit by singing "The German Rhine" some one who
+remembered this raised a cry of "The German Rhine! the German Rhine!
+Heinrich! sing 'The German Rhine!'" The crowd instantly recognized and
+surrounded the artist, who, owning a fine voice, and being familiar with
+the piece demanded, did not wait to be asked twice, but gratified his
+audience by singing his very best, thereby far surpassing the Return in
+the tremendous reception he obtained.
+
+But all at once a loud and furious hiss which might have issued from the
+throttle of a steam engine was heard above all the wild applause, and
+produced the effect of a blow in the face bestowed on the singer. A bomb
+suddenly exploding in the crowd could hardly have been more effective;
+the hiss was answered by a dull roar something like that which precedes
+a hurricane and every eye was turned towards the quarter whence it
+proceeded.
+
+Standing by a solitary table was a handsome young man, apparently about
+five-and-twenty, fair-haired, fair-skinned, rather slightly built, and
+in face, moustache and costume somewhat resembling the portrait of
+Vandyke. He had just opened a bottle of champagne and held a foaming
+glass aloft. Undisturbed by angry looks and threatening gestures he drew
+himself up, placed one foot on his chair, and raising his glass above
+his head cried loudly, "Vive la France!" then swallowed the contents at
+one draught.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE HOUSE OF HOHENZOLLERN
+
+
+The immense crowd surrounding the young Frenchman remained for a moment
+dumb with stupefaction. Many, not understanding French, failed to
+comprehend his meaning, and others who did understand, appreciating his
+courage in thug braving a furious crowd, surveyed him with more
+astonishment than anger. Others again, who realized that a dire insult
+had been offered them, would nevertheless with typical German
+deliberation have allowed him time to escape had he wished. But the
+young man's demeanour showed that, whatever the consequences of his
+bravado, he intended to face them. Presently a threatening murmur of
+"Franzose, Franzose," arose from the crowd.
+
+"Yes," said he, in as good German as might be heard anywhere between
+Thionville and Memel. "Yes, I am French. My name is Benedict Turpin. I
+have studied at Heidelberg and might pass for a German since I can speak
+your language as well as most of those here, and better than some. Also
+I can use a rapier, pistol, sword, sabre, single-stick, boxing gloves,
+or any other weapon you like to choose. Any one wishing for satisfaction
+may find me at the Black Eagle."
+
+The young man had hardly finished his audacious defiance when four men
+of the lower class advanced upon him. The crowd kept silence, and the
+contemptuous words, "What! four to one? Leipzig again! Come on! I am
+ready!" were distinctly heard. Then, not waiting to be attacked, the
+young Frenchman sprang at the nearest and broke the bottle of champagne
+over his head, blinding him with foam. The second he tripped up,
+throwing him a good ten paces off, and disposed of the third with a
+vigorous blow in the ribs which hurled him against a chair. Then,
+seizing the fourth by the collar and grasping his waist he actually held
+him aloft in the air for a moment, then flinging him on the ground he
+placed a foot on his chest.
+
+"Is not Leipzig avenged?" said he.
+
+Then at last the tempest burst. A rush was made for the Frenchman, but
+he, still keeping a foot on his fallen enemy, seized a chair and whirled
+it round him so vigorously that for a moment the crowd was held at bay
+and only ventured on threats. But the circle drew closer, some one
+grasped the chair and succeeded in stopping it. A few moments more and
+the audacious Frenchman would probably have been torn to pieces had not
+two or three Prussian officers intervened. They forced their way through
+the crowd and formed a guard around the young man, one of them addressed
+the crowd thus:
+
+"Come, come, my friends, don't murder a brave young man because he does
+not forget he is a Frenchman and has cried 'Vive la France!' He will now
+cry 'Vive Guillaume IV!' and we will let him off." Then, whispering to
+Benedict, "Cry 'Vive Guillaume IV!' or I can't answer for your life."
+
+"Yes!" bawled the crowd, "let him cry 'Vive Guillaume IV!--Vive la
+Prusse!' and we will let him go."
+
+"Very well," said Benedict, "but I prefer to do so freely, and without
+compulsion. Leave me alone and let me speak from a table."
+
+"Stand aside and let him pass," said the officers, releasing Benedict
+and leaving him free. "He wishes to address you."
+
+"Let him speak! let him speak!" cried the crowd.
+
+"Gentlemen!" said Benedict, mounting the table nearest to the open
+windows of the cafe, "oblige me by listening. I cannot cry 'Vive la
+Prusse,' because at this very moment my country may be at war with
+yours, in which case a Frenchman would disgrace himself if he cried
+anything except 'Vive la France.' Nor can I very well cry 'Vive le roi
+Guillaume,' because, not being my king, it does not matter to me whether
+he lives or dies. But I will recite some charming verses in answer to
+your 'German Rhine!'"
+
+The audience heard him impatiently, not knowing what he meant to recite.
+They had another disappointment in discovering that the lines in
+question were not German but French. However, they listened with all the
+more attention. In enumerating his accomplishments Benedict had omitted
+those of amateur actor and elocutionist. The lines were those written by
+de Musset in response to the "German Rhine," and they lost nothing in
+his impassioned delivery. Those among his hearers able to follow the
+reciter soon perceived that they had been tricked into listening to
+truths they had no desire to hear. Once this was understood, the storm,
+momentarily lulled, burst forth with redoubled violence.
+
+Knowing that there would be no further chance of protection, Benedict
+was carefully considering the distance between his table and the nearest
+window, when suddenly the attention of the crowd was diverted by the
+report of several pistol-shots rapidly fired in the immediate vicinity.
+Turning towards the sound they perceived a well-dressed young civilian,
+struggling desperately with a much older man in colonel's uniform. The
+young man fired again, with the only result of further exasperating his
+adversary, who seized him with a grasp of iron, and, disdaining to call
+for help, shook him as a terrier shakes a rat. Then, throwing him down,
+he knelt upon the would-be murderer's chest, tore the now useless
+revolver from his hand, and placed the barrel against his forehead.
+"Yes, fire, fire!" gasped the young man. But the colonel, in whom the
+bystanders now recognized the powerful minister, Count von Bismarck,
+changed his mind. He pocketed the revolver, and beckoning to two
+officers, "Gentlemen," said he, "this young man is probably mad, or at
+any rate he is a clumsy fool. He attacked me without the slightest
+provocation and has fired five times without hitting me. You had better
+consign him to the nearest prison whilst I acquaint the king with what
+has happened. I think I need hardly mention my name--Count von
+Bismarck."
+
+Then, wrapping his handkerchief round his hand which had been slightly
+scratched in the conflict, the count retraced his steps towards the
+royal palace hardly a hundred yards distant, while the two officers
+handed the assassin over to the police. One of them accompanied him to
+the prison, where he was at once incarcerated. The crowd having now time
+to remember Benedict Turpin found that he had vanished. However, this
+did not trouble them much, for the excitement of the more recent event
+had changed the course of their ideas. Let us profit by the interval and
+glance at the characters who are destined to appear in our recital. But,
+first let us examine the stage on which they will play their several
+parts.
+
+Least German of all Germanic states, Prussia is inhabited by a mixture
+of races. Besides Germans proper, numbers of Slavonians are found there.
+There are also descendants of the Wends, Letts, Lithuanians, Poles, and
+other early tribes, and a mixture of Frankish refugees. The prosperity,
+though not perhaps the grandeur of the House of Hohenzollern, began with
+Duke Frederic, the greatest usurer of his day. It is as impossible to
+calculate the enormous sums wrung from the Jews as to narrate the means
+by which they were extorted. At first a vassal of the Emperor
+Wenceslaus, when that monarch's impending fall became evident Frederic
+deserted his camp for that of his rival Otho, and when Otho's crown
+began to totter, he passed over to Sigismund, brother of Wenceslaus.
+
+In 1400 A.D., the same year in which Charles VI ennobled the goldsmith
+Raoul, as a reward for financial help, Sigismund, equally embarrassed,
+borrowed 100,000 florins from Frederic, giving him the Margravate of
+Brandenburg as security. Fifteen years later, Sigismund having had to
+provide for the extravagance of the Council of Constance, found himself
+in debt to Frederic for 400,000 florins. Utterly unable to pay, he sold,
+or granted in compensation, both the Marches of Brandenburg and the
+dignity of Elector. In 1701 the electorate rose into a kingdom and the
+Duke Frederic III became the King Frederic I of Prussia.
+
+The Hohenzollerns display the faults and the characteristics of their
+race. Their exchequer is admirably managed, but the moral balance-sheet
+of their administration can rarely be compared with the financial one.
+They have advanced on the lines of Duke Frederic, with more or less
+hypocrisy, but with ever-increasing rapacity. Thus in 1525, Albert of
+Hohenzollern, Grand Master of the Teutonic knights, then lords of
+Prussia, forsook his faith and became a Lutheran, receiving in return
+the rank of Hereditary Duke of Prussia, under the over-lordship of
+Poland. And in 1613, the Elector John Sigismund, wishing to obtain the
+duchy of Cleves, followed Albert's example and became a Calvinist.
+
+The policy of the Great Elector has been summed up by Leibnitz in a
+single phrase: "I side with him who pays best." To him is due the
+formation of the European permanent standing army, and it was his second
+wife, the famous Dorothea, who started shops and taverns in Berlin for
+the disposal of her beer and dairy produce. The military genius of the
+Great Frederic is beyond dispute, but it was he who, in order to curry
+favour with the Russian Court, offered to "supply" the Grand Dukes with
+German princesses "at the lowest reasonable rate!" One lady thus
+"supplied" a princess of Anhalt, is known as "Catherine the Great." We
+may remark incidentally that he also is chiefly responsible for the
+partition of Poland, a crime which has weighted the Prussian crown with
+the malediction of nations, and which he celebrated by this scandalously
+impious summons to his brother Henry, "Come, let us receive the
+Eucharist of the body of Poland!" To Frederic also, we owe the
+economical maxim, "He dines best who eats at another's table!"
+
+Frederic died childless, a fact for which, oddly enough, historians have
+seen fit to blame him. His nephew and successor, William II, invaded
+France in 1792. His entry, preceded by the famous manifesto of the Duke
+of Brunswick, was ostentatious to a degree, but his departure,
+accompanied by Danton and Dumouriez, was accomplished without sound of
+trumpet or drum.
+
+He was succeeded by the "Man of Jena," Frederic William III. Among the
+numerous stupid, and servile letters received by the Emperor Napoleon in
+the days of his prosperity, must be counted those of William III.
+
+Frederic William IV--we are rapidly approaching our own times--came to
+the throne in June 1840. According to the Hohenzollern custom his first
+ministry was a liberal one and on his accession he remarked to Alexander
+von Humboldt:
+
+"As a noble I am the first gentleman in the kingdom; as a king I am only
+the first citizen."
+
+Charles X had said much the same on succeeding to the crown of France,
+or, rather, M. de Martignac had said it for him.
+
+The first proof the king gave of his liberalism was an attempt to drill
+properly the intellectual forces of the kingdom, which duty he entrusted
+to the Minister Eichhorn. The name--it means "squirrel"--was quite
+prophetic. At the end of ten years the project had not advanced a step,
+although the minister himself had done wonders of perpetual revolution.
+On the other hand reaction had progressed. The press was persecuted,
+promotion and rewards were obtained only by hypocrites and informers.
+High office could only be acquired by becoming a servile instrument of
+the pietistic party, which was headed by the king.
+
+Frederic William and King Louis of Bavaria were the two most literary of
+contemporary sovereigns. But Louis encouraged Art under whatever form it
+appeared, whereas Frederic William wished it to be drilled into a sort
+of auxiliary to despotism. Feeling himself constrained, like our great
+satirist Boileau, to give an example of good manners to both court and
+city, he began a correspondence with Louis, in the course of which he
+sent the latter a quatrain commenting on the scandal caused by his
+intimacy with Lola Montes. The King of Bavaria replied in another which
+made the round of all the courts of Europe.
+
+     "Contempteur de l'amour, dont adore l'ivresse,
+      Frere, tu dis que, roi sans pudeur, sans vertu,
+      Je garde a tort Lola, ma fille enchanteresse.
+      Je te l'enverrai bien.--Oui; mais qu'en ferais-tu?"
+
+And, by general consent of the wits, the laugh remained on the side of
+the versatile King Louis.
+
+After six years of domiciliary visits, suppressions, and summary
+expulsions of offending journalists, the Prussian Diet at length
+assembled at Berlin. In his opening speech the king addressed the
+deputies thus:
+
+"Recollect, gentlemen, that you are here to represent the interests of
+the people, but _not_ their _sentiments_."
+
+A little later in the year, Frederic William inaugurated his Divine
+Right by observing as he tore up the Constitution:
+
+"I shall not allow a scrap of paper to stand between my people and their
+God!" meaning, though he did not dare to say it, "between my people and
+me."
+
+Then the revolution of 1848 burst forth, and did not spare Berlin, which
+was soon in full revolt. The king lost his head completely. In leaving
+the town he had to drive past the dead bodies of rioters killed in the
+struggle. There was a shout of "Hats off!" and the king was obliged to
+remain uncovered while the people sang the famous hymn composed by the
+Great Electress.
+
+     "Jesus, my Redeemer lives."
+
+Every one knows how Absolutism succeeded in dominating the National
+Assembly, and how presently reaction brought the following leaders into
+power:
+
+Manteuffel, whose policy led to the unfortunate Austrian triumph at
+Olmutz.
+
+Westphalen, who revived provincial councils, and brought the king to the
+famous Warsaw interview.
+
+Statel, a converted Jew and Protestant Jesuit, a Grand Inquisitor who
+had missed his vocation.
+
+And, lastly, the two Gerlachs, intriguers of the first water, whose
+history belongs to that of the two spies, Ladunberg and Techen.
+
+Although the Constitution, establishing two Chambers, was sworn to by
+William IV, February 6th, 1850, it was not until his successor, William
+Louis, was on the throne that both Upper and Lower Chambers began to
+legislate.
+
+A league was now formed by the bureaucracy, the orthodox clergy, the
+provincial squirearchy, and some of the proletariat. This was the origin
+of the famous association inappropriately designated the _Patriotic_
+Association, which had for its aim the annihilation of the Constitution.
+
+There now appeared as First President of the Association at Konigsberg,
+the Count von Bismarck, who has played so great a part in Prussian
+history. We cannot do less for him than we have done for the
+Hohenzollerns, that is to say, we must devote an entire chapter to him
+and to the Prussia of to-day. For is not the Count von Bismarck a much
+greater monarch than the King of Prussia himself?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+COUNT VON BISMARCK
+
+
+Many have sought, and some profess to have found, the reasons for the
+remarkable royal favour enjoyed by Count Bismarck, but the chief, and to
+our thinking the only one, is the extraordinary genius which even his
+enemies dare not dispute, notwithstanding the fact that genius is
+usually anything but a passport to the favour of kings.
+
+We will relate one or two little anecdotes concerning the Prime
+Minister, beginning with one which does not refer to him personally, but
+may serve as a sort of preface to another. Every one knows the absurd
+point to which military etiquette is carried in Prussia.
+
+A Pomeranian general--Pomerania may be called the Prussian
+Boeotia--being in garrison at Darmstadt and being bored even to the
+fullest possibility of Darmstadt boredom, was standing at his window,
+wishing for a conflagration, a revolution, an earthquake--anything--when
+he beheld an officer in the distance--an officer minus his sword! An
+awful breach of discipline! "Ah!" thought the delighted general, "here
+is a lieutenant to make a scapegoat of. Ten minutes' lecture and a
+fortnight's arrest! What luck!"
+
+The unsuspecting officer drew nearer, and when within hail: "Lieutenant
+Rupert," shouted the general. The officer looked up, saw the general,
+and immediately remembering his missing sword, understood his terrible
+position. The general had seen him; he could not go back, and he felt he
+must brave the storm. The general beamed and rubbed his hands cheerfully
+at the prospect of some amusement at last. The lieutenant plucked up
+courage, entered the house, and arriving at the ante-room, beheld a
+regulation sword hanging on the wall. "What a mercy!" he murmured,
+unhooking the sword and quickly buckling it on. Then looking as innocent
+as possible, he entered the room, and standing at attention by the door,
+
+"The general did me the honour to call," he said.
+
+"Yes," said the general with severity, "I have to enquire--" he stopped
+suddenly, observing that the culprit's sword was at his side. His
+expression changed, and he said smiling:
+
+"Yes, I wanted to ask, I wanted to ask--What on earth was it? Ah, yes. I
+wanted to ask after your family, Lieutenant Rupert. I particularly
+wished to enquire after your father."
+
+"If my father could hear of your kind feeling towards him, general, he
+would be greatly gratified. Unhappily, he died twenty years ago."
+
+The general looked considerably taken aback.
+
+The young officer continued: "Have you any further commands, sir?"
+
+"Why, no," said the general. "Only this. Never be seen without your
+sword. Had you been without it to-day, I should have given you a
+fortnight's arrest."
+
+"I will take the greatest care, sir! You see?" answered the lieutenant,
+boldly indicating the sword which hung at his side.
+
+"Yes, yes, I see. It is all right. You can go now."
+
+The young man lost no time in profiting by the permission; he saluted,
+left the room, and carefully hung up the sword as he went through the
+ante-room. As he left the house the general, being again at the window,
+again saw that he had no sword. He summoned his wife:
+
+"Look here," he said, "do you see that officer?"
+
+"Certainly I do," she replied.
+
+"Has he a sword or not?"
+
+"He has not."
+
+"Well then, you are mistaken; he looks as if he hadn't one, but he has."
+
+The lady made no remark, being accustomed to accept whatever her husband
+said. The young officer escaped with the fright, and took good care not
+to forget his sword a second time.
+
+Well, a similar misfortune--more, a real humiliation of this kind very
+nearly happened to the King of Prussia, when he was only the Prince
+Royal. Von Bismarck was then merely an attache at the Frankfort Legation
+without any handle to his name. When the prince stopped at Frankfort on
+his way to a review at Mayence von Bismarck had the honour of being told
+off to accompany him.
+
+It was a hot day in August and the railway carriages were stifling.
+Etiquette notwithstanding, everyone from the prince downward,
+unbuttoned his coat. On arriving at Mayence, where the troops were drawn
+up at the station to receive him, the prince refastened his coat but
+left one button undone. He was just leaving the carriage, when, luckily,
+von Bismarck noticed the oversight.
+
+"Good heavens, prince!" he exclaimed, "what are you about?"
+
+And, for once forgetting etiquette, which forbids the royal person to be
+contaminated by profane fingers, he sprang forward and fastened the
+offending button. Hence, according to some, came the royal favour, for
+the king, greatly embarrassed by the events of '58, reflected that the
+man who had saved his credit at Mayence might also save his crown at
+Berlin.
+
+The count now became the leader of the "Junker" faction, voiced by the
+"Kreuz Zeitung." He was, in fact, the fittest man for the position,
+possessing oratorical eloquence, great mental and physical activity, and
+a complete conviction that any sort of means is justified by the end.
+And, the end accomplished, he flung from the height of his tribune this
+epigram in the face of an astonished Chamber: "Might is Right!" in three
+words summing up both his political creed and the direct consequences
+which followed.
+
+The life-giving principles of humanity should be exemplified by three
+nations:
+
+     Commercial activity by England.
+     Moral expansion by Germany.
+     Intellectual brilliance by France.
+
+If we ask why Germany does not occupy the great position assigned to her
+we find the answer in this: France has attained freedom of thought, but
+Germany is allowed only the freedom of a dreamer. The sole atmosphere in
+which she can breathe freely is that of the fortress or the prison. And
+if we wonder why the rest of Germany is ruled by the rod of Prussia the
+explanation may be found in this: German _manners_ do not exist, but
+there is a national _genius_; a genius which desired no revolution, but
+peace and liberty, and, above all--intellectual independence. This
+desire was Prussia's greatest difficulty; she fought it, she weakened
+it, and she hopes to conquer it entirely. She boasts of her compulsory
+education; her children are indeed taught all they can be taught, but
+once out of school they are never permitted to think for themselves.
+
+The Junker faction is composed chiefly of younger sons who have to seek
+either an official career or a military one. Failing this, they must
+depend on the head of the family for a decent maintenance. With very few
+exceptions there is no "old nobility" in Prussia, the aristocracy is not
+distinguished by either wealth or intellect. A few names here and there
+recall ancient Germanic history; others belong to Prussian military
+annals. But the rest of the nobility can claim no distinction, and have
+only owned their estates for a century or two.
+
+Consequently, nearly all the liberal and progressive members of the
+Chamber depend, either by position or office, on the Government, and not
+one of them was strong enough to fight against a despotism which seizes
+a child at the moment of his birth, guides him through adolescence, and
+escorts him for the rest of his life. Therefore Count von Bismarck could
+insult both Chamber and deputies with impunity, knowing that their
+complaints would rouse no answering echo in the country, while at Court
+they were considered as being next door to the servants. On one occasion
+the President Grabow, being present at a state concert, was going to
+occupy a chair in one of the less crowded rooms, when a footman stopped
+him with "These chairs are meant for Excellencies, sir."
+
+"Indeed, my friend," answered the President, "I am evidently out of
+place here."
+
+From the advent of Hohenzollern supremacy may be dated the decay of
+moral independence, both in Prussia and the other Germanic states. Not
+only have the Hohenzollerns failed to exercise any civilizing influence
+by encouraging literature and purifying the language, but they have
+changed Minerva into Pallas, and the beneficent deity of knowledge and
+wisdom has become the Medusa-brandishing goddess of war.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+IN WHICH BISMARCK EMERGES FROM AN IMPOSSIBLE POSITION
+
+
+Now for three months past Bismarck had been in an impossible position,
+and no one could predict how he would emerge from it. Notwithstanding
+the important events which were being enacted from China to Mexico, it
+was upon him that the eyes of Europe were fixed.
+
+Old ministers, experienced in all the wiles of diplomacy, followed him
+with their eyes, spyglass in hand, never doubting that the epoch-making
+minister had an accomplice on the throne in a policy of which they
+vainly sought for precedents in the world's history. If, however, there
+should prove to be no accomplice, they pronounced that he must be a fool
+without an equal.
+
+Young diplomats, modestly aware that they did not quite rank with the
+Talleyrands, the Metternichs, or Nesselrodes, studied him more
+seriously, believing they desired the infancy of a new policy destined
+to carry their epoch to its zenith, whispering the question which
+Germany has asked for three hundred years: "_Ist es der Mann?_" (Can it
+be the Man?) To make this question comprehensible we must tell our
+readers that Germany awaits a liberator as the Jews awaited a Messiah.
+Whenever her chains gall her, she exclaims: "_Wo bleibt der Mann?_"
+(Where, then, is the Man?)
+
+Now, some pretend that to-day in Germany a fourth party, which up to the
+present has been crouching in the gloom, is preparing to emerge--a
+horrible figure, if the poets of Germany are to be believed. Listen to
+Heine on the subject:
+
+"There is thunder truly in Germany, yea, even in Germany: it comes
+slowly; it rolls up gradually from afar; but I doubt not it will come.
+
+"And when you hear a crash, such a crash as the world has not heard in
+all history, you will know that the German thunder has done its work. At
+this uproar eagles will fall dead from the upper air; and lions in the
+pathless deserts of Africa will crouch terrified in their lairs. In
+Germany will be enacted a drama compared with which the French
+Revolution will seem but an _innocent idyll_."
+
+Had Heinrich Heine been the only prophet I should not repeat his
+auguries, for Heine was a dreamer. But here is what Ludwig B---- says:
+
+"In truth, Germany has accomplished nothing for three centuries, and has
+patiently endured all the suffering inflicted upon her. But, even so,
+her labours, sufferings, and joys have not subdued her virgin heart, nor
+her chaste spirit. She contains the reserve forces of liberty and will
+ensure its triumph.
+
+"Her day will come; and to bring it about but little is necessary a
+flash of good-humour, a smile, a summer shower, a thaw, a fool the more,
+or a fool the less, a nothing; the bell of a mule is enough to bring
+down an avalanche. Then France, which is not easily astonished, France
+which accomplished in three days the work of three hundred years, and
+has ceased to wonder at her own work, will survey the German nation with
+astonishment which will not be merely surprise but admiration."
+
+But whether it was the Man or was not the Man that the gallery watched
+as he weighed Europe in the scales, putting everything into one, nothing
+into the other, whether he belonged to the old or to the new diplomacy
+mattered little. The only question was--will von Bismarck demand a
+dissolution of the Chamber, or will the Chamber impeach the count?
+
+The conquest of Schleswig-Holstein had carried him to the height of
+fortune, but the new complications arising _a propos_ of the election of
+the Duke of Augustenburg, made everything seem doubtful even to the
+genius of von Bismarck. During a long interview with the king which took
+place the very day on which this story begins, he fancied that his
+influence was shaken, and he attributed the king's coldness to the
+persistent ill will of the queen.
+
+It is true that until now the count had worked only for his own personal
+advancement, and, having kept entire silence as to his projects, was
+reserving an explanation for a favourable moment, when by the grandeur
+and clearness of his views he hoped to recover the goodwill of his
+sovereign, by an audacious _coup d'etat_ to build up a more solid and
+unassailable position than ever.
+
+He had, then, just left the king, intending to unmask his new plan as
+soon as possible, counting on the telegraphic despatches to create an
+effect favourable to himself, which, by making war inevitable, would
+ensure his own safety.
+
+He left the palace accordingly, immersed in these thoughts, and so
+preoccupied that not only did he scarcely observe the excitement in the
+crowded streets, but he did not notice a young man leaning against one
+of the columns of the theatre, who left his place as he passed, and
+followed him like his shadow in and out of the groups blocking the
+street. Twice or thrice, however, as if warned of this close pursuit by
+some magnetic current, the count turned his head, but seeing only a
+well-dressed young man apparently belonging to his own class in life, he
+paid no attention to him.
+
+It was not until he had passed the Friedrich Strasse and was crossing
+the road that he really noticed that the young man seemed determined to
+follow him. He then decided as soon as he had reached the other side to
+stop and ask what his pursuer meant by shadowing him.
+
+But the shadower did not give him an opportunity. The count had hardly
+proceeded three or four steps on his way when he heard a report, and
+felt the wind of a ball which just missed his coat collar. He stopped
+and turned sharply round, seeing in a flash the eddying smoke, the aimed
+revolver, the assassin with his finger on the trigger preparing to fire
+again.
+
+But, as we have said, the count was naturally brave: it did not occur to
+him either to fly or to call for help. He threw himself upon his enemy,
+who, without an instant's delay, fired the second and third shots, which
+whistled harmlessly by. Whether the assassin's hand trembled under
+stress of emotion, or whether, as some say, Providence (which
+nevertheless permitted the assassinations of Henri IV and Gustavus
+Adolphus) forbade the accomplishment of such a crime, the two balls
+passed right and left of von Bismarck.
+
+Then the murderer lost courage and turned to fly. But the count seized
+him by the collar with one hand and with the other clutched the barrel
+of the revolver. Once again a shot was fired; the count was slightly
+wounded, but kept his hold and grasped his adversary closely, throwing
+him on the ground, and finally handed him over to the Prussian officers.
+
+Seizing the favourable occasion with the promptitude of genius, he
+again took his way to the palace, bent on making this event the turning
+point of the situation.
+
+This time he passed through a double avenue of spectators, whereas
+previously in the public commotion no one had noticed him. It was now
+otherwise--the murderer's attempt, of which he had been the object and
+from which he had emerged with so much courage, attracted every one's
+attention, if not their sympathy, and whether loved or not loved, all
+made room and saluted him. Sympathy might be wanting, but the count
+could at all events read admiration upon every face.
+
+Von Bismarck was at this time about fifty or fifty-two; tall, with a
+well-proportioned figure, slightly puffy, and almost bald except at the
+temples, with a thick moustache. One of his cheeks was furrowed by a
+scar, the legacy of a duel fought at the University of Gottingen.
+
+The palace guard had already heard the news and turned out to receive
+the count, who, as colonel in the Army, was entitled to this mark of
+respect. He graciously responded, and went up the staircase leading to
+the king's audience chamber.
+
+As prime minister, the count had the right of entry at any time. He was
+about to turn the door handle when the usher in waiting stopped him,
+saying:
+
+"His Excellency will pardon me, but the king can see no one."
+
+"Not even me?" asked the count.
+
+"Not even your Excellency," replied the usher with a low bow.
+
+The count stepped backward with a movement of the lips that might have
+passed for a smile, but was certainly not one. Then he began to study,
+but without seeing it, a large naval picture which decorated the
+ante-room, standing out by reason of its immense gilt frame from the
+official green paper which adorns all the royal apartments.
+
+At the end of a quarter of an hour, the door opened, the count hearing
+the _frou frou_ of a satin dress, turned and bowed low before a woman of
+forty to forty-five years of age, who had evidently possessed great
+beauty and was indeed still beautiful. Perhaps, if the "Almanach de
+Gotha" were consulted, it would be found that the lady was rather older
+than this, but as the proverb says: "A woman is as old as she looks,"
+and I see no reason why queens should be excepted.
+
+The lady was Queen Marie Louise Augusta Catherine, daughter of Charles
+Frederic, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and known throughout Europe as the
+Queen Augusta. She was of medium height--is best described by the
+essentially French word _attrayant_. She wore on her left arm the
+feminine Order of Queen Louise of Prussia. She passed the minister
+slowly and somewhat haughtily, saluting him indeed, but without her
+usual kindness. By the doors through which she passed the count
+understood she had been with the king, and was now returning to her own
+apartments.
+
+The queen had left the door belonging to the king's apartment open
+behind her, and the usher now intimated that the minister might enter.
+He waited, however, until the door had closed upon the queen.
+
+"Yes," he said, "it is true that I was not born a baron, but let us see
+what the future will do for me."
+
+And then he passed forward. The various lackeys or chamberlains whom he
+met hastened to open the doors leading to the audience-room. Reaching it
+the chamberlain announced in a loud voice: "His Excellency Count von
+Bismarck."
+
+The king started and turned round. He was standing before the
+chimney-piece, and heard the name of von Bismarck with some surprise, it
+being barely a quarter of an hour since the minister had left him. The
+count wondered if the king had already heard what had happened to him in
+the interval.
+
+He bowed low before His Majesty.
+
+"Sire," he said, "an event of great importance has recalled me to Your
+Majesty, but I see with regret that the moment is unfavourable--"
+
+"Why?" enquired the king.
+
+"Because I have just had the honour of meeting the queen in the
+ante-room, and not having the happiness of being in Her Majesty's good
+graces--"
+
+"Well, count, I admit that she does not see eye to eye with you."
+
+"She is wrong, sire, for my devotion belongs equally to my king and to
+my queen, and the one cannot become Emperor of Germany without the other
+becoming Empress."
+
+"A dream, my dear count, in which Queen Augusta unfortunately believes,
+but which is not the dream of a reasonable being."
+
+"Sire, the unity of Germany is as much decreed in the design of
+Providence as the unity of Italy."
+
+"Excellent," said the king, laughing; "can there be a united Italy while
+the Italians possess neither Rome nor Venice?"
+
+"Italy is in formation, sire. She began her march in '59 and will not
+stop on the way. If she looks like stopping, she is only taking breath.
+Indeed, have we not promised her Venice?"
+
+"Yes, but it is not we who will give it her."
+
+"Who then?"
+
+"France? who has already given her Lombardy, and has let her take the
+duchies and Naples. France!" said the king. "France let her take all
+that with quite the best will in the world."
+
+"Is Your Majesty aware of the contents of the telegraphic despatches
+which arrived when I was here and which were delivered as I left?"
+
+"Yes, I know. The Emperor Napoleon's speech at Auxerre," answered the
+king with some embarrassment. "You refer to that, do you not?"
+
+"Well, sire, the emperor's speech means war--war not only against
+Austria but against Germany. It means Venice for Italy and the Rhine
+provinces for France."
+
+"You really think so?"
+
+"I mean that if we give France time to arm, the question without
+becoming desperate becomes grave, but that if we fall promptly and
+vigorously upon Austria, we shall be on the Moldau with three hundred
+thousand men before France can reach the Rhine with fifty thousand."
+
+"Count, you do not give the Austrians their proper value; the swagger of
+our young men has gone to your head."
+
+"Sire, if I appear to adopt the opinions of the heir-apparent and of
+Prince Frederic Charles, I can only say that the prince having been born
+on June 29th, 1801, is scarcely a young man; but the fact is, that in
+these matters I rely on my own opinion only, and I say deliberately in a
+war against Prussia, Austria will certainly be beaten."
+
+"Really?" said the king doubtfully. "Yet I have heard you speak in high
+terms of both their generals and their soldiers."
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Well then, it does not seem to me so remarkably easy to conquer good
+soldiers commanded by good generals."
+
+"They have good, soldiers, sire, they have good generals, but we shall
+beat them because our own organization and arrangement are superior to
+theirs. When I persuaded Your Majesty to undertake the war on Schleswig
+which Your Majesty did not desire to do--"
+
+"If I had not desired to make war on Schleswig it would never have been
+made!"
+
+"That is very true, sire, but Your Majesty hesitated; I had the courage
+to insist, and Your Majesty approved of my reasons."
+
+"Yes, and what is the result of the war on Schleswig? War throughout
+Germany!"
+
+"True, sire, in the first place I like a situation that calls for
+resolute action; and as I consider war in Germany inevitable, I
+congratulate you."
+
+"Will you explain whence comes your confidence?"
+
+"Your Majesty forgets that I made the campaign with the Prussian army. I
+did not do it for the mere pleasure of hearing cannon, of counting the
+dead, and of sleeping on the battlefield, where I assure you one sleeps
+very badly, or for the purpose of giving you what was nevertheless well
+worth having, two posts on the Baltic, of which Prussia stood in great
+need. No, I made the campaign with the object of trying the Austrians,
+and I repeat that they are behind us in everything--discipline,
+armaments, use of arms: they have bad rifles, bad artillery, and worse
+powder. In a war against us Austria will be beaten from the very
+commencement, for we have everything which she has not, and Austria once
+vanquished, the supremacy in Germany must inevitably fall from her hands
+into those of Prussia."
+
+"And how is Prussia with a population of eighteen millions to maintain
+her superiority over sixty? Only look at her pitiful appearance on the
+map."
+
+"That is exactly the point. I have looked at her for three years, and
+now is the time to mould her anew. Prussia is a great serpent whose head
+is at Thionville, while her tail is at Memel, and which has a lump in
+her stomach because she has swallowed half Saxony. She is a kingdom cut
+in two by another--Hanover--in such a fashion that you cannot get home
+without going abroad. You must understand, sire, Hanover is bound to
+become part of Prussia."
+
+"But what will England say to this?"
+
+"England is no longer in the age of Pitt and Cobourg. England is the
+very humble servant of the Manchester School, of Gladstone, Cobden, and
+their scholars; England will do no more for Hanover than she did for
+Denmark. Must we not take Saxony also?"
+
+"France will never allow us to meddle with Saxony, if only in memory of
+the king who was faithful to her in 1813."
+
+"Not if we took too big a mouthful; but if we only nibble she will shut
+both eyes, or at least one of them. And is not Hesse also very
+necessary?"
+
+"The Confederation will not abandon all Hesse."
+
+"But if it will let us take half, that is all we want. Now let us
+consider Frankfort-on-the-Main."
+
+"Frankfort-on-the-Main! The free town! The seat of the Diet!"
+
+"The moment Prussia can reckon thirty millions of men instead of
+eighteen the Diet is dead. Prussia will then be the Diet. Only, instead
+of crying a decree she will say 'decree.'"
+
+"We shall have the whole of the Confederation against us. It will side
+with Austria."
+
+"So much the better!"
+
+"And why?"
+
+"Austria once beaten, the Confederation is beaten along with her."
+
+"We shall have a million men against us."
+
+"Let us count them."
+
+"There are four hundred and fifty thousand in Austria--"
+
+"Agreed."
+
+"And four hundred and fifty thousand in Venetia."
+
+"The emperor is too obstinate to recall troops from Venice before two or
+three battles if he is successful, before ten if he is beaten."
+
+"Bavaria has one hundred and sixty thousand."
+
+"I will answer for Bavaria--her king is too fond of music to love the
+sound of cannon."
+
+"Hanover, twenty-five thousand men."
+
+"Only a mouthful to swallow on our first march."
+
+"Saxony, fifteen thousand."
+
+"Another mouthful."
+
+"And a hundred and fifty thousand belonging to the Confederation."
+
+"The Confederation will have no time to arm them; only we must not lose
+a moment, sire; therefore I now say 'War, Victory, the supremacy of
+Prussia--myself--or-'"
+
+"Or?"
+
+"Or my resignation, which I lay very humbly at Your Majesty's feet."
+
+"What is that on your hand, count?"
+
+"Nothing, sire."
+
+"It looks like blood."
+
+"Perhaps it is."
+
+"Is it true, then, that some one attempted your life by firing at you
+with a revolver?"
+
+"Five times, sire."
+
+"Five? Good gracious!"
+
+"He thought it none too many for me."
+
+"And you are unwounded?"
+
+"Only a scratch on the little finger."
+
+"And who was your assassin?"
+
+"I do not know who he is."
+
+"Did he refuse to give his name?"
+
+"No, I forgot to ask him; besides, that is the Attorney-General's
+affair, not mine. I do not interfere with other people's concerns. Now,
+my own business is my King's business, and that is here."
+
+"I am listening," said the king.
+
+"To-morrow the chamber is dissolved; the following day we mobilize; in
+eight days hostilities are declared, or else--"
+
+"Or else what?"
+
+"Or else, as I have the honour to repeat to Your Majesty, my
+resignation."
+
+Then, without waiting for the king's answer the Count von Bismarck bowed
+low, and according to etiquette retired backwards from the king's
+presence. The king said nothing to detain his minister, but before
+closing the door, that gentleman heard the bell rung loudly enough to
+rouse the whole palace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A SPORTSMAN AND A SPANIEL
+
+
+On the day following the events just narrated, a young man about
+twenty-five years of age arrived in Brunswick by the eleven o'clock
+train from Berlin. Leaving his luggage, which was labelled "Hanover," in
+the station, he took a small knapsack on which were strapped a
+sketch-book and camp-stool, buckled on a cartridge belt, flung a baldric
+supporting a double-barrelled gun over his shoulder, and completed his
+toilet with a large grey felt hat. Altogether he appeared a sort of
+cross between sportsman and tourist. Accompanied by a beautiful
+jet-black spaniel he left the station and hailed an open carriage,
+whereupon the dog instantly justified his name of "Frisk" by springing
+joyously in, and installing himself on the front seat, while his master
+reclined on the back after the manner of one accustomed to do things
+comfortably. Courteously addressing the driver in excellent German:
+
+"Coachman," said he, "kindly take me to the best hotel the town affords,
+or at any rate, to the one which provides the best lunch!"
+
+The coachman nodded as if to say he required no further instructions,
+and the carriage rattled and bumped over the cobble stones to the Hotel
+d'Angleterre. The dog, who had hardly been able to retain his position,
+instantly sprang out, and showing his relief by active gambols,
+besought his master to follow. The latter alighted, but left his
+knapsack and gun in the carriage. Turning to the driver:
+
+"You may wait," he said, "and keep an eye on my things."
+
+Hackney coachmen, all the world over, have a keen eye for good
+customers. This honest fellow was no exception.
+
+"Excellency may be quite satisfied," he answered with a wink. "I will
+keep careful guard over them."
+
+The traveller entered the inn, and passing straight through it arrived
+at a pleasant court shaded by lime-trees. Here he selected a small table
+with chairs for two, one of which was promptly occupied by Frisk; his
+master took possession of the other and the two proceeded to lunch. This
+occupied an hour, and no lady could have received more attention than
+the young man bestowed on Frisk. The dog ate whatever his master ate,
+only politely protesting when a hare, accompanied by currant jelly,
+appeared on the scene, that as a sporting dog he ought not to touch
+game, and personally had a serious objection to sweets. Meanwhile, the
+driver remaining on his box refreshed himself with bread, cheese, and a
+half bottle of wine. Consequently, when master and dog re-occupied the
+carriage the trio presented an appearance of general satisfaction.
+
+"Where to, Excellency?" enquired the driver, wiping his mouth on his
+sleeve, with the air of a man ready to drive to the world's end if you
+wished.
+
+"I don't quite know," was the answer, "it depends a little on you."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"Well, if I find you a good fellow, I might wish to keep you on for some
+time."
+
+"Oh, a year if you like!
+
+"No, that is too long."
+
+"Well, a month then."
+
+"Neither a year nor a month, but a day or two."
+
+"Oh, that's not enough. I really thought you meant to take me on lease."
+
+"To begin with, what will you charge for going to Hanover?"
+
+"It is six leagues, you know."
+
+"Four and a half, you mean."
+
+"But it is up and down hill the whole way."
+
+"Nonsense! it is as flat as a billiard-table."
+
+"One can't get round you," said the grinning driver.
+
+"In one way you can."
+
+"And which is that?"
+
+"Simply by being honest."
+
+"Ah, indeed! That is a new idea."
+
+"It is one which has not before occurred to you, I think."
+
+"Well, name your own price, then."
+
+"Four florins."
+
+"But you are not counting the drive from the station and the time for
+lunch."
+
+"You are right, I will allow for that."
+
+"And the _pourboire_."
+
+"That is as I may choose."
+
+"Agreed. I don't know why, but I trust you."
+
+"Only, if I keep you more than a week it will then be three and a half
+florins per day, and no _pourboire_."
+
+"I couldn't agree to that."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because I see no reason for depriving you of the pleasure of doing the
+handsome thing when I have the misfortune of leaving you."
+
+"The dickens! One would take you for a wit!"
+
+"I've wit enough to look like a fool when I want to."
+
+"Well done! Where do you come from?"
+
+"From Sachsenhausen."
+
+"And where may that be?"
+
+"It is a suburb of Frankfort."
+
+"Ah! yes, it is a Saxon colony from the days of Charlemagne."
+
+"That is so. So you know that, do you?"
+
+"I also know that you are a fine race, something like the Auvergnats of
+France. We will settle up when we part."
+
+"That's suits me down to the ground."
+
+"What's your name?
+
+"Lenhart."
+
+"Very well, Lenhart, let us get on then."
+
+The carriage started, scattering the usual crowd of idle spectators. A
+few minutes brought it to the end of the street leading to the open
+country. The day was magnificent. The trees had just burst into leaf,
+and earth had assumed a mantle of green, the soft spring breeze seemed
+laden with the perfume of flowers. Overhead the birds were already
+seeking food for their little ones, and awakening Nature appeared to
+listen to their songs. From time to time a lark arose from among the
+corn, and ascending high in the air seemed as if floating above the
+summit of a pyramid of song.
+
+Beholding this magnificent country the traveller exclaimed: "But there
+must be splendid shooting here, is there not?"
+
+"Yes, but it is strictly preserved," replied the coachman.
+
+"So much the better," said our friend, "there will be all the more
+game."
+
+In fact, before they had gone quite a mile from the town, Frisk, who
+had given various signs of impatience, sprang out of the carriage,
+rushed into a field of clover, and pointed.
+
+"Shall I go on or wait," enquired the driver, seeing the young man
+loading his gun.
+
+"Go on a yard, or two," was the answer. "There, that will do; now, draw
+up as near to the field as you can."
+
+The carriage, with the sportsman standing up in it, gun in hand, halted
+within thirty yards of the dog. The driver looked on with all the
+interest of his class, an interest which is always on the side of the
+sportsman and hostile to the landlord and the gamekeeper. "That is a
+clever dog," he remarked. "What is he pointing at?"
+
+"It is a hare."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"Had it been a bird he would have wagged his tail. See."
+
+A big leveret showed itself among the clover and fell a victim to the
+gun. It was promptly brought in by Frisk. Further on a covey of
+partridges was seen, but the dog was called off, and the young brood
+left in peace. They were already approaching Hanover when a startled
+hare was seen some sixty yards from the carriage.
+
+"Ah!" said Lenhart, "this one wisely keeps his distance."
+
+"It does not follow," replied the sportsman.
+
+"You don't expect to hit at that distance, do you?"
+
+"Have you still to learn, my friend, you who profess to be able to
+shoot, that to a good shot and a good gun distance is of small
+importance? Now, watch!"
+
+Then, having altered the charges in his gun the young man enquired:
+
+"Do you know all about the manners and customs of hares, Lenhart?"
+
+"Why, yes, I think I know all any one can know who can't speak their
+language."
+
+"Well, I can tell you this. A startled hare, if not pursued, will run
+about fifty paces and will then sit down to have a look round and
+perform his toilet. Look!"
+
+And in fact, the hare, which had run towards the carriage, instead of
+away from it, suddenly stopped, sat down, and began to wash its face
+with its forepaws. This predicted toilet cost the poor animal its life.
+A prompt shot and the hare bounded upwards and fell back dead.
+
+"Beg pardon, Excellency," said Lenhart, "but if we are going to war as
+it is said we are, on which side will you be?"
+
+"As I am neither Austrian nor Prussian, but happen to be a Frenchman,
+you will probably find me fighting for France."
+
+"So long as you do not fight for these Prussian beggars I am quite
+satisfied. If you will fight against them, however--_donnerwetter_--but
+I have something to say."
+
+"Well? at is it?"
+
+"I offer you the free use of my carriage to fight from."
+
+"Thanks! my friend, 'tis an offer not to be despised. I always thought
+that if I had to fight, I should like to make the campaign in a
+carriage."
+
+"Well, then, here is the very thing you want. I can't tell you how old
+my horse is, he wasn't young when I bought him ten years ago, but I know
+if I took him to a Thirty Years' War he would see me through it. As for
+the carriage, you can see it is as good as new. Those shafts were put on
+only three years ago, and last year it had new wheels and a new axle,
+and it is only six months since I provided it with a new body."
+
+"You remind me of an anecdote we have in France," replied the other. "It
+is that of Simple Simon's knife, which had first a new blade and then a
+new handle, but was still the same knife."
+
+"Ah, sir," said Lenhart, with the air of a philosopher, "every country
+has its Simple Simon's knife."
+
+"And also its simpletons, my good friend."
+
+"Well, if you put new barrels on your gun you might give me the old
+ones. Here comes your dog with the hare," lifting it by the ears. "You
+can join the other, you fool," he said. "See what comes of too much
+vanity! Ah, sir! don't fight against the Prussians if you don't want to,
+but, good heaven, don't fight for them!"
+
+"Oh, as to that you may be quite easy. If I do fight, it will be against
+them, and perhaps I shall not wait for war to be declared."
+
+"Bravo! Down with the Prussians!" cried Lenhart, touching up his horse
+with a sharp cut. The animal, as if to justify his praises, and excited
+by his master's voice and cracking whip, broke into a gallop, bolted
+through the suburban streets and only stopped at the Hotel Royal.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+BENEDICT TURPIN
+
+
+Lenhart, in his double capacity of hackney coachman and purveyor of
+travellers and tourists for the Hotel Royal, Hanover, was well known to
+Mr. Stephen, landlord thereof, who gave him a cordial reception. Anxious
+to magnify the importance of his present consignment, Lenhart hastened
+to inform him that the new arrival was a mortal enemy of the Prussians,
+that he never missed a shot, and that if war were declared, he would
+place himself and his deadly weapon at the disposal of the King of
+Hanover. To all of which Stephen lent an attentive ear.
+
+"But where does your traveller come from," he at length enquired.
+
+"He says he's a Frenchman, but I don't believe it. I've never once heard
+him boast about anything, besides, his German is too good. But there, he
+is calling you."
+
+Stephen quickly answered the summons. The stranger was talking to an
+English officer of the Royal Household and his English appeared no less
+fluent than his German. Turning to Stephen he said in the latter
+language.
+
+"I have asked a question of Colonel Anderson, who has kindly given me
+one-half of the answer, and tells me to apply to you for the rest. I
+asked for the title of the principal newspaper here, and the name of
+its editor. Colonel Anderson says the 'Hanoverian Gazette,' but does not
+know the editor's name."
+
+"Wait a moment, Excellency. Yes, yes, let me see. He is Herr Bodemeyer,
+a tall, thin man with a beard, is he not?"
+
+"Never mind his appearance. I want his name and address. I wish to send
+him my card."
+
+"I only know the office address, Park Strasse. Do you dine at the _table
+d'hote_? If so, Herr Bodemeyer is one of our regular guests. It is at
+five o'clock, he will be here in half-an-hour."
+
+"All the more reason why he should have my card first," and producing a
+visiting-card bearing the legend "Benedict Turpin, Artist," he addressed
+it to Herr Bodemeyer, and handed it and a florin to the hotel messenger,
+who undertook to deliver it within ten minutes.
+
+Stephen then ventured to suggest that if there were private matters to
+discuss a private room might be desirable.
+
+"A good idea," said Benedict, and going to Colonel Anderson, "Sir," said
+he, "although we have never been formally introduced, I nevertheless
+hope you will waive etiquette and do me the honour of dining with me and
+Herr Bodemeyer, who I think will not refuse to join us. Our host
+promises an excellent dinner and good wine. It is six months since I
+left France, consequently six months since I had a chance of
+conversation. In England they talk, in Germany they dream, it is in
+France only that they converse. Let us have a nice little dinner at
+which we can do all three. Here is my card, that of an insignificant
+artist, devoid of armorial bearings or coronets, but with the simple
+Cross of the Legion d'Honneur. I would add, colonel," he continued
+seriously, "that in a day or two I may find myself obliged to ask a
+favour of you, and I should like to prove myself not unworthy of the
+consideration I hope you will show me."
+
+The colonel accepted the card and bowed politely.
+
+"Sir," said he with courteous English formality, "the hope you give me
+of being able to render you some service would certainly induce me to
+accept your hospitality. I have no reason whatever against dining with
+Herr Bodemeyer, and I have a thousand for wishing to dine with you, not
+the least being, if I may say so, that I find your person and manners
+exceedingly attractive."
+
+Benedict bowed in his turn.
+
+"Since you have done me the honour to accept," he said, "and I feel
+pretty sure of Herr Bodemeyer, it becomes my first duty to see that the
+dinner is a decent one. If you will excuse me I should like to interview
+the chef on the subject," and he departed kitchenwards while the colonel
+sought the hotel reading-room.
+
+Left in possession of a fair income at an age when the usual idea is
+only how best to squander it, Benedict Turpin had shown practical sense
+as well as genius. A believer in the excellent proverb which says that a
+man doubles his opportunities in life when he learns a new language, he
+had quadrupled his by spending a year in England, another in Germany, a
+third in Spain, and a fourth in Italy. At eighteen he was a first-rate
+linguist, and he spent the next two years in completing his education by
+classical and scientific studies, not neglecting the use of weapons and
+the general practice of games, calculated to further his physical
+development. By the time he was twenty he had attained an all-round
+proficiency very unusual in youths of his age and promised much in the
+time to come.
+
+He took part in the Chinese expedition, and being possessed of
+sufficient means to indulge his taste for travelling, spent several
+years in world-wide wandering, hunting wild beasts, traversing deserts,
+picking up tapestries, jewels, curiosities, etc., wherewith on his
+return he furnished one of the most artistic studios in Paris. At the
+time our story opens he had, in the course of a round of visits to
+celebrated German painters, arrived in Berlin, where he upheld the
+honour of France, with the insolent good luck which seemed never to
+desert him. When the attention of the mob was momentarily diverted by
+the attack on the Prime Minister, Benedict succeeded in escaping
+unnoticed, and took refuge at the French Embassy, where he was well
+known. Early in the following morning he left by train and finally
+arrived at Hanover without let or hindrance. He had just given his last
+instructions to the cook when he was warned that Herr Bodemeyer was
+already approaching the hotel.
+
+Benedict hurried to the entrance, where he saw close at hand a gentleman
+drawing near, who held a visiting card in his hand, and seemed pondering
+much as to what the owner could possibly want with him.
+
+It is said that the denizens of that ancient Gaul which gave Caesar so
+much trouble have so marked a personality that, wherever one is seen,
+the passers-by immediately remark: "Look, that's a Frenchman!"
+
+Herr Bodemeyer, at any rate, seemed to recognize Benedict's nationality
+at once. He advanced smiling, with extended hand. Benedict promptly
+descended the steps to meet him and the two exchanged the customary
+civilities. Hearing that the artist had come from Berlin, and being
+professionally eager for news, the editor at once demanded an account of
+the uproar of the previous evening, and of the attempted assassination
+of Count Bismarck.
+
+As to the latter, Benedict could give little information. He had heard
+the shots, seen two men struggling, and one handed over to some
+officers, and then had hastily sprung into the cafe, left it by a door
+in another street, and found shelter at the Embassy. There he heard
+further that the young man was the stepson of a proscribed refugee of
+the '48, named Blind, and that he had made terrible accusations against
+the count, which, coming as they did from the relative of a banished
+rebel, were held to count for very little.
+
+"Well, we know a little more than that," said Herr Bodemeyer, "we hear
+that the young man attempted to cut his throat with a penknife, but that
+the wounds were only slight and the doctor says are not dangerous. But
+the "Kreuz Zeitung" will be here directly and we shall know a little
+more."
+
+Even as he spoke newsboys hurried down the street shouting "Kreuz
+Zeitung--Zeitung!" There was a rush for the paper. Hanover was nearly as
+excited as Berlin had been the night before. Did the poor little kingdom
+already feel itself in the crushing embrace of the Prussian
+boa-constrictor?
+
+Benedict beckoned to one of the newsboys and bought a paper. Turning to
+the Hanoverian editor,
+
+"I hope you will dine with me and Colonel Anderson," he said. "We have a
+private room, and can talk politics as much as we like. Besides, I have
+something to ask of you which I could hardly ask at a public table."
+
+Just then Colonel Anderson approached. He and Bodemeyer knew each other
+by sight already. Benedict now formally introduced them. The colonel had
+already glanced at his newspaper.
+
+"Do you know," said he, "that although the doctor pronounced the wound
+of no consequence, young Blind nevertheless died early this morning? A
+Hanoverian officer come from Berlin says that about four o'clock a man
+wrapped in a large cloak and wearing a large shady hat which concealed
+his face, arrived at the prison provided with a permission to see the
+prisoner, and was taken to his cell. Blind had been put into a strait
+waistcoat and no one knows what passed between them, but when his cell
+was inspected at eight o'clock he was dead. The doctor says he must have
+been dead nearly four hours, so that he must have died about the time
+this mysterious visitor left him."
+
+"Is this official news?" enquired Bodemeyer. "As editor of a Government
+paper I am bound to accept only official information. Let us see what
+the 'Kreuz Zeitung' has to say."
+
+They withdrew to the room assigned to them, and the Hanoverian editor
+proceeded to examine the Berlin newspaper. The first paragraph of
+consequence stated:
+
+"We are assured that the king's warrant decreeing the dissolution of the
+Lower Chamber will be officially published to-morrow."
+
+"Come," said the colonel, "that is of some importance."
+
+"Wait a moment; there is something more."
+
+"It is also announced that a decree ordering the mobilization of the
+Landwehr will be officially published the day after to-morrow."
+
+"That is enough," observed the colonel, "we know now that the minister
+wins all along the line and that war will be declared in less than a
+fortnight. Let us have the general news. We know all we want to know of
+the political. Only, first, on which side will Hanover be?"
+
+"There is no doubt about that," replied Bodemeyer. "Hanover is bound to
+adhere to the Confederation."
+
+"And on which side is the Confederation," asked Benedict.
+
+"On the side of Austria," answered the journalist promptly. "But listen,
+here is a fresh account of the scene in Unter den Linden."
+
+"Oh! let us have that by all means," cried Benedict. "I was there, and I
+want to know if the account is correct.
+
+"What! were you there?"
+
+"Very much there," and he added laughing, "I might even say with AEneas,
+'_Et quorum pars magna fui._' I was in the thick of it."
+
+Herr Bodemeyer continued:
+
+"We are now able to give fuller details concerning the demonstration in
+Unter den Linden which occurred yesterday after the report of the
+Emperor Louis Napoleon's speech had been received. It appears that just
+as our most distinguished vocalist finished singing 'The German Rhine,'
+which was received with tremendous enthusiasm, a loud hiss was heard. It
+was soon seen that the author of this insult was a foreigner, a French
+painter, evidently intoxicated, and who would probably have atoned for
+his folly with his life, had not some Prussian officers generously
+protected him from the infuriated populace. The young fool further
+defied the crowd by giving his name and address, but when enquiries were
+made at the Black Eagle this morning he had disappeared. We commend his
+prudence and wish him a pleasant journey."
+
+"Is that paragraph signed," asked Benedict.
+
+"No. Is it inaccurate?" returned the reader.
+
+"May I be permitted to remark that the one thing I have everywhere
+observed in my wanderings over three of the four quarters of the
+world--I beg your pardon, there are five, if we count Oceania--is the
+extremely small regard for truth shown by the purveyors of this sort of
+news. Whether in the north or the south, St. Petersburg or Calcutta,
+Paris or Constantinople, they are all alike. Each journal is bound to
+give so many beats of its drum every day. Good or bad, false or true, it
+has to give them, and those who feel injured must obtain redress--if
+they can."
+
+"Which means, I suppose," observed Colonel Anderson, "that this account
+is incorrect."
+
+"Not only incorrect, but incomplete. The 'young fool' it speaks of, not
+only hissed, but cried, 'Vive la France!' Further, he drank to the
+health of France, and also disposed satisfactorily of the four first who
+attacked, him. It is true that these three Prussian officers intervened.
+They wished him to cry 'Vive Guillaume I' and 'Vive la Prusse.' He
+mounted a table, and instead, gave them a recital of Alfred de Musset's
+'Answer to the German Rhine' from end to end. It is also true that just
+then the reports of Blind's revolver attracted general attention, and,
+not proposing to fight all Berlin, he profited by the incident to
+escape, taking refuge in the French Embassy. He had challenged one, two,
+or four adversaries, but not the entire populace. He also left a message
+at the Black Eagle to be given to any enquirers to the effect that he
+could not remain in Berlin, but would wait in some neighbouring country
+in order to oblige any one demanding satisfaction. And, leaving Berlin
+by an early train he arrived at Hanover an hour ago and at once sent his
+card to Herr Bodemeyer, hoping that that gentleman will kindly announce
+in his Gazette both the town and the hotel where this 'young fool' may
+be found by any one unable to find him at the Black Eagle."
+
+"Good heavens," exclaimed the editor, "then it was you who caused this
+mighty uproar at Berlin."
+
+"Even I; small things make much noise, as you see." Turning to the
+Englishman, Benedict continued, "And now you also see why I warned
+Colonel Anderson that I had a favour to ask him. I want him to be my
+second in case, as is quite possible, some wrathful individual should
+arrive demanding why, being in a foreign country, I have dared to uphold
+the honour of my own."
+
+His hearers, with one accord, immediately offered their hands. Benedict
+continued:
+
+"And now, to show I am not absolutely unknown, here is a letter from the
+Head of our 'Department of Fine Arts' to Herr Kaulbach, Painter to the
+King of Hanover. He lives here, does he not?"
+
+"Yes, the king had a charming house built on purpose for him."
+
+At this moment the door communicating with the next room was thrown
+open, the rotund figure of the landlord appeared in the opening and a
+solemn and impressive voice announced:
+
+"Their Excellencies are served."
+
+Whether the chef had perceived that Benedict really understood what he
+was talking about, or else had had orders from his master to do what he
+was told, he had, at any rate, carried out his instructions to the very
+last letter, the result being neither French, English, nor German, but
+cosmopolitan, a banquet for a conference if not a congress. Nor was
+brilliant conversation lacking. Bodemeyer, like all German journalists,
+was a well-read man, but had never been outside Hanover. Anderson, on
+the contrary, had read little, but had travelled everywhere and seen
+much. He and Benedict had explored the same countries and encountered
+the same people. Both had been at the siege of Pekin; Anderson had
+followed Benedict in India, and preceded him in Russia. Both related
+their experiences, the one with English reserve and humour, the other
+with French vivacity and wit. The Englishman, a true modern
+Phoenician, saw everything from the industrial and commercial point of
+view, the Frenchman from that of intellectual progress. Their different
+ideas, brought forward with warmth and also with the courtesy of
+well-bred and distinguished men, crossed each other like foils in the
+hands of experienced fencers, emitting sparks, brilliant if transitory.
+Bodemeyer, unused to this style of discussion, endeavoured to give it a
+philosophical turn, in which he was met by Benedict, but which Anderson
+found difficult to follow. The journalist seemed unintelligible, but
+Benedict's theories he understood as he had never understood before.
+
+The clock striking eight abruptly terminated the conversation. The
+editor sprang up.
+
+"My paper!" he cried, "my 'Gazette'! It is not ready by half!" Never
+before had he succumbed to such an intellectual temptation. "Frenchmen
+are the very devil," he muttered, trying in vain to find a hat which
+would fit him. They _are_ the champagne of the earth, they are clear,
+strong, and sparkling. In vain did Benedict entreat him for five minutes
+in which to write his announcement. "You must let me have it before
+eleven o'clock," cried Bodemeyer, as, having discovered his own hat and
+cane he fled as if the enemy were behind him.
+
+Next morning the following announcement might have been read in the
+"Hanoverian Gazette".
+
+     "On June 7th, 1866, in Unter den Linden at Berlin I had occasion to
+     both give and receive several blows in an encounter with various
+     excellent citizens who wished to tear me to pieces because I had
+     publicly emptied my glass to the glory of France. I have not the
+     honour of knowing who gave these blows, but, wishing to be known by
+     those who received mine, I hereby announce that during the next
+     eight days I may be found at the Hotel Royal, Hanover, by any one
+     wishing to criticize either my words or actions on the said
+     occasion, and I particularly hope that the author of a certain
+     article referring to me in yesterday's issue of the 'Kreuz
+     Zeitung,' will accept this invitation. Being ignorant of his name,
+     I have no other means of addressing him.
+
+     "I wish to thank the three Prussian officers who interfered to
+     protect me from the amiable people of Berlin. But, should any of
+     them consider himself offended by me, my gratitude will not extend
+     to refusing him satisfaction.
+
+     "I said then and I repeat now, that I am familiar with the use of
+     all weapons."
+
+                          "BENEDICT TURPIN.
+            "_At the Hotel Royal, Hanover_."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+KAULBACH'S STUDIO
+
+
+Benedict lost no time in leaving his note at the "Gazette" office, and
+his letter of introduction at Kaulbach's studio, where he left also his
+card on which was written, "I hope to have the honour of calling on you
+to-morrow." He therefore ordered Lenhart to be ready a little before
+eleven, in order to pay his two visits, one of thanks to Herr Bodemeyer,
+and one to Kaulbach. As the latter lived at the extreme end of the town
+where the king had had a charming little house erected for him, he
+called at Herr Bodemeyer's office first. The last copies of the
+"Gazette" were just being struck off, and Benedict was able to convince
+himself that his letter was actually in print. As the "Gazette" had
+numerous subscribers in Berlin and would be on sale there at six that
+evening, there was no doubt but that his communication would be widely
+read. The dissolution of the Chamber was confirmed and it was certain
+that mobilization would be announced on the morrow. Benedict continued
+on his way to the studio.
+
+Seen by daylight the house appeared to be a pretty villa in Italian
+style, standing in a garden enclosed with iron railings. The gate stood
+invitingly open. Benedict entered, rang, and was answered by a servant
+in livery, whose manner showed that the visit was expected. He at once
+led the way to the studio.
+
+"The master is just finishing dinner," he said, "but he will be with you
+in a moment."
+
+"Tell the master," replied Benedict, "that I am too delighted at being
+able to see the beautiful things here to wish to hurry him."
+
+And, indeed, the studio, full of original pictures, sketches, and copies
+of some of the works of the greatest painters known, could not fail to
+be intensely interesting to an artist such as Benedict, who now suddenly
+found himself in the sanctuary of one of the greatest of German
+painters. Kaulbach is an artist who has adhered to his Christian faith,
+and everywhere one saw proofs of this. But among highly finished
+sketches for some of his world-famous pictures, such as "The Dispersion
+of Mankind," "The Taking of Jerusalem," etc., Benedict's attention was
+drawn to a modern portrait group of five persons. It represented an
+officer, evidently of high rank, holding a boy of about ten by the hand.
+His charger stood ready on the terrace below, and a lady in the prime of
+life sat near him with two little girls, one leaning against her knee,
+while the other sat at her feet and played with a small dog and some
+roses. The picture, apparently, was a work of love, for the artist had
+taken immense pains with it; too much so, in fact, for the elaborately
+finished details threw the faces into the background, and the general
+effect was too flat.
+
+Absorbed in the study of this group, Benedict did not observe that
+Kaulbach had entered the room and was standing beside him, looking on
+with a smile. Presently he said:
+
+"You are right, that picture is too flat, and I had it brought back, not
+to finish it still more, but to tone it down and soften some parts. Such
+as it is your public would never like it. Delacroix has spoilt you for
+'clean' pictures."
+
+Benedict laughed.
+
+"Do you mean to imply that he painted dirty ones?" he enquired.
+
+"Heaven forbid! His works are excellent, but your nation did not
+appreciate them."
+
+"We do him justice now, however."
+
+"Yes, now that he is dead," said Kaulbach smiling. "Is it not always
+so?"
+
+"Not in your case. Admired in France, adored in Germany, happily you are
+yet with us."
+
+Kaulbach at this time was about fifty-two, slightly grey, sallow in
+complexion, having brilliant dark eyes and a highly nervous
+constitution. Tall and slight, he was at the zenith of his artistic
+powers and hardly past that of his physical ones. The two men studied
+each other critically, until at last Turpin began to laugh.
+
+"Do you know what I am thinking?" asked the German. "I am wondering how
+you have managed to wander from Pekin to St. Petersburg, from Astrakhan
+to Algiers, and yet found time to produce the remarkable pictures you
+have painted. I know these only by report unfortunately, but I have
+heard a good deal. You are a pupil of Scheffer's?"
+
+"Yes, I have also studied under Cabat."
+
+"Great masters, both of them. And you are the hero of that unlucky
+business at Berlin. I have just read your letter in the 'Gazette.'"
+
+"But why 'unlucky'?"
+
+"Well, you will have two or three duels on your hands."
+
+"So much the worse for my adversaries."
+
+"Allow me to remark that you are not lacking in self-confidence."
+
+"No, because I have the certainty of success. Look!" and Benedict held
+out his hand. "Observe that the line of life is double. There is not
+the slightest break anywhere--nothing to indicate accident, sickness, or
+even the slightest scratch. I might live to a hundred--but I won't say
+as much of those who quarrel with me."
+
+Aulbach smiled.
+
+"At the end of your letter of introduction," he said, "there was a
+postscript, which informed me that you were more deeply interested in
+studying occult science than in pursuing your own art."
+
+"I don't know that I study either very much. I am rather a slave to
+temperament. If a thing amuses me, well, yes, I study it. If I think I
+have found a truth, I try to follow it out to the very end. And I do
+believe that chiromancy can give us a glance into the future, and that
+the hand is a page on which the lines of our fate have been traced by
+Destiny. If for five minutes only I could study the hand of either the
+King of Prussia or of Count Bismarck, I could give you some idea of what
+will happen."
+
+"Meanwhile," said Kaulbach, "your science says you will escape scot-free
+from any duels arising out of this Berlin scrimmage?"
+
+"Certainly I shall. But we were talking about your work, which is
+infinitely more interesting. I believe I know all your pictures, or
+nearly so."
+
+"I would wager you don't know the best of them."
+
+"Yes, I do. You mean 'Charlemagne visited in his Tomb by the Emperor
+Otho'? It is the masterpiece of modern German painting."
+
+Kaulbach was evidently delighted.
+
+"You have seen that!" he exclaimed, and he held out his hand to
+Benedict. "I don't think as much of it as you seem to do, but it is the
+best thing I have done. Oh! pardon me, but I see two visitors who come
+for a sitting. But wait, they are kind friends of mine, and may not
+object to your presence. I will tell them who you are, and then if they
+do not mind your being here you can please yourself as to whether you go
+or stay." So saying he hastily quitted the studio.
+
+A carriage was at the garden gate, quite plain in appearance, with no
+arms emblazoned on the panels, yet Benedict's practised eye saw at once
+that the horses had cost at least L200 each. Two gentlemen were leaving
+it, the elder of the two, who seemed about forty-five, wore the
+epaulettes of a general with an undress uniform of dark green, the
+collar and facings being of black velvet. Kaulbach said a few words,
+upon which he took off an order he was wearing and also two crosses,
+retaining those of the Guelphic Order and of Ernest Augustus. Then, that
+he might cross the little garden and ascend the steps he took the arm of
+the younger man, who seemed to be his son, and who, tall and very
+slight, appeared to be about one-and-twenty, and wore a Hussar uniform
+of blue and silver.
+
+Kaulbach opened the studio door and stood respectfully aside. Benedict,
+as he bowed, instantly recognized the central figure of Kaulbach's
+portrait group. He glanced quickly at the picture on which the missing
+decoration was depicted in all its glory. It was the Star of the Order
+of the Garter, worn by few except sovereign princes. He knew at once
+that the visitors must be the blind King of Hanover, one of the most
+cultivated and artistic sovereigns of Germany, and his son, the Crown
+Prince.
+
+"Milords," said Kaulbach, "I have the honour to present a brother artist
+to you. He is young, but is already famous, and he brings a special
+introduction from the Minister of Fine Arts at Paris. May I add that
+his own personality is a better recommendation even than those."
+
+The general bent his head graciously, the youth touched his cap. The
+elder man then addressed Benedict in English, regretting that his French
+was only indifferent. Benedict replied in the same language, saying that
+he was too great an admirer of Shakespeare, Scott, and Byron not to have
+made an effort to read these authors in their own tongue. The king,
+satisfied that he was unrecognized, discussed various subjects, and,
+knowing that Benedict had travelled much, asked many questions which
+were in themselves a compliment, for only men of superior intelligence
+could have asked and answered them. Kaulbach, meanwhile, rapidly worked
+at his picture softening down the too hard accessories. The young prince
+listened eagerly, and when Benedict offered to show him sketches made in
+India, he appealed anxiously to his father as to when and where he could
+see them.
+
+"Better ask both these gentlemen to lunch in your own rooms," said the
+King, "and if they do you the honour to accept--"
+
+"Oh! can you come to-morrow?" enquired the prince, delighted.
+
+Benedict looked at Kaulbach in embarrassment.
+
+"I fear I may have work of another kind to-morrow," he replied.
+
+"Yes," said Kaulbach, "I fear my friend here is a trifle hot-headed. He
+only arrived yesterday and he has already written a letter for the
+'Gazette,' which is now well on its way to Berlin."
+
+"What! the letter I thought so amusing that I read it aloud to my
+father! Is that yours, monsieur? But, indeed, you will have duels
+without end."
+
+"I count on two," said Benedict. "It is a lucky number."
+
+"But suppose you are killed or wounded?"
+
+"If I am killed, I will, with your permission, bequeath you my album. If
+I am badly hurt, I will ask Herr Kaulbach to show it you instead. If I
+am only scratched, I will bring it myself. But you need not be anxious
+on my account; I can assure you nothing unpleasant will happen to me."
+
+"But how can you know that?"
+
+"You know my friend's name, I think," said Kaulbach. "He is Benedict
+Turpin. Well, he descends in the direct line from the famous enchanter
+Turpin, the uncle of Charlemagne, and he has inherited the gifts of his
+ancestor!"
+
+"Good heavens," said the prince, "are you spirit, magician, or what?"
+
+"None of them. I simply amuse myself by reading the past, the present,
+and as much of the future as one's hand can reveal."
+
+"Before you came," said Kaulbach, "he was deeply regretting not being
+able to see the hand of the King of Prussia. He would have told us what
+will happen in the war. My lord," he continued, emphasizing the title,
+"could we not find somewhere a royal hand for him to see?"
+
+"Very easily," said the king, smiling, "only it should be that of a real
+king or a real emperor. Such as the Emperor of China, who is obeyed by
+millions of subjects, or Alexander, who reigns over the ninth part of
+the whole world. Do you not think so, M. Turpin?"
+
+"I think, sir," replied Benedict, as he bent low before the king, "that
+it is not always great kingdoms which make great kings. Thessaly
+produced Achilles, and Macedonia gave birth to Alexander," and again
+bowing, even more deeply, he left the studio.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE CHALLENGE
+
+
+Benedict's prediction was duly fulfilled. He had hardly opened his eyes
+the next morning when Lenhart, who had assumed the duties of valet,
+appeared, bearing a magnificent silver salver which he had borrowed from
+the landlord. On it were displayed two cards.
+
+The cards bore the respective names of "Major Frederic von Bulow" and
+"Georges Kleist, Editor of the 'Kreuz Zeitung.'" Two different classes
+of Prussian society were therefore represented desiring satisfaction.
+
+Benedict enquired where these gentlemen were to be found, and hearing
+that they were both at his own hotel, sent a hasty message to Colonel
+Anderson, begging him to come at once. When he appeared Benedict gave
+him the cards, requesting him to deal with the owners in due order of
+precedence, beginning with Major von Bulow, and to agree to whatever
+terms were proposed whether as to weapons, time, or place. The colonel
+would have protested, but Benedict declared he would have it his own way
+or not at all, and Anderson had no choice but to agree.
+
+He returned at the end of half-an-hour. Von Bulow had chosen swords.
+But, having been sent officially to Frankfort, and having come out of
+his way in order to accept M. Turpin's challenge, he would be greatly
+obliged if the meeting might take place as soon as possible.
+
+"The sooner the better," said Benedict. "It is the very least I can do
+to oblige a man who comes out of his way in order to oblige me."
+
+"All he wants, seemingly, is to be able to continue his journey this
+evening," observed Anderson.
+
+"Ah!" said Benedict. "But I cannot answer for his ability to do that,
+however early we meet!"
+
+"That would be a pity," said the colonel. "Major von Bulow is very much
+a gentleman. It seems that three Prussian officers interfered to protect
+you from the mob on condition that you cried 'Vive King William!' 'Vive
+la Prusse!'"
+
+"Pardon me, there were no conditions."
+
+"Not on your side, but they undertook it for you."
+
+"I did not prevent them from crying it as much as they liked."
+
+"Doubtless, only, instead of doing it yourself--"
+
+"I recited one of Alfred de Musset's finest poems; what more could they
+want?"
+
+"They consider that you treated them with disrespect."
+
+"Perhaps I did. Well, what next?"
+
+"When they read your letter they decided that one of them must accept
+the challenge and the other two act as seconds. They drew lots, and the
+lot fell on von Bulow. That very moment he received orders to go on this
+mission to Frankfort. The others wished that one of them should take his
+place in the duel. But he refused, saying that if he were killed or
+badly wounded, one of them could take on the dispatches which would not
+be much delayed. So I then arranged the meeting for one o'clock."
+
+"Very well. What about the other man?"
+
+"Herr Georges Kleist is not remarkable in any way: he is a typical
+German journalist. He chooses pistols and wants to fire at close
+quarters on account of his defective eyesight. I believe it is quite
+good enough, but, however, he does wear glasses, so you are to be at
+forty-five paces--"
+
+"Good gracious! Do you call that close quarters?"
+
+"Have a little patience! You may each advance fifteen paces nearer,
+which reduces the ultimate distance to fifteen. But we had a discussion.
+His seconds say that he is the aggrieved party and has the right to fire
+first. I say, nothing of the kind; you ought to fire together, at a
+given signal. You must decide; it is a serious matter, and I decline the
+responsibility."
+
+"It is soon decided; he must fire first. I hope you fixed an early time
+for him also? We could then kill two birds with one stone."
+
+"That is just what I have done. At one o'clock you meet von Bulow with
+swords, and at a quarter-past, Herr Kleist, with pistols."
+
+"Well then, my dear colonel, I will go and order breakfast, and will you
+be so good as to tell Herr Kleist that he can have first shot? And," he
+added, "let it be understood that I don't provide any arms myself; I
+will use the swords and pistols they bring with them."
+
+It was then eleven o'clock. Benedict promptly ordered breakfast. Colonel
+Anderson returned in ten minutes and announced that all was settled.
+Whereupon they applied themselves to their repast until the clock struck
+twelve.
+
+"Colonel," said Benedict, "do not let us be late."
+
+"We have no great distance to go. It is a pretty place, as you will see.
+Are you influenced by surroundings?"
+
+"I would rather fight on grass than on cultivated ground."
+
+"We are going to Eilenriede; it is a sort of Hanoverian Bois de
+Boulogne. In the middle of the wood there is a little open glade with a
+spring in it, which might have been made for this sort of encounter. I
+have been there once or twice on my own account and three or four times
+on other people's. By the way, have you secured another second?"
+
+"There are five on the other side, one of them will oblige me."
+
+"But suppose they refused?"
+
+"Not likely! But, even if they did, you alone would be sufficient. And,
+as they seem anxious to finish the affair one way or another, there will
+be no difficulties."
+
+Lenhart had already announced the carriage. The colonel explained the
+way to him. In half-an-hour they arrived at the little glade, with ten
+minutes to spare.
+
+"A lovely spot," said Benedict. "As the others are not yet here, I will
+sketch it."
+
+And, producing a sketch-book from his pocket, he dashed off a very
+accurate view of the place with remarkable rapidity and skill.
+
+Presently a carriage appeared in the distance. As they drew near
+Benedict rose and took off his hat. The three officers, the editor, and
+a surgeon they had brought, occupied it. In the officers, Benedict at
+once recognized his three protectors at Berlin.
+
+His adversaries left their carriage at a little distance and courteously
+returned his salute. Colonel Anderson went to meet them and explained
+that his principal, being a stranger, had no second but himself, and
+asked if one of his opponents would supply the deficiency. They
+consulted a moment, then one of the officers crossed over and bowed to
+Benedict.
+
+"I am much obliged by your courtesy, sir," said Benedict.
+
+"We will agree to anything, sir--rather than lose time," replied the
+officer.
+
+Benedict bit his lip.
+
+"Will you at once select the weapons," he said to Colonel Anderson in
+English, "we must not keep these gentlemen waiting."
+
+Von Bulow had already divested himself of helmet, coat, waistcoat, and
+cravat. Benedict studied him carefully as he did so. He appeared to be
+about thirty-three and to have lived in his uniform until he felt
+uncomfortable out of it. He was dark, with glossy black hair cut quite
+short, a straight nose, black moustache and very decided chin. Both
+courage and loyalty could be read in the frank and open glance of his
+dark eyes.
+
+Von Bulow, having provided the swords, Benedict was offered his choice
+of them. He simply took the first that came, and immediately passed his
+left hand along the edge and felt the point. The edge was keen as a
+razor. The point sharp as a needle. The major's second observed his
+action, and, beckoning Colonel Anderson aside.
+
+"Will you," he said, "kindly explain to your principal that in German
+duels we use only the edge of the sword? To thrust with the point is
+inadmissible."
+
+"The devil!" said Benedict when this information was repeated to him,
+"it is well you told me. In France, where duels, especially military
+ones, are usually serious, we use every stroke we can, and our
+sword-play is actually called 'counterpoint.'"
+
+"But indeed," exclaimed von Bulow, "I beg, sir, that you will use your
+sword in whatever way you find best."
+
+Benedict bowed in acknowledgment. Having fought several duels at
+Heidelberg he was well acquainted with German methods of fencing and
+placed himself with apparent indifference. As the affronted person has
+the right of attack, and a challenge may be considered an affront, he
+waited, standing simply on guard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE TWO DUELS
+
+
+"Engage, gentlemen!" cried the colonel.
+
+Von Bulow's sword swept through the air with a flash like lightning.
+But, rapid though it was, it descended in empty space. Warned by the
+instinct of a true fencer, the blades had barely crossed when Benedict
+sprang swiftly aside and remained standing unguarded, his point lowered,
+and his mocking smile disclosing a fine set of teeth. His adversary
+paused, perplexed, then swung round so as to face him, but did not
+immediately advance. However, feeling that this duel must be no child's
+play, he stepped forward and instantly the point of Benedict's sword
+rose menacingly against him. Involuntarily he retreated a step. Benedict
+now fixed his eyes upon him, circling round him, now bending to the
+right, now again to the left, but always keeping his weapon low and
+ready to strike.
+
+The major began to feel a kind of hypnotic influence overpowering him.
+Determined to fight against it, he boldly stepped forward, holding his
+sword aloft. Instantly he felt the touch of cold steel. Benedict thrust,
+his rapier pierced von Bulow's shirt and reappeared on the other side.
+Had not the major remained standing motionless opposite him, an onlooker
+would have supposed he had been run through the body.
+
+The seconds hastened up, but:
+
+"It is nothing, I assure you," said the major.
+
+Then, perceiving that Benedict had only intended to pierce his shirt and
+not himself, he added:
+
+"Come, sir, let us continue this game in earnest."
+
+"Ah!" said Benedict, "but you see, had I played in earnest, you would
+now be a dead man!"
+
+"On guard, sir," cried von Bulow, furious, "and remember this is a duel
+to the death."
+
+Benedict stepped back and saluting with his sword:
+
+"Pardon me, gentlemen," he said, "you see how unfortunate I am. Although
+fully intending not to use my point I have nevertheless made two holes
+in my opponent's shirt. My hand might again refuse to obey my will, and,
+as I do not visit a country merely to rebel against its
+customs--particularly when they happen to be philanthropic--so--"
+
+He went up to a rock which rose out of the little valley and, placing
+the point of his rapier in a crevice, broke off a good inch of the
+blade.
+
+His adversary wished to do likewise, but,
+
+"It is quite unnecessary, sir," said Benedict, "you are not likely to
+use your point."
+
+Being now reduced to ordinary sword-play, Benedict crossed swords with
+his opponent, which necessitated their keeping close together. But he
+continually retreated half a pace and advanced again, thanks to which
+incessant movement the major merely made cuts in the air. Becoming
+impatient, he endeavoured to reach Benedict, missed again, and
+involuntarily lowered his weapon. Benedict parried a back stroke and
+touched von Bulow's breast with the broken point. Said he:
+
+"You see I was right in breaking the point of my sword. Otherwise, this
+time something besides your shirt would have been pierced."
+
+The major remained silent, but quickly recovering himself again stood on
+guard. He now saw that his adversary was a most skilful swordsman, who
+united French celerity with determined coolness and who was fully
+conscious of his strength.
+
+Benedict, seeing that an end must be made, now stood still, calm but
+menacing, with frowning brows and eyes fixed on his enemy, not
+attempting to strike but retaining a posture of defence. It seemed as if
+he awaited the attack, but suddenly with the unexpected celerity which
+characterized all his movements, he sprang forward with a bound like
+that of a jaguar, aimed a blow at his adversary's head, and as the
+latter raised his arm in defence, drew a line with his blade right
+across his chest. Then, springing lightly back in the same instant he
+again lowered his sword as before.
+
+Von Bulow's shirt, slashed as though cut by a razor, was instantly
+tinged with blood. The seconds moved forward.
+
+"Do not stir, I beg," cried the major, "it is nothing but a scratch. I
+must confess the gentleman's hand is a light one."
+
+And he again stood on guard.
+
+Courageous though he was, he felt he was losing confidence, and,
+dumbfounded by his enemy's agility, a sense of great danger oppressed
+him. Evidently Benedict was keeping just out of reach, and was merely
+waiting until he should expose himself by an unwary advance. He
+understood that hitherto his opponent had simply played with him, but
+that now the duel was approaching an end and that his smallest mistake
+would be severely punished. His sword, never able to encounter
+Benedict's, seemed to become lifeless, and ceased to respond to his
+will.
+
+His previous experience in fencing seemed useless here, and this
+flashing blade which he could never touch, but which rose constantly
+before him, alert, intelligent, as if endued with life, confused his
+senses. He dared not risk a movement before this enemy always just
+beyond his reach, so imperturbable and yet so alert, and who evidently
+intended, like the artist he was, either to finish with one brilliant
+stroke or else--which did not seem likely--to expire in a dignified pose
+like the "Dying Gladiator."
+
+But, exasperated by his opponent's perfect bodily grace, by his elegant
+and masterly swordsmanship, and still more by the mocking smile which
+hovered on his lips, von Bulow felt the blood rise to his temples, and
+could not resist muttering between his teeth:
+
+"This fellow is the very devil!"
+
+And, springing forward, no longer fearing the broken point, he raised
+his sword and aimed a blow with all his might at his adversary, a blow
+which, had it reached its object, would have split his head as though it
+had been an apple. Again, the stroke only encountered empty air, for
+once more Benedict had effaced himself by a light, graceful spring, very
+familiar to Parisian fencing masters.
+
+The major's raised sword had broken his guard. A flash, as of lightning,
+and his arm, streaming with blood, fell against his side. His sword
+dropped, but remained upright supported by the sword knot.
+
+The seconds hurried to his side. Very pale, but with smiling lips, von
+Bulow bowed to Benedict and said:
+
+"I thank you, sir. When you might have run me through the body you only
+wounded my shirt; when you might have cut me in two you let me off with
+the sort of cut one gets in shaving, and now, when you might have either
+cleft my head or maimed my arm, I escape with a ruined sleeve. I now
+ask you to extend your courtesy even further, and to complete the
+record like the gentleman you are by explaining why you have spared me
+thus?"
+
+"Sir," said Benedict with a smile, "in the house of Herr Fellner, the
+Burgomaster of Frankfort, I was introduced to his god-daughter, a
+charming lady, who adores her husband. Her name was the Baroness von
+Bulow. When I saw your card it occurred to me that you might be related,
+and though, beautiful as she is, mourning could only add to her charm,
+it would grieve me to have been the cause of compelling her to wear it."
+
+The major looked Benedict in the face and, stern soldier though he might
+be, there were tears in his eyes.
+
+"Madame von Bulow is my wife," he said. "Believe me, sir, wherever she
+may meet you she will greet you thus: 'My husband foolishly quarrelled
+with you, sir; may you ever be blessed because for my sake you spared
+him!' and she will give you her hand with as much gratitude as I now
+offer you mine."
+
+And he added smiling:
+
+"Forgive me for only offering my left hand. It is entirely your own
+fault that I cannot give you the right."
+
+And now, although the wound was not dangerous, von Bulow did not refuse
+to have it dressed. The surgeon promptly ripped up his sleeve,
+disclosing a wound, not very deep, but terrible to look at, which
+extended down the arm from the shoulder to the elbow. And one shuddered
+to think what such a wound would have been, had the swordsman struck
+with all his force instead of simply drawing his blade along the arm.
+
+The surgeon dipped a cloth in the ice-cold spring which rose at the foot
+of the rock and wrapped it round the arm. He then drew the sides of the
+wound together and strapped them with plaster. He assured the major that
+he would be quite able to continue his journey to Frankfort in the
+evening.
+
+Benedict offered his carriage to the major, who, however, declined,
+being curious to see what would happen to his successor. He excused
+himself on the score that courtesy required him to wait for Herr Georges
+Kleist.
+
+Although Herr Kleist, having had time to see what sort of adversary he
+had to deal with, would willingly have been some leagues away, he put a
+brave face on the matter, and although he grew perceptibly pale during
+the first duel, and still paler when the wound was dressed, he was,
+nevertheless, the first to say.
+
+"Excuse my interrupting you, gentlemen, but it is my turn now."
+
+"I am quite at your service, sir," said Benedict.
+
+"You are not properly dressed for a duel with pistols," interposed
+Colonel Anderson, glancing at Benedict's costume.
+
+"Really," said Benedict, "I never thought about what clothes I was to
+fight in. I only wanted to do it with comfort to myself. That's all!"
+
+"You can at least put on your tunic and button it!"
+
+"Bah! It is much too hot."
+
+"Perhaps we ought to have taken the pistols first. All this sword-play
+may have unsteadied your hand."
+
+"My hand is my servant, dear colonel; it knows it has to obey me and you
+will see it does so."
+
+"Do you wish to see the pistols you are to use?"
+
+"You have seen them, have you not? Are they double barrelled or single?"
+
+"Single barrelled duelling pistols. They were hired this morning from a
+gunsmith in the Grande Place."
+
+"Then call my other second and see them properly loaded. Mind the shot
+is inside the barrels, and not dropped outside."
+
+"I will load them myself."
+
+"Colonel," asked the Prussian officers, "do you wish to see the pistols
+loaded?"
+
+"Yes. I wish to do so. But how are we to arrange? Herr Kleist will only
+have one second."
+
+"These two gentlemen may answer for Herr Kleist," said the major, "and I
+will go over to M. Turpin." And his wound being now bandaged, he went
+and sat down on the rock which gave its name to the glade.
+
+Meanwhile the pistols were loaded, Colonel Anderson fulfilling his
+promise by putting in the balls himself. Benedict came up to him.
+
+"Tell me," the Englishman asked gravely, "do you mean to kill him?"
+
+"What do you expect? One can't exactly play with pistols as one can with
+swords or rapiers."
+
+"Surely there is some way of disabling people with whom you have no
+serious quarrel without killing them outright?"
+
+"I really cannot undertake to miss him just to oblige you! Think! He
+would naturally go and publish everywhere that I did not know how to
+shoot!"
+
+"All right! I see I need not have spoken. I bet you have an idea of some
+sort."
+
+"Frankly, I have. But then he must do his part."
+
+"What must he do?"
+
+"Just keep perfectly still, it ought not to be so very difficult. See,
+they are ready."
+
+The seconds had just measured the forty-five paces. Colonel Anderson now
+measured off fifteen from each end, and to mark the exact limit which
+neither combatant was to pass, he laid two scabbards across and planted
+a sword upright in the ground at each end to decide the starting-point.
+
+"To your places, gentlemen," cried the seconds.
+
+Herr Kleist having selected his pistol, the colonel brought the other to
+Benedict, who was talking to the major, and who took the pistol without
+as much as looking at it, and still chatting with von Bulow, walked
+quietly to his place.
+
+The duellists now stood at the extreme distance.
+
+"Gentlemen!" said Colonel Anderson, "you are now forty-five paces apart.
+Each of you may either advance fifteen paces before firing, or may fire
+from where he now stands. Herr Georges Kleist has the first shot and may
+fire as soon as he pleases. Having fired, he may hold his pistol so as
+to protect any part of himself he wishes.
+
+"Now, gentlemen!"
+
+The two adversaries advanced towards each other. Having arrived at the
+mark, Benedict waited, standing, facing his opponent with folded arms. A
+light breeze ruffled his hair and blew his shirt open at the chest. He
+had walked at his ordinary pace.
+
+Herr Kleist, dressed entirely in black, bare-headed, and with closely
+buttoned coat, had advanced slowly, by force of will overcoming physical
+disinclination. He halted at the limit.
+
+"You are ready, sir?" he asked.
+
+"Quite ready, sir."
+
+"Will you not turn sideways?"
+
+"I am not accustomed to do so."
+
+Then, turning himself, Herr Kleist slowly raised his pistol, took aim,
+and fired.
+
+Benedict heard the ball whiz close by his ear and felt the wind ruffle
+his hair; it had passed within an inch of his head.
+
+His adversary instantly raised his pistol, holding it so as to protect
+his face, but was unable entirely to control a nervous movement of his
+hand.
+
+"Sir," said Benedict, "you courteously asked just now if I would not
+stand sideways, which is unusual between combatants. Permit me in my
+turn to offer a piece of advice, or rather, make a request."
+
+"What is it, sir?" asked the journalist, still protecting himself with
+his pistol.
+
+"This; keep your hand steady, your pistol is moving. I wish to put my
+ball in the wood of your pistol, which will be very difficult unless you
+keep it quite still. Against my own will I might hit you, either in the
+cheek or the back of the head, whereas--if you keep your hand just as it
+is--"
+
+He raised his pistol and fired instantly.
+
+"There! it is done now!"
+
+It was done so rapidly that no one could have supposed he had taken any
+aim at all. But, even as the report was heard, Herr Kleist's pistol was
+blown to pieces and he himself staggered and fell on one knee.
+
+"Ah!" said Anderson, "you have killed him."
+
+"I think not," replied Benedict. "I aimed between the two screws which
+hold the hammer. It is the shock of the concussion which has brought him
+down."
+
+The surgeon and the two seconds hastened to the wounded man, who now
+held only the butt end of his pistol. There was a terrible bruise on his
+cheek, reaching from the eye to the jaw. Otherwise he was untouched,
+only the shock had knocked him down.
+
+The barrel of the pistol was picked up on one side and the lock on the
+other. The ball had lodged exactly between the two screws. Had it
+continued its course unobstructed it would have broken the upper jaw and
+penetrated the brain.
+
+The dressing was simple--the bruise was a very bad one, but the skin was
+only broken in two places, and the surgeon considered a cold-water
+bandage to be all that was required.
+
+Benedict embraced the major, bowed to the journalist, shook hands with
+the seconds, put on his coat, and got into the carriage, looking less
+dishevelled than if he had come from a picnic.
+
+"Well, my dear sponsor," he said to Colonel Anderson.
+
+"Well, my dear godson," responded the latter, "I know at least ten men
+besides myself who would willingly have given a thousand pounds to see
+what I have seen to-day."
+
+"Sir," said Lenhart, "if you would promise neither to hunt nor to fight
+unless I am there to see, I, my horse, and my carriage should be at your
+service for the rest of my life."
+
+And indeed, Benedict returned as he had foretold, having fought his
+duels, vanquished his adversaries, and come off without a single
+scratch!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+"WHAT WAS WRITTEN IN A KING'S HAND"
+
+
+When Benedict returned to his hotel he was met by Kaulbach's servant,
+sent by his master to learn what had happened. In the good town of
+Hanover it had speedily become known that in answer to Benedict's letter
+in the "Gazette" two challenges had been received that very morning, and
+that he, his challengers, and seconds, had all gone to Eilenriede, the
+usual place for settling affairs of this description. Benedict desired
+him to assure his master that all was well, adding that he would have
+come in person to acknowledge his courtesy, had he not feared to rouse
+the curiosity of the whole town.
+
+Colonel Anderson had made an excuse for leaving Benedict as soon as they
+returned. Being an officer of the Royal Ordnance he had probably some
+report to make to the king.
+
+The news of the result of this double combat spread as rapidly as had
+that of the challenges. Such an event as two duels successfully fought
+without a scratch being received was quite unheard of, and was
+considered so extraordinary that the young men of the town, who also had
+no love for the Prussians, sent a deputation to congratulate Benedict on
+his success. He received the deputies and replied in such excellent
+German that they retired marvelling more than ever.
+
+The doors had scarcely closed on them when Stephen appeared, and
+announced that all his guests were so interested in the events of the
+day that they begged Benedict would honour them by dining at the _table
+d'hote_, in order that they might all have the pleasure of personally
+congratulating him.
+
+Benedict replied that he did not in the least understand so much
+admiration for his perfectly natural conduct, but that he was quite
+willing to do anything which might be agreeable to his fellow guests.
+
+Stephen had time to let the news circulate in the town that the young
+Frenchman of whom every one was talking, would, for once only, consent
+to dine at the _table d'hote_. Instead of twenty-five only, he had
+covers laid for two hundred guests. Every place was occupied.
+
+The police feared disorder of some kind, and came to investigate. They
+were assured that it was only a family affair, a demonstration such as
+had been made three days before under the windows of Count von
+Bismarck--only it was the other way about! Now the Hanoverian police was
+an excellent body, which highly approved of family fetes and patriotic
+demonstrations. Therefore, instead of objecting to this one they
+encouraged it with all their power, thanks to which all passed off in
+perfect order.
+
+At midnight, Benedict was at length allowed to retire, but his admirers
+organized a serenade beneath his windows which lasted till two o'clock
+in the morning.
+
+At nine Kaulbach entered his room. The Crown Prince invited Benedict to
+breakfast at the Palace of Herrenhausen, and requested him to bring his
+sketches. Kaulbach was commissioned to bring him back. The breakfast was
+at eleven, but the prince would be obliged if Benedict would come at ten
+in order to have some time for conversation both before and after.
+
+Benedict lost no time in dressing, and although Kaulbach, intimate at
+the palace, assured him he could go in ordinary costume, he preferred to
+wear the naval uniform in which he had made the Chinese campaign. On his
+breast was the Cross of the Legion d'Honneur, of which the simple red
+ribbon means much more when worn by some than do the various grand
+crosses worn by others. He added a sabre, the gift of Said Pasha, took
+his sketches, and got into the carriage with Kaulbach.
+
+Lenhart had a whole day's holiday.
+
+Twenty-five minutes brought them to Herrenhausen, which is about a
+league from Hanover, and, the carriage being open, Benedict could see
+the young prince watching for him eagerly at a window. He was
+accompanied only by his aide-de-camp, an officer of Engineers, and
+consequently well able to draw. Also, which is more unusual, he did not
+disdain the picturesque.
+
+The prince enquired courteously after Benedict's health, without making
+the smallest allusion to the duels of the day before. It was evident
+nevertheless that he knew all about them. Had there been any doubts on
+the subject they would have been dispelled by the appearance of Colonel
+Anderson as another invited guest.
+
+But the prince's chief interest centred in the portfolio which Benedict
+carried under his arm.
+
+Anticipating his wishes, Benedict observed;
+
+"Your Highness wished to see some of my sketches. I have brought some
+representing hunting incidents, thinking that they might interest you
+most."
+
+"Oh! let me see, let me see!" exclaimed the prince, extending his hand,
+and placing the portfolio on the piano, he began eagerly to examine the
+contents. After having turned over several, "Ah," said he, "but they are
+beautiful. Will you not tell me something of the adventures which I am
+sure they illustrate? They must be so interesting."
+
+Benedict endeavoured to gratify the prince, and the time both before and
+after the breakfast passed rapidly in listening to accounts of elephant
+hunting, of encounters with pirates in the Straits of Malacca, of
+adventures in the Caucasus, and he had just finished an especially
+thrilling anecdote relating to the poisonous snakes of India when the
+king was seen approaching from the gallery. He held the arm of his
+aide-de-camp with whom he was conversing and walked firmly as if able to
+see. He entered the dining-room without being announced. The four guests
+rose immediately, but:
+
+"Do not let me disturb you, gentlemen," said the king. "I merely came to
+visit the prince, to ask if he has all he wants, and if not, to convey
+his wishes to the persons concerned."
+
+"No! thanks to Your Majesty's kindness, nothing is wanting here except
+yourself. Your knowledge of men has not deceived you, and Monsieur
+Benedict is the most delightful companion I ever met."
+
+"The prince is imaginative, sire," said Benedict laughing. "He
+attributes to some very simple anecdotes and hasty sketches an
+excellence which they do not possess."
+
+But the king replied as if answering his own thought, the thought which
+had led him to visit the young man.
+
+"Yesterday," he said, addressing Benedict and turning towards him, as he
+always did in conversation, "you said something about a science which
+interested me in former days, namely, chiromancy. My thoughts carry me
+on towards the mysterious unexplored regions of the human mind, of
+nature, of creation. I should like to know they are based upon logic, on
+physiology, for instance."
+
+"I know, sire," replied Benedict, smiling, "that is why I ventured
+yesterday to mention the occult sciences to Your Majesty."
+
+"You know. But how?" demanded the king.
+
+"I should be a poor student, sire, if I had limited my enquiries to the
+hands only, and had not united the study of Lavater and Gall to that of
+Arpentigny. I saw at once in the form of your hands and head those
+precious aptitudes which are shown in phrenology by the well-developed
+organs of the poetic faculty and of the love of harmony, which betoken
+the student of natural science. The protection accorded by Your Majesty
+to the poor herbalist, Lampe, arose not from benevolence only, but from
+the conviction that certain men are empowered to receive a revelation,
+and that it is not always the highly placed ones of earth to whom truth
+is thus manifested."
+
+"It is true," said the king. "Other men may see the stars shining in the
+midnight silence, but it seems to me that I actually hear that 'music of
+the spheres' spoken of by Pythagoras. And I am proud to think that while
+I stand on the summit of earthly society, there are, immediately above
+me, intermediate angelic influences which carry on a boundless electric
+chain, linking us not merely with our own little planetary system, but
+with others--with the whole universe."
+
+"I do not venture," the king continued with a smile, "to discourse
+openly on these beliefs. I should get the reputation of 'a king of
+dreams,' about the worst a king can have. But to you, who are a dreamer
+like myself, I do say--yes, I believe in these celestial influences, and
+I believe that each mortal has, in that precious casket which he calls
+his skull, the signs of his destiny. He may strive to alter or delay its
+course, but it will bear him on irresistibly to fortune, success, or
+misery, as the case may be.
+
+"And I speak with conviction because I have had proofs. In early youth I
+once met a gipsy woman in the course of a solitary walk. She examined my
+hand and told me certain things which came to pass. I wish to believe
+you, but I must have proofs. Can you read the past in my hand even as
+the gipsy read the future. Can you, do you, sincerely believe you have
+this power?"
+
+"I do, sire. And I think actual science will tell you what has before
+been perhaps merely guessed at by intuition or tradition."
+
+"Well then," said the king, extending his hand, "now tell me what you
+read."
+
+"Sire," replied Benedict, "I do not know how far I dare--"
+
+"Dare what?" enquired the king.
+
+"What if I read only a threatening future?"
+
+"We live in days when no predictions, however terrible, can exceed the
+reality of the convulsions which are taking place around us. What can
+you predict for me that can be so terrible? Is it the loss of my
+kingdom? I lost more than a kingdom when I lost the vision of sun and
+sky, of earth and sea. Take my hand, and tell me what is written."
+
+"Everything?"
+
+"Everything. As for misfortunes, is it not better to know of them than
+to encounter them unforeseen?"
+
+Benedict bowed so deeply over King George's hand that he almost touched
+it with his lips.
+
+"A truly royal hand," he said, after having glanced over it, "a
+beneficent hand; an artistic hand."
+
+"I did not ask for compliments, sir," said the king, smiling.
+
+"See, my dear master," said Benedict, addressing Kaulbach, "how well the
+Mount of Apollo, there, under the ring-finger, is developed! Apollo
+bestows love of the arts; he is the giver of intelligence, of all that
+is brilliant and creates brilliance. It is he who gives the hope of an
+immortal name, calm of the soul, the sympathy that creates love. Look at
+the Mount of Mars, represented by the part opposite the thumb. This is
+what gives courage, both civil and military, calm, coolness in danger,
+resignation, pride, devotion, resolution, and the strength of
+resistance. Unfortunately, Saturn is against us. Saturn threatens. You
+know, sire, Saturn is Fate. Now, I ought to tell you, the lines of
+Saturn are not only unfavourable; they are calamitous."
+
+And here Benedict raised his head and looking at the king with the
+utmost respect and sympathy:
+
+"I might continue more intimately yet, sire," he said, "and reveal your
+whole character in its most secret recesses. I might sketch your
+inclinations one by one to you to their lightest shades; but I should
+prefer to pass at once to graver facts. At twelve years old, Your
+Majesty had a serious illness."
+
+"It is true," said the king.
+
+"At nineteen, a line extends both towards the brain and towards the
+Mount of the Sun--a nervous seizure on one side; on the other, something
+resembling death, but which is not death--an eclipse! And worse than
+that, an eclipse is momentary one night!"
+
+"The gipsy told me literally the same as you--something that resembles
+death, but is not death! The fact is that at the age of nineteen I
+passed through great trouble."
+
+"Stay! Here, sire, on Jupiter there is a marvellous gleam; one of the
+highest seats of human fortune--about the age of thirty-nine."
+
+"Again the words of the gipsy. At thirty-nine I became king."
+
+"I was ignorant of the precise dates," said Benedict, "but it might be
+supposed that I knew them. Let me look for a fact that I could not have
+known. Ah, I see it. Yes, it is certainly here. An agony of terror, an
+accident due to water. What is it? A boat in danger? A tempest watched
+from the shore? The imminent wreck of a vessel containing some one
+beloved? There is fearful terror, but terror only; for there is a rescue
+traced close to the line of fate. Your Majesty undoubtedly experienced
+terrible anxiety for the life of some one greatly beloved.'
+
+"Do you hear this, Ernest?" said the king addressing his son.
+
+"Oh, my father!" said the young prince, throwing his arms around his
+father's neck. Then, to Benedict: "Yes, indeed, my poor father was in
+terrible fear. I was bathing in the sea at Nordeney. I can swim fairly
+well; but without perceiving it I let myself be carried away on a
+current; and, upon my word, I was on the point of sinking when I grasped
+the arm of an honest fisherman who had come to my assistance. One second
+more, and all would have been over with me."
+
+"And I was there," said the king. "I could hear his cries, I stretched
+my arms towards him--it was all I could do. Gloucester offered his
+kingdom for a horse: and I would gladly have given mine for a ray of
+light. Do not let us think of it. All the misfortunes of the future
+together are not more terrible than the shadow of that misfortune which
+did not happen."
+
+"And so, sire?" said Benedict.
+
+"And so I am convinced," said the king. "I have no need of further
+proofs. Let us pass on to the future."
+
+Benedict looked with great attention at the king's hand. He hesitated a
+moment and asked for a magnifying glass, to see more distinctly. It was
+brought.
+
+"Sire," he said, "you are about to be drawn into a great war. One of
+your nearest neighbours will not only betray, but will despoil you; and
+notwithstanding--look, monseigneur!" he said to the prince, "the line of
+the Sun shows victory: but an empty victory, useless, without fruit."
+
+"And then?" asked the king.
+
+"Oh, sire, what do I read in this hand!"
+
+"Good tidings, or bad?"
+
+"You told me to keep nothing from you, sire."
+
+"And I repeat it. Tell me then; this victory--"
+
+"This victory, as I have told Your Majesty, leads to nothing. Here is
+the Line of the Sun broken off above the Line of the Head by a line
+starting from Mars which also cuts the Mount of Jupiter."
+
+"And that foretells?"
+
+"A defeat. But however--No," said Benedict, seeking to read the most
+mysterious secrets from the royal hand; "moreover, it is not the last
+word of your destiny. Here is the Line of the Sun after its breakage
+starting afresh, reaching the ring-finger and stopping at its base. And
+there see further, above this line traversing Jupiter, a straight line
+like a furrow crowned with a star, as a sceptre is crowned with a
+diamond."
+
+"And that prophesies?"
+
+"Restoration."
+
+"Then according to you, I shall lose the throne and reconquer it?"
+
+Benedict turned towards the prince.
+
+"Your hand, if you please, monseigneur."
+
+The prince gave him his hand.
+
+"After the age of forty, monseigneur, the Line of Life sends a branch
+towards the Line of the Sun. At that period you will ascend the throne.
+This is all that I can tell you. Now, if you ascend the throne, prince,
+it can only mean that your father has either recovered or has never lost
+it."
+
+The king remained silent for a moment, resting his head on his left
+hand. He seemed gazing fixedly before him as if absorbed in some great
+idea. The most profound silence reigned in the apartment.
+
+"I cannot tell you," he said at length, "how much this unknown science
+interests me. Does Providence permit each of us to recognize his destiny
+in advance, just as the wrestler of ancient Greece might calculate the
+strength of his adversary in the circus, and consider how best to avoid
+his grip and obtain the victory?"
+
+He remained silent for a few moments, then continued:
+
+"After all, it would seem only just, only reasonable, that Providence
+which announces a storm by gathering clouds and muttering thunder,
+should allow to man and especially to man placed on the highest point of
+earthly grandeur, some indication of the approach of the storms of life.
+Yes, this science should be true, if only for the reason that it is
+necessary, and has hitherto been a missing link--unknown as it was--in
+the harmony of creation and in the logic of the Divine Mercy."
+
+At this moment an usher appeared and informed the king that the Minister
+of Foreign Affairs desired an audience on account of important business.
+
+The king turned to Benedict:
+
+"Sir," said he, "though your predictions are gloomy, you will always be
+welcome in the home of him to whom you have made them. You have foretold
+a victory; well, I to-day commission you to depict it. And if you remain
+with us, it only rests with you to share it. Ernest, give your Guelphic
+Cross to M. Benedict Turpin. I will tell my Minister of Foreign Affairs
+to have the patent ready for signature to-morrow."
+
+The king embraced his son, gave his hand to Kaulbach, graciously saluted
+Anderson and Benedict, and taking the arm of his aide-de-camp left the
+apartment as he had entered it.
+
+The young prince detached the cross and ribbon of the Guelphic Order
+which decorated his uniform, and fastened them on Benedict's coat with
+signs of the most livery pleasure. The latter thanked him and expressed
+his gratitude with evidently heartfelt warmth. Said the prince:
+
+"Only promise me one thing, M. Benedict. If your predictions should be
+verified, and you should have nothing better to do, we will go on our
+travels together, and you will show me how to kill lions and elephants
+in these wonderful forests I have heard of to-day."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+BARON FREDERIC VON BUeLOW
+
+
+And now we will leave our friend Benedict Turpin in order to follow one
+of his adversaries who is destined to become an important character in
+our story. We mean Baron Frederic von Bulow, whom we left with Georges
+Kleist in the glade of Eilenriede.
+
+Although his wound appeared at first sight the more serious of the two,
+it was not in reality so. Moreover, he was the most eager to leave the
+field. Entrusted as he was with a mission to Frankfort, he had turned
+aside from his road to call Benedict to account, and from the first
+moment that he was able to bear the fatigue of the journey he did not
+lose a moment in pursuing it.
+
+Although untouched by the ball, the impact of the broken pistol with the
+right side of Kleist's face had had deplorable results. The blow was so
+violent that it had left a bruise of the exact shape of the muzzle of
+the pistol. His eyes were bloodshot and his cheek immoderately swollen.
+In short, Herr Kleist would be obliged for at least a fortnight to forgo
+the pleasures of society.
+
+When the Baron Frederic von Bulow and Herr Kleist arrived at the Royal
+Hotel they found their misadventure and Benedict's triumph were already
+public property. The fact of their being Prussians was no
+recommendation, and they were received with an amount of derision which
+induced Herr Kleist, suffering though he was, to take the train
+immediately. As for the major, having already accomplished a third of
+his journey, he had only to continue on a branch line running direct
+from Hanover to Frankfort.
+
+We have already given some account of the appearance and physique of the
+Baron Frederic von Bulow; we will now complete our description, first
+relating the romantic manner in which he entered the military career and
+the happy chance by which his undoubted merits found their due reward.
+
+Frederic von Bulow came of a family belonging to Breslau. He had been a
+student at Jena. One fine day he resolved to make a tour which is
+frequently undertaken by German students along the banks of the Rhine.
+He set out alone; not that he was in the least misanthropical; but he
+was a poet. He loved to travel according to the inclination of the
+moment, to stop when it suited him, proceed when he pleased, and have no
+companion drawing him to the left when he wanted to follow a charming
+woman to the right.
+
+He had reached the most picturesque part of the Rhine; the Seven
+Mountains. On the opposite bank, on the summit of a lofty hill there
+stood a fine Gothic castle, lately restored. It belonged to the brother
+of the King of Prussia, who was then only the Prince Royal. Not only had
+he rebuilt the castle on its ancient foundations, but he had furnished
+it throughout with appointments of the sixteenth century, collected in
+the neighbourhood from the peasantry and convents, and new pieces made
+by clever workmen from ancient models. Hangings, tapestries, mirrors,
+all were of the same period, and formed a charming miniature museum of
+arms, pictures, and valuable curiosities. When the prince was not in
+residence he allowed the castle to be shown to visitors of distinction.
+
+How difficult it is to define the phrase "visitors of distinction."
+Frederic, whose family was of ancient nobility, considered that he had a
+right, though travelling on foot, to see the castle. Knapsack on
+shoulder, staff in hand, he climbed the steep path and knocked at the
+door of the keep. The sound of a horn was heard, and the door opened. A
+porter appeared and an officer in the costume of the sixteenth century,
+who asked what could be done for him. Frederic von Bulow explained his
+wish as an archaeologist to see the Prince Regent's castle. The officer
+replied, regretting he was not able to gratify him; the prince's
+intendant had arrived the evening before, preceding his master only by
+twenty-four hours. Visitors could no longer be admitted. But the
+traveller was invited according to custom to inscribe his name, titles,
+and qualifications in the visitors' book. He took a pen and wrote
+Frederic von Bulow, student of the University of Jena. Then he took up
+his iron-shod stick, saluted the officer, and began to descend the path.
+
+But he had not taken a hundred steps when he heard himself called. The
+officer beckoned and a page ran after him, saying the intendant begged
+him to return and would take upon himself to grant the desired
+permission to see the castle.
+
+In the ante-room Frederic met, as if by chance, a man of about
+fifty-eight or sixty. It was the prince's intendant. He entered into
+conversation with the young man, appeared pleased with him, and offered
+to be his guide throughout the castle, an offer that Frederic took good
+care to accept. The intendant was very well informed; Frederic was a
+young man of ability, and three or four hours had passed without either
+being aware how the time was going, when a servant announced, dinner.
+Frederic gracefully expressed his concern at leaving his cicerone so
+soon; and his regret was evidently shared by his guide.
+
+"See here," he said. "You are travelling as a student; I am here _en
+garcon_. Suppose you dine with me. You will not dine so well as you
+might with the king, but at any rate it will be better than hotel fare."
+
+Frederic protested as far as he thought good breeding demanded, but as
+he was really longing to accept the invitation he ended by acceding with
+visible pleasure, and they consequently dined together. Frederic was a
+delightful companion, being both poet and philosopher, qualities one
+finds only united in Germany. He quite made a conquest of his host, who
+after dinner proposed a game of chess. Midnight struck, and each thought
+the evening barely begun. It was not possible to return to the village
+at such an hour. Frederic, after some modest reluctance, remained at the
+castle and slept in the Landgrave Philip's bed; and it was only the next
+day after lunch that he obtained his host's permission to resume his
+journey.
+
+"I am not without some slight influence at court," said the intendant on
+taking leave of him, "and if I can ever be of any service to you, pray
+make use of me."
+
+Frederic promised that he would.
+
+"And whatever may happen," added his host, "I shall remember your name.
+You may forget me, but I shall not forget you."
+
+Frederic finished his travels on the Rhine, returned to the University
+of Jena, concluded his studies there, entered the diplomatic service and
+was greatly astonished at being one day summoned to the cabinet of the
+grand duke.
+
+"Sir," said the great man, "I have selected you to convey my
+congratulations to William the First, King of Prussia, on his recent
+accession to the throne."
+
+"But, Highness!" cried Frederic in astonishment, "who am I to be
+honoured with such a commission?"
+
+"Really! are you not Baron Frederic von Bulow?"
+
+"Highness! Baron? I? But since when have I become a baron?"
+
+"Since I made you one. You will start at nine o'clock to-morrow; your
+letters of credit will be ready at eight."
+
+Frederic could only bow and utter his thanks; he bowed deeply,
+gratefully thanked the grand duke and left the room.
+
+The next morning at ten o'clock he was in the train and by the evening
+he was in Berlin. His arrival was immediately announced to the new king.
+The new king replied that he would receive him the following day at the
+castle Of Potsdam.
+
+On the morrow Frederic, in his court suit, started for Potsdam and
+arrived at the castle. But to his great astonishment he learnt that the
+king had just gone away and had left only his intendant to represent
+him.
+
+Frederic's first idea was to return to Berlin; but he remembered that it
+was this official who had entertained him so kindly and courteously two
+years before at the castle of Rheinstein. He did not want to appear
+ungrateful or offended, so had his name sent in accordingly. But while
+crossing the ante-room he observed a full-length portrait of the king.
+He stopped for an instant stupefied. His Majesty resembled his intendant
+as one drop of water resembles another. The truth now dawned on
+Frederic. It was the king's brother himself who, to-day reigning as King
+William I, had received him at the castle of Rheinstein, who had acted
+as his guide, had kept him to dinner, who had won three games of chess
+out of five, and had made him sleep in the Landgrave Philip's bed--who
+had offered his influence at court, and who on taking leave of him had
+promised not to forget him.
+
+He understood now why he had been chosen by the Grand Duke of Weimar to
+carry his congratulations to the king; why the Grand Duke of Weimar had
+made him a baron, why the king had appointed a meeting at Potsdam, and
+why finally His Majesty had returned to Berlin, leaving his intendant
+only to represent him.
+
+His Majesty wanted to enjoy another day like that they had passed
+together at Rheinstein. Frederic was a good courtier, and was ready to
+contribute all in his power to this caprice. He entered as if he had no
+suspicion, greeted his host like an old acquaintance, only showing the
+respect due to an older man, thus recalling the scene which had left
+such a pleasing influence on his mind.
+
+The intendant made excuses for His Majesty, and invited Frederic to pass
+the day at the castle of Potsdam, an invitation which was accepted like
+the one at Rheinstein. He again offered his services as cicerone, took
+him into the mausoleum, and showed him the tomb and the sword of the
+Great Frederic.
+
+A court carriage was ready waiting for them, and they went to see the
+castle of Sans-Souci, which is only two miles from Potsdam. It was here,
+it will be remembered, in the park of this chateau that the famous mill
+was situated which its owner refused to sell to Frederic II, and which
+caused the king to exclaim when the miller gained his lawsuit, "So there
+are still judges at Berlin!" In the sequel the descendants of the
+stubborn miller were softened and sold their mill to William I, who,
+wishing to preserve it as a monument of the occurrence, refused to allow
+it to be demolished.
+
+But time, which cares nothing for the commands of kings, had in store
+for William and his guest an example of its disregard. An hour before
+the arrival of Frederic and the so-called agent, the four sails of the
+windmill had fallen, bringing down in their fall the balustrade which
+surrounded it. So that to day one must conclude that there are no longer
+judges in Berlin, as there is no longer a mill at Sans-Souci.
+
+On their return to Potsdam, Frederic and his companion found a table
+ready laid for two. They dined alone together, played five games of
+chess out of which the agent won three, and it was only at midnight that
+they separated, when on the agent wishing Frederic a good night, the
+latter replied with a deep bow: "Sire, may God grant Your Majesty a good
+night."
+
+The next day the fiction was abandoned. The king breakfasted with
+Frederic, gave him the Order of the Red Eagle, and with much pressing
+induced him to hand in his resignation and join the army. A week later
+he received his commission as lieutenant of the line, and came to pay
+his respects in his new character to the king, who undertook that the
+king would ever remember him whom the prince had promised not to forget.
+
+Two years later, Frederic received a proof that the king indeed had not
+forgotten. His regiment was stationed in garrison at Frankfort, where at
+the house of Herr Fellner, the burgomaster, he made the acquaintance of
+a family of French descent exiled by the revocation of the Edict of
+Nantes, which had since its expatriation become Catholic. The family
+consisted of the mother, aged about thirty-eight, the grandmother, who
+was sixty-eight, and two girls of twenty and eighteen. Their family name
+was Chandroz.
+
+The elder daughter, Emma, had black hair, black eyes, a pale clear skin,
+and well-marked eyebrows; her marvellously beautiful teeth showed like
+pearls against her vividly red lips. She had, in fact, that stately dark
+beauty which suggests the Roman matron, Lucretia and Cornelia in one.
+
+Helen was worthy of her name. Her hair was of that exquisite blonde tint
+which can only be compared to the colour of ripe corn. Her complexion
+faintly tinted with rose had the freshness and delicacy of the camellia.
+And the effect was almost astonishing when under these fair locks, and
+upon that countenance of almost transparent pallor, she raised large
+dark eyes, eloquent of passion, overarched with dark eyebrows and
+fringed with lashes which gave to their sparkling orbs deep reflections
+like those of the black diamonds of Tripoli. And as one had only to look
+at Emma to see foreshadowed in her the calm and wisdom of those matrons
+among whom the Catholic religion finds its saints, so one could divine
+in Helen all that tempestuous future which the united passions of two
+races hold in store for the hybrids of their sex.
+
+Whether it were that this strange manifestation of divine caprice
+dismayed him, or whether he felt himself drawn by irresistible sympathy
+to the elder of the two sisters--it was to her that the Baron von Bulow
+paid his homage. He was young, handsome, and rich. It was known that the
+King of Prussia held him in warm regard. He stated that if he were
+granted Emma's hand, his royal protector at the same time would make him
+a captain. The two young people were in love, and the family had no
+serious opposition to raise to their union. They said: "Obtain your
+promotion as captain, and we will see." He asked three days' leave,
+started for Berlin, and came back on the third day with his captain's
+commission.
+
+All was arranged. But during his absence Emma's mother was slightly
+indisposed. Her illness increased, developed into disease of the lungs,
+and at the end of six months Emma was doubly orphaned.
+
+It was a further reason for giving the family a protector. The
+grandmother, sixty-nine years of age, might die at any moment. They
+waited till the strict season of mourning dictated both by their hearts
+and by custom had elapsed, and at the end of six months they were
+married.
+
+Three days after the birth of his first child, a boy, the Baron Frederic
+von Bulow received his commission as major. On this occasion the
+protection of the king was so obvious and so kindly intentioned that the
+baron resolved to make a second journey to Berlin, not on this occasion
+to ask for favours, but to return thanks for them. This journey was all
+the more opportune because a word dropped by His Majesty's secretary had
+warned him that there were great events on the horizon in which he might
+take part, and that he would do wisely to come to Berlin on any suitable
+pretext and see the king in person.
+
+And in fact we have already said that Count von Bismarck had worked hard
+to bring great events to pass. The king had three times received Baron
+Frederic in private, and had freely discussed with him the probability
+of a terrible war. To crown all, he attached him to the staff, so that
+he might become aide-de-camp to any general whom he sent to any special
+place, or even at need to his son or his cousin.
+
+This was how Baron Frederic chanced to find himself at Berlin on June
+7th, that is, on the day of the attempted assassination of Bismarck. As
+we have seen, he, with two other officers rescued Benedict from the
+hands of the mob; but, having promised the crowd that the Frenchman
+should shout "Long live Prussia! Long live King William I!" he was
+confounded when, instead of adopting this prudent course, Benedict
+declaimed Alfred de Musset's verses on the Rhine, almost as well known
+in Prussia as the song to which they were an answer. He and his comrades
+took this affront, which the public had witnessed, as a deliberate
+insult. All three presented themselves at the Black Eagle, which
+Benedict as we know had given as his address, intending to demand
+immediate satisfaction.
+
+But, as they met each other and learnt that their errands were all the
+same, they recognized that three men, who do not wish to gain their end
+by intimidation, cannot all demand satisfaction from a single opponent.
+For this reason they cast lots as to who should have the honour of
+fighting with Benedict, and the lot as we have seen fell upon Frederic.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+HELEN
+
+
+There stands in Frankfort-on-Main, at the corner of the Ross-market,
+opposite the Protestant Church of St. Catherine, a mansion, which, by
+its architecture, belongs to the transition period between Louis XIV and
+Louis XV. It is known as Passevent House. The ground-floor was occupied
+by a bookseller, and all the rest by the Chandroz family, already known
+to the reader by name.
+
+A sort of uneasiness, not quite amounting to actual trouble, seemed to
+prevail in the house. The morning before a letter had been received by
+Baroness von Bulow, announcing her husband's return in the evening, and
+close upon that came a telegram, saying that he would not arrive before
+the following morning, and that she must not be anxious if there were a
+further delay. The fact was, that two hours after writing his letter,
+the baron saw Benedict's announcement in the "Gazette." Fearing that he
+might be delayed by a wound, he wished to spare his wife any possible
+anxiety, her infant being only just over a week old.
+
+Although the train was not due until four in the morning, Hans, the
+confidential servant of the family, had already departed at three,
+taking the carriage to meet his master at the station and at least ten
+times during the interval Emma rang up her maid, wondering why the time
+passed so slowly.
+
+At length the sound of a carriage was heard, followed by the creaking of
+the great gate, the carriage passed under the arch, the tread of spurred
+boots echoed on the staircase, Emma's door opened, and Emma's arms
+enfolded her husband.
+
+It did not escape her notice that Frederic winced when she threw her
+arms round him. She asked the cause. Frederic replied with a
+cock-and-bull story of a cab accident in which he had slightly sprained
+his arm.
+
+The sound of the carriage and the general movement in the house informed
+Helen of the baron's arrival. Hastily wrapping herself in a
+dressing-gown with her beautiful hair falling loosely over it, she
+hurried to greet her brother-in-law whom she loved tenderly. In order
+not to disturb the Countess de Chandroz, their grandmother, orders had
+been given to keep her wing of the house as quiet as possible.
+
+Madame von Bulow, with the usual penetration of wives, soon guessed that
+Frederic's arm was more hurt than he chose to acknowledge. She insisted
+that the family doctor, Herr Bodemacker, should be sent for, and
+Frederic, who knew by the pain he suffered, that the bandage must have
+been displaced during his journey, made no objection. He only begged her
+to keep quiet while he went to his own room for the bath he had ordered,
+saying that it would be much better for the doctor to follow him there
+and decide which of his two hundred and eighty-two bones required
+attention.
+
+The question of importance was to keep the baroness in ignorance as to
+the serious nature of the wound. With the help of Hans and the
+connivance of the doctor this would be easy. The bath was a marvellous
+help, and Emma allowed him to go to his room without suspecting the real
+cause of his requiring it.
+
+When the doctor arrived, Frederic astonished Hans by explaining that the
+evening before he had received a sword wound which had laid open his
+arm, that the bandage must have slipped in the train, and that it, his
+coat, and his shirt were all soaked in blood.
+
+The doctor slit the sleeve the whole way up, and then cut it clear at
+the top. Frederic then was told to plunge his arm into the warm water of
+the bath which enabled the doctor to remove the coat sleeve. He then
+loosened the shirt sleeve by sponging it with the warm water, and
+finally, cutting it away at the shoulder, was able to expose the wound.
+
+The arm, compressed by the sleeves, was frightfully red and swollen, the
+plaster had given way, the wound was gaping widely through its whole
+length, and in the lower part the arm appeared cut to the bone. It was
+fortunate that there had been plenty of warm water at hand. The doctor
+brought the two sides of the cut together again, fixed them carefully,
+bandaged the whole arm and put it in splints as if it had been broken.
+But it was absolutely necessary that the baron should remain quite quiet
+for two or three days. The doctor undertook to find the general in
+command and to explain privately that Baron von Bulow was charged with a
+mission to him but could not possibly leave the house.
+
+Hans quickly removed the water and stained bandages. Frederic went down,
+kissed his wife, and satisfied her by saying the doctor had merely
+ordered him to rest for a few days. The word dislocation spread through
+the house and accounted for the baron's indisposition. Returning to his
+own apartment he found the Prussian general awaiting him. He explained
+matters in two words; moreover, before long the story would be in all
+the papers. The important question was, to keep the baroness in
+ignorance. She would be uneasy about a dislocation, but in despair over
+a wound.
+
+Frederic handed over his despatches to the general. They merely warned
+him to be ready for action at a moment's notice. It was evident that
+Count Bismarck, from whom the order came, wished to have a garrison at
+hand during the Diet, to overawe the assembly, if possible. Afterwards
+he would withdraw it or leave it, according to circumstances. This
+question would be put to the Diet. "In case of war between Austria and
+Prussia, on which side will you be?"
+
+Frederic was extremely anxious to see his young sister Helen, having
+important communications to make. After he and Benedict had vowed
+eternal friendship on the field of battle, and Benedict had spoken of
+having met the baroness at the burgomaster's house, he had conceived an
+idea which he could not drive away, namely, to marry Benedict to his
+sister-in-law. From what he had seen and heard of the young man, he felt
+convinced that these two impetuous, imaginative, and artistic
+characters, always ready to pursue an idea suggested by a ray of
+sunlight or a scented breeze, were, out of the whole creation, the best
+suited to each other. Consequently he wished to ascertain if Helen had
+been attracted by his friend. Were this the case, he would find some
+pretext for bringing Benedict to Frankfort, and, little as Helen cared
+for admiration, he thought the acquaintance would soon assume the
+character he wished.
+
+Moreover, he wished to warn Helen to keep newspapers away from her
+sister and grandmother, and on this account it was absolutely necessary
+to take her into his confidence. She anticipated his wishes, for
+scarcely had the general left him, when some one knocked softly at his
+door, such a knock as might have proceeded from a cat or a bird. He
+knew Helen's gentle manner of announcing herself.
+
+"Come in, little sister, come in!" he cried, and Helen entered on
+tip-toe.
+
+The baron was lying on his bed in his dressing-gown, lying on his left
+side, his wounded arm extended along his body.
+
+"Ah! you good-for-nothing," said she, folding her arms and gazing at
+him, "so you have been and gone and done it, have you?"
+
+"How? done what?" enquired Frederic, laughing.
+
+"Well, now I have got you alone, we can talk."
+
+"Exactly, dear Helen, now we are alone as you say. You are the
+strong-minded person of this house, although no one else knows it, not
+even yourself. So I want to discuss important matters with you--and they
+are not a few."
+
+"So do I, and I shall begin by taking the bull by the horns. Your arm is
+not dislocated nor even sprained. You have fought a duel, like the
+hothead you are, and your arm is wounded by either a sabre or
+sword-cut."
+
+"Well, my little sister, that is exactly what I wanted to tell you. I
+did fight a duel--for political reasons. And I did get a sabre cut in my
+arm, but it was a friendly sabre, very neatly and prettily applied. It
+is not dangerous, no artery or nerve severed. But the story will be in
+all the papers; it has made noise enough already. Now we must prevent
+both grandmamma and Emma from seeing the newspapers."
+
+"The only paper taken here is the 'Kreuz Zeitung.'"
+
+"Which is precisely the one that will say the most."
+
+"What are you smiling at?"
+
+"I can't help thinking of the face of the man who will have to supply
+the details!"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Nothing. I was only talking to myself, and when I say things to myself
+they are not worth repeating aloud. The question is--to keep an eye on
+the 'Kreuz Zeitung.'"
+
+"Certainly I will keep an eye on it."
+
+"Then I need not trouble any more about it?"
+
+"When I tell you that I will see to it myself!"
+
+"Very well! We will talk about something else."
+
+"About anything you like."
+
+"Do you recollect meeting a young Frenchman at Herr Fellner's, an
+artist, a painter?"
+
+"Monsieur Benedict Turpin? I should think so! A charming man who makes
+the most rapid sketches, and though they are flattering, they are still
+likenesses."
+
+"Oh! come, come! You are quite enthusiastic."
+
+"I can show you one he did of me. He has given me a pair of wings, and I
+really look like an angel!"
+
+"Then he is clever?"
+
+"Enormously clever."
+
+"And witty."
+
+"He can certainly give you as good as you gave. You should have seen how
+he routed some of our bankers when they tried to chaff him. He spoke
+better German than they did."
+
+"Is he rich as well?"
+
+"So they say."
+
+"It also seems as if there were remarkable affinities between his
+character and that of a little girl I know."
+
+"But who? I don't understand."
+
+"Nevertheless, it is some one you know. He appears to be capricious,
+imaginative, vivacious; he adores travelling, is an excellent rider,
+and a good sportsman, either on foot or horseback, all which coincides
+admirably with the tastes of a certain 'Diana Vernon.'"
+
+"I thought that was what you always called me."
+
+"So it is. Do you recognize my portrait?"
+
+"Not at all, not in the least. I am gentle, calm, collected. I like
+travelling, yes. But where have I been? To Paris, Berlin, Vienna,
+London, and that is all, I love horses, but what do I ever ride except
+my poor little Gretchen?"
+
+"She has nearly killed you twice over!"
+
+"Poor thing! it was my own fault. As for shooting, I have never held a
+gun, and as for coursing, I have never started a hare."
+
+"True, but why not? Only because the grandmother objected. If you could
+have had your own way--"
+
+"Oh, yes! It would be glorious to rush against the wind, to feel it
+blowing through one's hair. There is great pleasure in rapid motion, a
+feeling of life which one finds in nothing else."
+
+"So you would like to be able to do these things which you don't do."
+
+"Yes, indeed."
+
+"With Monsieur Benedict?"
+
+"Why Monsieur Benedict more than any one else?"
+
+"Because he is more charming than most."
+
+"I do not think so."
+
+"Really?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then; supposing you were allowed to choose a husband out of all my
+friends, you would not choose M. Benedict?"
+
+"I should never dream of doing so."
+
+"Now, little sister, you know I am an obstinate man, who likes to
+understand, things. How is it that a man, young, handsome, rich,
+talented, courageous, and imaginative, fails to interest you,
+particularly when he has both the good qualities and the defects of your
+own character?"
+
+"What am I to say? I do not know, I cannot analyse my feelings. Some
+people are sympathetic to me, some indifferent, some downright
+disagreeable!"
+
+"Well, you don't class Monsieur Benedict among the disagreeable, I
+hope."
+
+"No, but among the indifferents."
+
+"And why among the indifferents?"
+
+"Monsieur Benedict is of medium height, I like tall men: he is fair, I
+like dark men. He is volatile, I like serious people. He is bold, always
+rushing off to the ends of the world; he would be the husband of other
+men's wives, and not even the lover of his own."
+
+"Let us resume. What sort of man, then, must he be that would please
+you?"
+
+"Somebody just the opposite of M. Benedict."
+
+"He must be tall."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Dark?"
+
+"Either dark or dark chestnut."
+
+"Grave."
+
+"Grave, or at least, serious. Also brave, steady, loyal, and--"
+
+"Just so. Do you know that you have described, word for word, my friend,
+Karl von Freyberg?"
+
+Helen blushed crimson, and moved quickly, as if to leave the room, but
+Frederic, disregarding his wound, caught her hand and made her sit down
+again. The light from between the curtains irradiated her face like the
+sunlight falling on a flower. He looked at her intently.
+
+"Well, yes," she said, "but no one knows but you."
+
+"Not Karl himself?"
+
+"He may have some idea."
+
+"Well, little sister," said Frederic, "I see no great harm in all this.
+Come and kiss me, and we will talk again another time."
+
+"But how comes it," exclaimed Helen, with vexation, "that you know all
+you want to know, although I have told you nothing at all?"
+
+"Because one can see through a crystal which is pure. Dear little Helen,
+Karl von Freyberg is my best friend, he has all I could wish in a
+brother-in-law, or that you could desire in a husband. If he loves you
+as much as you seem to love him, there should be no great difficulty
+about your becoming his wife."
+
+"Ah! dear Frederic," said Helen, shaking her pretty head, "but I once
+heard a Frenchwoman say that the marriages which present no difficulties
+are just those which never come off!"
+
+And she retired to her own room, wondering no doubt as to what
+difficulties Destiny could interpose to the completion of her own
+marriage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+COUNT KARL VON FREYBERG
+
+
+In the days of Charles V the Austrian Empire dominated for a period both
+Europe and America, both the East and the West Indies. From the summit
+of the Dalmatian mountains Austria beheld the rising of the sun, from
+the chain of the Andes she could watch his setting. When the last ray of
+sunset sank in the west, the first light of dawn was reappearing in the
+east. Her empire was greater than that of Alexander, of Augustus, of
+Charlemagne.
+
+But this empire has been torn by the devouring hands of Time. And the
+champion by whom the armour of this colossus, piece by piece, has been
+rent away, is France.
+
+France took--for herself--Flanders, the Duchy of Bar, Burgundy, Alsace,
+and Lorraine. For the grandson of Louis XIV she took Spain, the two
+Indies, and the islands. For the son of Philip V she took Naples and
+Sicily. She also took the Netherlands and made two separate kingdoms of
+them, Belgium and Holland, and, finally, she tore away Lombardy and
+Venetia, and gave them to Italy. And to-day the boundaries of this
+empire, upon which, three hundred years ago, the sun never set, are, in
+the west, Tyrol; in the east, Moldavia; to the north, Prussia; to the
+south, Turkey.
+
+Every one knows that, strictly speaking, there is no Austria, properly
+so called, only a dukedom of Austria, with nine to ten millions of
+inhabitants, of which Vienna is the capital. And it was a duke of
+Austria who imprisoned Richard Coeur-de-Lion on his return from
+Palestine, and only released him on payment of a ransom of two hundred
+and fifty thousand gold crowns.
+
+The map-space now occupied by Austria, outside the actual dukedom, its
+kernel, consists of Bohemia, Hungary, Illyria, the Tyrol, Moravia,
+Silesia, the Sclavonian district of Croatia, the Vaivody of Servia, the
+Banat, Transylvania, Galicia, Dalmatia, and Styria.
+
+We do not count four to five millions of Roumanians scattered throughout
+Hungary, and on the banks of the Danube. Every one of the above
+districts has its own character, its own customs, language, costume,
+frontier. Especially the dwellers in Styria, composed of Norica and the
+ancient Pannonia, have retained their own language, costume, and
+primitive customs. Before it became included in Austria, Styria had its
+own separate history and nobility, dating from the time when it was
+known as the march of Styria, about 1030. And from that epoch Karl von
+Freyberg dated his ancestry, remaining a great noble at a time when
+great nobles are becoming rare.
+
+He was a handsome young man of about twenty-seven, tall, straight,
+slight, flexible as a cane, and equally tough. His fine black hair was
+cut close, and he had beneath black eyebrows and eyelashes, those dark
+grey eyes which Homer attributes to Minerva and which shine like
+emeralds. His complexion was sunburnt, for he had hunted since
+childhood. He had small hands and feet, unwearied limbs, and prodigious
+strength. In his own mountains he had hunted bear, wild goat, and
+chamois. But he had never attacked the first of these animals with any
+weapon except lance or dagger.
+
+He was now a captain in the Lichtenstein Hussars, and, even in barracks,
+was always followed by two Tyrolean chasseurs dressed in the national
+costume. While the one carried out an order the other remained at hand,
+so that there might be always some one to whom his master might say "Go
+and do this." Although they understood German he always spoke to them in
+their own tongue. They were serfs, understanding nothing about
+enfranchisement, who considered that he had absolute power of life and
+death over them, and although he had several times tried to explain
+matters, telling them they were free to go where they chose, they had
+simply refused either to believe or to listen.
+
+Three years before, during a chamois hunt, one of his keepers lost his
+footing. He fell down a precipice, and was dashed to pieces. Karl
+ordered his steward to pay the widow an annuity. She thanked him, but
+was quite unable to understand that he owed her anything merely because
+her husband had been killed in his service.
+
+When there was a hunt--and he who writes this had twice the honour to be
+of the party--whether in his own country or not, Karl always wore his
+national costume and very picturesque it was.
+
+The count's two attendants never left him. They were loaders. When Karl
+had fired, he dropped his gun on the ground and another ready loaded was
+instantly slipped into his hand.
+
+Whilst waiting for the beaters to be placed, which generally took half
+an hour, the two chasseurs drew from their game-bags small Tyrolean
+flutes made of reeds, on which they played, sometimes together,
+sometimes alone, but always joining again after a certain number of
+bars, Styrian airs, melancholy, but sweet and plaintive. This lasted
+some minutes, then, as if drawn by the music, the count in his turn
+produced a similar flute and put it to his lips. He now took up the
+melody, the others only played accompaniments, which I think must have
+been improvised--so original were they. It seemed as if the
+accompaniments pursued the air, overtook it, and then turned around it
+like creepers or tendrils. Then the air reappeared, charming, but always
+sad, and reaching notes so high that one would have thought only silver
+or glass could produce them. Then a gun was heard, that of the chief
+beater, announcing that all was ready. The three flutes vanished inside
+the game-bags, the musicians took their guns and again became hunters,
+ear and eye strained to the utmost.
+
+Count Karl knocked at eleven o'clock at Baron von Bulow's door, having
+heard both of his return and his accident. Frederic received him with an
+unusually smiling countenance, but only offered his left hand.
+
+"Ah! then, it is true, is it? I have just read the 'Kreuz Zeitung.'"
+
+"What have you read, my dear Karl?"
+
+"I read that you fought with a Frenchman and were wounded."
+
+"Hush--not so loud. I am not wounded for the family, only dislocated."
+
+"What does that mean?"
+
+"It means, my dear fellow, that my wife won't think she need inspect a
+sprained arm, but she would positively insist on examining a wounded
+one. Now she would die of fright over this wound, while I believe you
+would rather like to have it. Have you seen many wounds a foot long? I
+can show you one if you like."
+
+"How so? A skilled fencer like you, who uses his sabre as if he had
+invented it!"
+
+"None the less, I found my master."
+
+"A Frenchman?"
+
+"A Frenchman."
+
+"Well, instead of hunting wild boar in the Taunus to-morrow, as I
+intended, I should like to go and hunt your Frenchman, and bring back
+one of his paws to replace your wounded one."
+
+"Don't do anything of the kind, my dear friend, you might easily only
+bring back a nice little cut like this of mine. Besides, the Frenchman
+is now my friend, and I want him to be yours also."
+
+"Never! A rascal who has cut your arm open--how far? A foot, did you
+say?"
+
+"He might have killed me. He did not. He might have cut me in two, and
+he only gave me this wound. We embraced on the battlefield. Did you see
+the other details?"
+
+"What other details?"
+
+"Those concerning his other duel, with Herr George Kleist."
+
+"Superficially. I don't know him, I only cared about you. I did see that
+your Frenchman had damaged the jaw of some man who writes articles in
+the 'Kreuz Zeitung.' He seems to have quarrelled with two professions,
+since he chooses to encounter an officer and a journalist on the same
+day."
+
+"He did not choose us, we were foolish enough to choose him. We pursued
+him to Hanover, where he was very comfortable. Probably he was annoyed
+by being disturbed. So he sent me home with my arm in a sling, and
+dismissed Herr Kleist with a black eye."
+
+"Is the fellow a Hercules?"
+
+"Not at all, it is curious. He is a head shorter than you, but formed
+like Alfred de Musset's Hassan, whose mother made him small in order to
+turn him out perfect."
+
+"And so you embraced on the battlefield?"
+
+"Better still. I have an idea."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"He is a Frenchman as you know."
+
+"Of good family?"
+
+"Dear friend, they are all of good family since the Revolution. But he
+is clever--very."
+
+"As a fencing master?"
+
+"Not at all, as an artist. Kaulbach says he is the hope of the present
+school. He is young."
+
+"Young?"
+
+"Yes, twenty-five or six at most, and handsome."
+
+"Handsome as well?"
+
+"Charming. An income of twelve thousand francs."
+
+"A trifle."
+
+"Not everybody has two hundred thousand, like you, my dear friend.
+Twelve thousand francs and a fine talent might mean fifty or sixty
+thousand."
+
+"But why in the world do you consider all this?"
+
+"I should like him to marry Helen."
+
+The count nearly sprang out of his chair.
+
+"What! Let him marry Helen! your sister-in-law! A Frenchman!"
+
+"Well, is she not herself partly of French origin?"
+
+"I am sure Mademoiselle Helen loves you too much to be willing to marry
+a man who has wounded you like this. I hope she refused?"
+
+"She did."
+
+The count breathed again.
+
+"But what the deuce put such an idea into your head as to marry him to
+your sister?"
+
+"She is only my sister-in-law."
+
+"That does not matter. What an idea to think of marrying one's
+sister-in-law to the first person picked up on the high road!"
+
+"I assure you this young man is not just--"
+
+"Never mind! She refused, did she not? That is the chief thing."
+
+"I hope to make her think better of it."
+
+"You must be quite mad."
+
+"But tell me, why should she refuse? Explain if you can! Unless, indeed,
+she cares for some one else."
+
+The count blushed up to his eyes.
+
+"Do you think that quite impossible?" he stammered.
+
+"No, but then if she should love someone else, she must say so."
+
+"Listen, Frederic, I cannot positively say that she loves some one else,
+but I can declare that some one else loves her."
+
+"That is half the battle. Is it some one as good as my Frenchman?"
+
+"Ah! Frederic, you are so prejudiced in favour of your Frenchman. I dare
+not say yes."
+
+"Then tell me at once. You see what might have happened had my Frenchman
+been here, and I had made any promise to him."
+
+"Well, at any rate, you won't turn me out for saying it. The some one is
+myself."
+
+"Always modest, loyal, and true, dear Karl but--"
+
+"But? I will have no 'buts.'"
+
+"It is not a very terrible 'but,' as you will see. You are a great
+noble, Karl, compared to my little sister Helen."
+
+"I am the last of my race, there is no one to make objections."
+
+"And you are very rich for a dowry of two hundred thousand francs."
+
+"I can dispose of my own fortune as I choose."
+
+"These are observations I felt bound to make to you."
+
+"Do you consider them really serious?"
+
+"I acknowledge objections to them would be much more so."
+
+"Is it of no consequence to ascertain whether Helen loves me or not?"
+
+"That can be decided at once."
+
+"How?"
+
+"I will send for her, the shortest explanations are always the best."
+
+The count became as pale as he had been red the moment before. In a
+trembling voice he exclaimed:
+
+"Not now, for Heaven's sake! not now!"
+
+"But, my dear Karl!"
+
+"Frederic!"
+
+"Do you believe I am your friend?"
+
+"Good heavens! yes."
+
+"Well, do you suppose I would subject you to an interview which could
+only make you unhappy?
+
+"You mean--"
+
+"I mean that I believe--"
+
+"Believe what?"
+
+"I believe that she loves you as much as you love her."
+
+"My friend, you will kill me with joy."
+
+"Well, since you are so afraid of an interview with Helen, go and do
+your hunting in the Taunus, kill your wild boar and come back again, the
+thing will be done."
+
+"Done, how?"
+
+"I will undertake it."
+
+"No, Frederic, I will not go."
+
+"What, you will not go? Only think of your men waiting there with their
+flutes."
+
+"They may wait."
+
+At this moment the door opened, and Helen appeared on the threshold.
+
+"Helen!" exclaimed Karl.
+
+"You will be careful--you must not be too long with my brother," she
+said, remaining at the door.
+
+"He is waiting for you," observed Frederic.
+
+"For me?"
+
+"Yes, come here."
+
+"But I don't understand in the least."
+
+"Never mind! Come here."
+
+Karl offered his hand to Helen.
+
+"Oh, mademoiselle," he said, "do what your brother asks, I entreat you."
+
+"Well," she said, "what shall I do?"
+
+"You can lend your hand to Karl; he will return it."
+
+Karl seized her hand and pressed it to his heart. Helen uttered a cry.
+Timid as a child, Karl released the hand.
+
+"You did not hurt me," said Helen.
+
+Karl promptly repossessed himself of the released hand.
+
+"Brother," said Frederic, "did you not say you had a secret you wished
+to confide to Helen?"
+
+"Oh yes, yes," cried Karl.
+
+"All right, I am not listening."
+
+Karl bent towards Helen's ear, and the sweet words "I love you" fell
+from his lips with a whisper as of a moth's wings, which flitting by
+your ear on a spring evening breathes the eternal secret of Nature.
+
+"Oh! Frederic, Frederic!" cried Helen, hiding her forehead on his couch,
+"I was not mistaken!"
+
+Then raising her head and languidly opening her beautiful eyes.
+
+"And I," she said, "I love you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE GRANDMOTHER
+
+
+For a few moments Frederic left the lovers to themselves and their
+happiness. Then, as both raised their eyes to his, as if enquiring what
+next should be done:
+
+"The little sister," said he, "must go and tell all this to her big
+sister, the big sister will relate it to the grandmother, and the
+grandmother, who believes in me, will come and talk it over and we will
+arrange things together."
+
+"And when must I go and tell all this to the big sister?" enquired
+Helen.
+
+"At once, if you will."
+
+"I will go now! You will wait for me, Karl?"
+
+Karl's smile and gesture answered her. Helen glided out of his embrace
+and vanished like a bird.
+
+"Now for our own affairs!" said Frederic.
+
+"How! what affairs?"
+
+"I have something to tell you."
+
+"Anything important?"
+
+"Very serious."
+
+"Anything about our marriage? You alarm me!"
+
+"Suppose this morning when you doubted the possibility of Helen's love I
+had answered, 'Do not be afraid, Helen loves and will marry you, but
+there is an obstacle, and the marriage cannot possibly take place in
+less than a year?'"
+
+"What would you have? I should have been in despair at the delay, but
+transported by the news."
+
+"Well, my friend, I tell you now what I should have told you this
+morning. Helen loves you. She did not ask me to tell you this; she has
+told it herself, but at this moment there is an insurmountable
+obstacle."
+
+"At least you will explain what the obstacle is?"
+
+"I am going to tell you what is yet a secret, Karl. In a week, or at
+most, a fortnight, Prussia will declare war against Austria."
+
+"Ah! I feared it. Bismarck is Germany's evil genius."
+
+"Well, now you will understand. As friends we can serve on opposite
+sides, that happens every day. But--as brothers-in-law--we could not.
+You can hardly become my brother-in-law at the very moment of
+unsheathing your sword against me."
+
+"You are quite sure of your information?"
+
+"Most certainly I am. Bismarck now occupies such a position in regard to
+the Chambers, and has forced the king into such a position with regard
+to the other German princes, that, either he must embroil Germany from
+Berlin to Pest and even to Innspruck, or he will be tried for high
+treason, and end his days in a fortress! Now, Bismarck is a power--a
+power of darkness if you will--he will not be tried for high treason,
+and he will embroil Germany--for this reason: Prussia has nothing to
+gain by upsetting him, whereas by upsetting Germany she can annex two or
+three little kingdoms or duchies, which will round off her borders very
+comfortably."
+
+"But the Confederation will be against him."
+
+"Little will he care for that, so long as he himself remains
+indispensable. And, listen to what I tell you; the more enemies Prussia
+has, the more she will beat them. Our army is organized as no other
+European army is organized--at the present moment."
+
+"You say our army, then you have become a _Prussian_. I thought you were
+a _German_."
+
+"I am a Silesian, Prussian since the days of Frederic II. All I have I
+owe to King William, and I would willingly die for him, while regretting
+it should be in a bad cause."
+
+"What do you advise in my case?"
+
+"You are a Styrian, therefore an Austrian. Fight for your emperor like a
+lion, and if by ill luck we meet in a cavalry charge you turn your horse
+to the right, I also turn mine; we salute and pass on. Don't yourself
+get killed, that is all, and we will sign the marriage contract the day
+peace is declared."
+
+"Unhappily, I see no other way out of it, unless by good luck we could
+both remain at Frankfort, a free and neutral town. I have no wish to
+fight with Germans. It will be an iniquitous war. If it had been Turks,
+French, or Russians, it would be all right, but between children of the
+same country, speaking the same language! My patriotism ends there, I
+confess."
+
+"That last hope must be given up. I myself brought orders to the Prussian
+general here to be ready to leave, Austria will certainly withdraw her
+troops also. Frankfort may have a Bavarian garrison or be left with one
+of her own, but most certainly we, to the last man, shall have to rejoin
+the army."
+
+"Poor dear Helen! What are we to say when she comes back?"
+
+"We will say the marriage is decided on, that the betrothal will take
+place; but the marriage must be delayed for a year. If, in spite of my
+prophecy, war should not be declared, you can marry at once. If this
+war does take place, it is not a war which will last. It will be a
+tempest, a hurricane, passing over and destroying everything, then it
+will be peace. If I fix a date, it is because I am sure not to have to
+ask for further delay. Helen is eighteen, she will then be nineteen, you
+are now twenty-six, you will then be twenty-seven. This delay is not
+caused by circumstances of our making. Circumstances impose it on us. We
+must give way to them."
+
+"You will promise not to let anything change your opinion of me, and
+that from to-day, June 12th, you count yourself my brother-in-law--on
+parole?"
+
+"The honour is too dear for me ever to think of repudiating it. From
+to-day, June 12th, I am your brother-in-law--on parole."
+
+"Madame von Beling!"
+
+This exclamation was drawn from Karl by the unexpected appearance of an
+elderly lady dressed entirely in black. She had splendid hair, white as
+snow, and must in youth have been very beautiful. Her whole appearance
+betokened distinction and benevolence.
+
+"How is this, my dear Frederic?" said she, entering the room. "You have
+been here since five o'clock this morning and I only hear of your
+arrival from your wife at two in the afternoon; also, that you are in
+pain."
+
+"Dear grandmamma," answered Frederic, "but do I not also know that you
+do not awake before eleven, and only rise at noon?"
+
+"True, but they tell me you have a sprained arm. I have three excellent
+remedies for sprains, one, which is perfect, came from my old friend
+Goethe, one from another old friend, Madame Schroder, and the third from
+Baron von Humboldt. You see the origin of all three is unimpeachable."
+
+Turning to Karl, who, bowing, brought forward an armchair for her, she
+said:
+
+"You, Herr von Freyberg, have evidently no sprains, for you are in
+hunting costume. Ah! you do not know how your Styrian dress recalls a
+happy memory of my youth. The first time I saw my husband, Herr von
+Beling it is now something like fifty-two years ago, for it was in
+1814--at a carnival masked ball, he wore a similar costume to the one
+you are now wearing. He was about your age. In the middle of the ball--I
+remember as if it were yesterday--we heard of the landing of that
+accursed Napoleon. The dancers vowed that if he again ascended the
+throne they would go to fight him. The ladies each chose a cavalier, who
+should be entitled to wear her colours in the coming campaign. I did
+like the rest, and I chose Herr von Beling, although in my heart of
+hearts--for I have remained French in heart--I could not be very angry
+with the man who had made France so great.
+
+"This fanciful nomination of Herr von Beling as a champion wearing my
+colours opened my parents' house to him. He could not, he said, be my
+knight without their permission. They gave their permission. Napoleon
+again became emperor. Herr von Beling rejoined his regiment, but he
+first asked my hand from my mother. My mother consulted me, I loved him.
+It was agreed that we should marry when the war was over. The campaign
+was not long, and when Herr von Beling returned we were married; I, at
+the bottom of my heart feeling a little vexed that he had contributed
+the three hundred millionth part towards the dethronement of my hero.
+But I never confessed this small infidelity of enthusiasm, and our life
+was no less happy on that account."
+
+"Dear grandmamma," enquired Frederic, "did Herr von Beling--he must
+have been very handsome in Styrian garb, I have seen his portrait--did
+Herr von Beling kneel before you when he asked the favour of being your
+knight?"
+
+"Certainly, and very gracefully he did it too," returned the old lady.
+
+"Did he do it better than my friend Karl?"
+
+"Better than your friend Karl? But is your friend Karl likely to kneel
+before me by any chance?"
+
+"Just look at him."
+
+Madame von Beling turned round and saw indeed Karl kneeling on the
+ground before her.
+
+"Good gracious!" said she laughing, "have I suddenly grown fifty years
+younger?"
+
+"My dear grandmother," said Frederic, while Karl took possession of the
+old lady's hand. "No, you have still your threescore and ten years,
+which become you so well that I will not let you off a single one of
+them; but here is Karl, who also is going to the war, and who asks to be
+called the knight of your granddaughter Helen."
+
+"Really! and is my little granddaughter Helen actually old enough to
+have a knight of her very own?"
+
+"She is eighteen, grandmother."
+
+"Eighteen! My age when I married Herr von Beling! It is the age when
+leaves forsake the tree and are borne away by the wind. If Helen's hour
+has struck," she continued with a mournful smile, "she must go like the
+rest."
+
+"Never, never, dear grandmother," cried the young girl who had entered
+unperceived, "never so far but that I can every day kiss the dear hand
+which gives life to all of us."
+
+And she knelt down beside Karl and took the other hand.
+
+"Ah!" said Madame von Beling, nodding her head, "so that is why I was
+invited to come upstairs. I was to be caught in a trap. Well, what am I
+to do now? How defend myself? To surrender at once is stupid; it is like
+a scene from Moliere."
+
+"Very well, grandmamma, don't surrender, or at least not without
+conditions."
+
+"And what are they to be?"
+
+"That these young people can be betrothed as soon as they like, but that
+the marriage, like your own, can only be celebrated when the war is
+over."
+
+"What war?" asked Helen, in anxiety.
+
+"We will tell you about it later. Meanwhile, if Karl is your knight, he
+must wear your colours. What are they?"
+
+"I have only one," replied Helen. "It is green."
+
+"Then he is wearing them now," said Frederic indicating his friend's
+coat with green facings, and the hat with its wide band of green velvet.
+
+"And in honour of my lady love," said Karl, rising, "a hundred men shall
+also wear them, with me, and like me."
+
+Everything was now settled, and the whole party, Frederic leading the
+way, Madame von Beling on Karl's arm, went downstairs to convey the good
+news to the dear invalid.
+
+That same evening it was known that the Diet was convoked at Frankfort
+for June 15th.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+FRANKFORT-ON-MAIN
+
+
+It is time to give some information concerning the town in which the
+chief events of our history will take place.
+
+Frankfort ranks as one of the most important towns in Germany, not
+merely on account of the number of its inhabitants, nor because of its
+commercial standing, but by reason of the political position which it
+occupies as being the seat of the Imperial Diet.
+
+One continually hears phrases repeated until they become familiar
+without the person precisely understanding the exact meaning. Let us in
+a few words explain what the functions of the Imperial Diet really are.
+
+It is the duty of the Diet to watch over the affairs of Germany in
+general and to smooth down disagreements between the confederate States.
+The president is always a representative of Austria. The decisions of
+the assembly are called _Recesses_. The Diet, which has existed since
+very remote ages, had at first no fixed seat, but was held sometimes at
+Nuremberg, sometimes at Ratisbon, or at Augsbourg. Finally, June 9th,
+1815, the Congress of Vienna established Frankfort as the permanent seat
+of the Diet of the Germanic Confederation.
+
+Thanks to the new constitution Frankfort has a quarter vote at the
+Diet, the other three-quarters belonging to the three free towns of
+Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck. In return for this honour, Frankfort was to
+raise seven hundred and fifty men for the Germanic Confederation and
+fire a salute on the anniversary of the battle of Leipzig. The execution
+of this latter obligation was at first a trifle difficult, for the
+reason that since 1803 Frankfort had ceased to possess ramparts, and
+since 1813 had owned no cannon. But in the first moments of enthusiasm a
+subscription was opened which allowed the purchase of two four-pounders,
+so that since 1814, on the proper day, Frankfort has duly paid the debt
+of fire and smoke owed to the Holy Alliance.
+
+As to the ramparts, they exist no longer. Instead of old walls and muddy
+ditches, Frankfort has seen the gradual formation of a charming English
+garden, a gracious and perfumed enclosure, which enables one to make the
+circuit of the town, while walking on the smoothest of paths and under
+magnificent trees. So that, with its houses painted white, green, and
+pink, Frankfort looks like a bouquet of camellias set in a border of
+heather. The tomb of the mayor to whom this improvement is due stands in
+the midst of a delightful labyrinth of walks, much frequented by the
+burghers and their families about four or five o'clock in the afternoon.
+
+The Teuton name Frankfort means a _free ford_, and the town owes its
+origin to an imperial castle built by Charlemagne at a point where the
+Namur is fordable. The first historical notice of it is the date of the
+Council held there in 794, in which was discussed the question of image
+worship. As to Charlemagne's palace, no trace of it can be found, but
+antiquaries say that it stood where now is the Church of St. Leonard.
+
+It must have been about 796 that Charlemagne founded the colony of
+Sachsenhausen peopled by the Saxons whom he had conquered and baptized.
+In 822 Louis le Debonnaire built the Sala on the site of the present
+Saalhof, and in 838 Frankfort had already a court of justice and walls
+of defence.
+
+In 853 Louis the German raised it to the rank of capital of the eastern
+portion of the French empire; extended its borders, and built the church
+of St. Saviour close to where the autumn fair was held, in accordance
+with the traders' custom of setting up their booths under the walls of
+churches and temples.
+
+The custom of electing the emperor at Frankfort was begun by that great
+Swabian house whose name alone calls up a host of terrible and
+melancholy recollections. In 1240 Frederic II granted letters of safe
+conduct to all going to the market of Frankfort; and the Emperor Louis
+of Bavaria, wishing to show gratitude for his election, proved his
+attachment to the town by granting great advantages, among others the
+right of holding a fair for fifteen days during Lent, which was known as
+the Easter fair.
+
+The Emperor Charles IV confirmed the right of the Imperial Election to
+Frankfort by the famous Golden Bull issued in 1356. This Bull provided
+the Emperor Napoleon with an opportunity for displaying his excellent
+memory. Dining one day with half a score of sovereign princes, at the
+meeting of Erfurth, the conversation chanced to turn on the Golden Bull,
+which, until the Confederation of the Rhine, had laid down the rules for
+Imperial elections. The Prince Primate, being on his own ground, gave
+some details concerning the Bull, fixing the date for 1409.
+
+"I think you are mistaken, prince," said Napoleon. "If my memory is
+correct, the Bull was published in 1356 in the reign of the Emperor
+Charles IV."
+
+"Your Majesty is right," said the primate, reconsidering, "but how is
+it you remember the date of a bull so exactly? Had it been a battle it
+would be less wonderful."
+
+"Shall I tell you the secret of this wonderful memory, prince?" enquired
+Napoleon.
+
+"Your Majesty would give us all much pleasure."
+
+"Well," continued the emperor, "you must know that when I was a
+sub-lieutenant in the Artillery--"
+
+Whereupon there was so decided a movement of surprise and curiosity
+among the illustrious guests that Napoleon paused an instant, but seeing
+that all were waiting for him to continue, he resumed with a smile:
+
+"I was saying that when I had the honour of being a sub-lieutenant of
+Artillery I was in garrison at Valence for three years. I did not care
+for society, and lived very quietly. By a lucky chance I had rooms
+opposite a well-read and obliging bookseller, whose name was Marcus
+Aurelius, and who gave me the run of his library. I read and re-read
+everything in his shop two or three times during my stay in the capital
+of the Drome, and I remember everything I then read--even to the date of
+the Golden Bull."
+
+Frankfort continued to govern itself as a free imperial town until,
+after having been bombarded by the French in the wars of the Revolution,
+it was one fine day handed over by Napoleon to the Prince Primate
+Charles of Dalberg, when it became the capital of the Grand Duchy of
+Frankfort.
+
+The most interesting building in Frankfort is undoubtedly the Romer, a
+huge building which contains the Hall of the Electors, now used for the
+sittings of the Upper Senate of Frankfort, and the Hall of the Emperors
+in which the latter were proclaimed. A peculiarity of this hall, which
+contains the portraits of all the emperors from Conrad to Leopold II, is
+that the architect who built it made exactly as many niches as there
+have been sovereigns wearing the Imperial crown. So that when Francis II
+was elected, all the niches were already filled, and there was no space
+found for the new Caesar. There was much discussion as to where his
+portrait could be placed, when in 1805 the ancient German empire
+crumbled into dust at the noise of the cannon of Austerlitz, and the
+courtiers were relieved from their difficulty. The architect had exactly
+foreseen the number of emperors to come. Nostradamus himself could not
+have done better.
+
+After the town hall the most interesting place is the street of the
+Jews. When the writer of these lines visited Frankfort for the first
+time, some thirty years ago, there were still Jews and Austrians
+there--real Jews, who hated Christians even as Shylock hated them, and
+real Christians who hated Jews as did Torquemada.
+
+This street consisted of two long rows of tall houses, black, gloomy,
+sinister in aspect, closely crowded, looking as if they clung to each
+other in terror. It was Saturday, which no doubt added to the gloom of
+the street. Every door was closed, bastard little doors made to allow
+only one person to pass at once. All the iron shutters were also closed.
+No sound of voice, or step, or movement was heard; a look of anguish and
+terror seemed spread over all these houses. Occasionally an old woman
+with a hooked nose like an owl glided past and disappeared in a sort of
+cellar or basement in this strange street. To-day all this is more
+civilized and the houses have a more active and lively appearance.
+
+The population of Frankfort consists of a historic bourgeoisie forming
+the aristocracy of the Imperial town, the coronation town by right of
+the Golden Bull. The chief families are those of the old nobility;
+those of French extraction expatriated by the revocation of the Edict of
+Nantes, and who by their intelligence and industry stand in the first
+rank of society; thirdly, Italian families, in whom the feelings of race
+have been stronger than religious differences, and who, although
+Catholics by profession, have mingled with the French Protestants.
+Finally the Jewish bankers, who naturally group themselves around the
+house of Rothschild as being incontestably members of the same clan. All
+are devoted to Austria, because to Austria the town owes its peculiar
+position, the source of its wealth and independence, and all these
+classes, though divided by race, language, and religion, are united by
+their common affection for the House of Hapsburg--a love which perhaps
+hardly attains to devotion, but which, in words at least, amounts to
+fanaticism.
+
+One must not omit the suburb of Sachsenhausen, situated on the other
+side of the Main, the colony founded by Charlemagne. Its inhabitants,
+living closely together and only marrying among themselves, have
+retained some of the roughness of the old Saxon character. This
+roughness, contrasted with the growing politeness among other nations,
+now seems to be absolute rudeness, but rudeness which is not
+intentional. They are said to be ready in the use of the somewhat harsh,
+but occasionally witty retorts, wherewith the weak sometimes retaliate
+upon the strong. We can give two specimens of the rough speech of the
+people of Sachsenhausen.
+
+As is usual in the month of May, owing to the melting of the snow, the
+Main was in flood. The Great Elector himself came to judge of the rise
+of the water, and the damage it would probably cause. Meeting a man from
+Sachsenhausen:
+
+"Well," he asked, "is the Main still rising?"
+
+"Well, idiot that you are!" replied the individual addressed, "can't you
+see that for yourself?"
+
+And the old Saxon went on, shrugging his shoulders. One of his comrades
+ran after him:
+
+"Do you know to whom it was you spoke?" he asked.
+
+"No, I don't."
+
+"Well, it was the Elector of Hesse himself."
+
+"Thunder and lightning!" exclaimed the old man, "how glad I am I
+answered him civilly!"
+
+At the play one of these honest people leaned against the man sitting in
+front of him; the latter moved away:
+
+"Am I annoying you?" demanded the aggressor, "because if it were you who
+annoyed me, I should give you a punch you would remember the rest of
+your life!"
+
+Since 1815 Frankfort has been garrisoned by two detachments of fifteen
+hundred to two thousand each, one Austrian, the other Prussian; the
+former were much beloved; the latter equally, or even more, hated. A
+Prussian officer was taking some friends to see the curiosities of
+Frankfort. They arrived at the Dome. There, among other votive
+offerings, representations of hearts, hands, or feet, the sacristan
+exhibited a mouse, made of silver.
+
+"What was that for?" some one asked.
+
+"Through the divine wrath," answered the sacristan, "a whole quarter of
+Frankfort once found itself eaten up by swarms of mice. In vain they
+fetched all the cats of the other quarters, all the terriers, bulldogs,
+every sort of animal that can kill a mouse; the plague increased. At
+last a devout lady thought of having a silver mouse made and dedicated
+to the Virgin as a votive gift. At the end of a week not a mouse was to
+be seen!"
+
+And as the listeners were somewhat astonished when they heard this
+legend:
+
+"What fools these Frankforters are!" said the Prussian, "to tell tales
+of that kind and believe them!"
+
+"We tell them," said the sacristan, "but we do not believe them. If we
+did we should have made a silver Prussian and offered him to the Virgin
+long ago."
+
+It is to be remembered that our friend Lenhart, Benedict's coachman, was
+a citizen of the Sachsenhausen colony.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE DEPARTURE
+
+
+Since the Schleswig-Holstein troubles, the Diet had always assembled at
+Frankfort on June 9th, this year that date was the day after the
+attempted assassination of Bismarck on which Benedict drank to the
+health of France. The Diet, knowing of the mobilization of the Landwehr
+and the dissolution of the Chamber, decreed that, if Frankfort were not
+to be compromised in its position as a free and imperial town in the
+various events which would necessarily follow a war between Prussia and
+Austria, the Prussian and Austrian garrisons must be withdrawn, and
+replaced by a Bavarian garrison.
+
+It was agreed that Bavaria should appoint the commander-in-chief, and
+Frankfort the governor of the town. The Bavarian Colonel Lessel, who had
+been for many years member of the federated military commission for
+Bavaria, was appointed commander-in-chief, and the lieutenant-colonel of
+the Frankfort battalion became governor of the town.
+
+The departure of the Prussian and Austrian troops was fixed for June
+12th, and it was decided that the Prussians should leave by two special
+trains on the Main-Weser line, at six and eight in the morning, for
+Wetzlar, and the Austrians at three in the afternoon of the same day.
+
+This arrangement was known in Frankfort on the 9th, and as may be
+understood, filled the Chandroz house with despair. Emma would be
+separated from her husband and Helen from her lover.
+
+We have said that the Prussians were to leave first. At five in the
+morning Frederic said farewell to his wife, his child, his dear sister
+Helen, and the grandmother. It was too early for Karl von Freyberg to be
+in the house at that hour; but he waited for his friend on the Zeil. He
+and Helen had agreed the evening before that after having seen Frederic
+off Karl should come back and wait for her in the little Catholic church
+of Notre Dame de la Croix.
+
+The harmony between the two young people was perfect. Helen and Karl,
+though born in two different countries hundreds of leagues apart, were
+both Catholics. Doubtless they had selected this early hour, because
+they knew the little liking the people of Frankfort had for the
+Prussians. No manifestation of regret was shown on the departure of the
+latter, perhaps they were watched through the closed shutters, but not a
+window or blind opened for a flower to fall which might say "Au revoir,"
+no waving handkerchief said "Farewell!"
+
+One would have sworn it was a troop of the enemy leaving a town, and the
+town itself seemed only to wait for their departure in order to wake up
+and rejoice. Only the officers of the city battalion came to the station
+courteously to see them off, wishing nothing better than soon to fight
+them with deadly hate.
+
+Frederic left by the second train at eight o'clock in the morning,
+consequently Karl was late and it was Helen who waited for him. She was
+standing by the holy water stoup leaning against a white pillar. She
+smiled sadly when she saw Karl, gently dipped two fingers in the holy
+water and held them towards him. Karl took her whole hand, and made the
+sign of the cross with it.
+
+Never had the beautiful girl looked so lovely as at this moment when
+Karl was going to be parted from her. She had scarcely slept all night;
+all the rest of the time she had wept and prayed. She was dressed in
+white like a bride, with a wreath of little white roses on her head.
+They went together, Karl with Helen's hand in his, to kneel in one of
+the side chapels where Helen was accustomed to pray. Almost all the
+ornaments in the chapel, from the altar cloth to the Virgin's dress,
+were the work of her hand alone, and the Madonna's gold and pearl crown
+had been her gift. They prayed together; then Karl said:
+
+"We are going to part, Helen; what vows shall I make you? and in what
+words shall they be made?"
+
+"Karl," replied Helen, "tell me again before the beloved Madonna who has
+watched over me in childhood and youth, tell me again that you will love
+me always, and that you will have no other wife but me."
+
+Karl quickly extended his hand.
+
+"Ah! yes," he said, "and willingly! for I have always loved you. I love
+you now, and I shall love you always. Yes, you shall be my wife in this
+world and in the next, here and above!"
+
+"Thank you," said Helen; "I have given you my heart, and with my heart,
+my life. You are the tree, and I am the creeper; you are the trunk and I
+am the ivy which covers you with its verdure. At the moment when I first
+saw you, I said with Juliet: 'I will belong to you or to the tomb.'"
+
+"Helen," cried the young man, "why link that dismal word with such a
+sweet promise?"
+
+But she, not listening, continued her thought:
+
+"I ask no other vow than that which you have sworn, Karl; it is the
+repetition of mine; keep yours as it is; but when I have said that I
+will love you always, that I will never love any one but you, and that I
+will never be another's, let me add: and, if you die, I will die with
+you!"
+
+"Helen, my love, what are you saying?" exclaimed the young man.
+
+"I say, my Karl, that since my heart has left my bosom, to dwell in
+yours, you have become all that I think of, all I live for; and that if
+anything happened to you, I should not need to kill myself, I should
+only have to let myself die. I know nothing of these royal quarrels,
+which seem to me wicked, because they cost the blood of men and tears of
+women. I only know that it matters not to me whether Francis Joseph or
+William I is victorious. I live, if you live I die, if you die."
+
+"Helen, do you wish to drive me mad, that you say these terrible
+things?"
+
+"No, I only wish you to know, when you are absent, what is happening to
+me, and if, when far from me, you are mortally wounded, instead of
+saying: 'I shall never see her again!' you must simply say: 'I am going
+to meet her!' And I say this as truly and sincerely as I lay this wreath
+at the feet of my beloved Virgin."
+
+And she took her wreath of white roses and laid it at the Virgin's feet.
+
+"And now," she continued, "my vow is made, I have said what I had to
+say. To stay here now, to speak longer of love would be sacrilege. Come,
+Karl; you go this afternoon at two o'clock, but my sister, my
+grandmother, and Frederic will permit you to remain with me till then."
+
+They rose again, offered each other the holy water and left the church.
+The young girl took Karl's arm for from that moment she considered
+herself as his wife. But with the same feeling of respect which made
+him take off his kolbach when he entered the church, he only allowed her
+hand to lie lightly on his arm all the way from Notre Dame de la Croix
+until they reached the house.
+
+The day was passed in intimate conversation. On the day when he had
+asked Helen which were her favourite colours and she had answered green,
+he had made a resolution which he now explained to her. This was what he
+wished to do.
+
+He would ask his colonel for eight days' leave; surely fighting would
+not begin for eight days. It would take him scarcely twenty hours to
+reach his mountains, where he was king. There, besides the twenty-two
+rangers always in his service he would select seventy-eight chosen men
+from the best Styrian hunters. They should wear the uniform he himself
+wore when hunting, he would arm them with the best rifles he could find,
+then he would give in his resignation as captain in the Lichtenstein
+Light Infantry, and ask the emperor to appoint him captain of his free
+company. An excellent shot himself, at the head of a hundred men
+renowned for their smartness, he could hope for results which, when
+buried in a regiment under the orders of a colonel there would be no
+possibility of his attaining.
+
+There would also be another advantage in this arrangement. As the head
+of a free regiment, Karl would have liberty of movement. In such a case
+he would not be attached to any special regiment. He would be able to
+fight on his own account, doing all possible harm to the enemy, but only
+answerable to the emperor. He would thus be able to remain near
+Frankfort, the only town which now existed for him in the world, since
+in this town lived Helen. The heart exists not where it beats, but where
+it loves.
+
+According to the Prussian plan of campaign which was to envelop Germany
+as in a half-circle, hurling king, grand-dukes, princes, and peoples one
+on the top of another while marching from west to east, there would
+certainly be fighting in Hesse, in the duchy of Baden, and in Bavaria,
+all near Frankfort. It was there that Karl would fight; and with good
+spies he could always ascertain where his brother-in-law was likely to
+be and so avoid the risk of meeting him.
+
+In the midst of all these plans, for which unfortunately they could not
+enlist the aid of Fortune, time was flying. The clock struck two.
+
+At two o'clock the Austrian officers and soldiers were to assemble in
+the courtyard of the Carmelite barracks. Karl kissed the baroness and
+the child lying in its cradle beside her; then he went with Helen to
+kneel before her grandmother and ask her blessing.
+
+The dear old lady wept to see them so sad; she laid her hands upon their
+heads wishing to bless them, but her voice broke. They both rose, and
+stood mute before her; silent tears flowed down their cheeks. She pitied
+them.
+
+"Helen," she said, "I kissed your grandfather when I bade him farewell,
+and I see no reason against your granting poor Karl the same favour."
+
+The young people threw themselves into each other's arms, and their
+grandmother, under pretext of wiping away a tear, turned away, leaving
+them free for their last kiss.
+
+Helen had long sought for some means of seeing Karl again, after leaving
+the house where he had been permitted to take his last farewell. She had
+not succeeded, when suddenly she remembered that the burgomaster
+Fellner, her sister's godfather, had windows overlooking the station.
+
+She asked her good grandmother to come with her to ask her old friend
+for a place in his window. Women who remain beautiful when growing old
+generally keep a young heart: the kind grandmother consented. So it was
+only a goodbye of the lips which the young people had already said;
+there remained a last adieu of the eyes and heart.
+
+Hans was ordered to bring round the carriage without delay; while Karl
+went to the Carmelite barracks. Helen would have time on her part to go
+to the burgomaster Fellner. Helen made a sign to Hans to hurry, but he
+replied with another that it was unnecessary. She then glanced again at
+Karl, he had never seemed so handsome as at this moment when about to
+leave her. She came down leaning on his arm, in order not to leave him
+until they reached the threshold, the last moment possible. Once there,
+a last kiss sealed their separation and pledged their vows.
+
+A hussar waited for his captain at the door, holding his horse; Karl
+saluted Helen once again, then galloped off, sparks flying from under
+his horse's hoofs: he was more than a quarter of an hour late.
+
+The instant he had gone, Hans came with the carriage; in another moment
+they were at Herr Fellner's.
+
+Frankfort was now a very different town to what it had been in the
+morning. We have told of the sombre and sad departure of the Prussians,
+who were detested there. The citizens now wished to give a friendly
+farewell to the Austrians, who were adored.
+
+Therefore, although the departure was a separation, and each separation
+may hide the invisible and hide also a coming grief, this departure was
+to be made a farewell fete. The windows were all draped with Austrian
+flags, and at each window where floated a flag might be seen the
+prettiest women of Frankfort with bouquets in their hands. The streets
+which led to the station were crammed with people until one asked how
+the regiment could pass. In the street leading to the station, the
+Frankfort regiment stood at attention, each soldier with the stock of
+his rifle between his feet, and a bouquet in the muzzle of it.
+
+The crowd was so great that Helen was obliged to get out of the
+carriage. At last she reached the house of Herr Fellner, who, although
+not formally advised of the engagement of his young friend, had noticed
+that Captain Freyberg was not indifferent to her. His two daughters and
+his wife received Helen and her grandmother at the door of their
+apartments. They formed a charming family, living with Herr Fellner's
+sister and brother-in-law, who had no children.
+
+In the days of peace and happiness at Frankfort, Herr Fellner and his
+brother-in-law received their friends twice every week. Any strangers of
+distinction passing through were sure to be made welcome by Herr
+Fellner. It was at his house that Benedict Turpin had met the Baroness
+Frederic von Bulow, a meeting which as we have seen he did not forget.
+
+At three o'clock precisely, they heard in the midst of cries, hurrahs,
+and acclamations, the trumpets of the regiment, which was coming to the
+station by the Zeil and the street of All Saints, playing Radetzky's
+March.
+
+It might have been said that the whole population of Frankfort was
+following the splendid regiment. Men waved flags from the windows above
+them; women threw them their bouquets, and then waved their
+handkerchiefs with those cries of enthusiasm which women only know how
+to utter on such occasions.
+
+Helen had recognized Karl, as soon as he turned the corner, and Karl had
+answered her waving handkerchief by saluting with his sabre. When he
+passed under the window she threw him a scabious bound up with
+forget-me-nots. The scabious meant "sorrow and desolation," and the
+forget-me-not "Do not forget me."
+
+Karl caught the flowers in his kolbach and fastened them on his breast.
+Still turning to look back, his eyes never left Helen until the moment
+when he entered the station. At length he disappeared.
+
+Helen leaned far out of the window. Herr Fellner put his arm round her
+waist and drew her back within the room. Seeing the tears that flowed
+from her eyes and divining their cause:
+
+"With the help of God, dear child," he said, "he will return."
+
+Helen escaped from his arms, and threw herself on a sofa, endeavouring
+to hide her tears in the cushions.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+AUSTRIANS AND PRUSSIANS
+
+
+Desbarolles says in his book on Germany:
+
+"It is impossible to talk for three minutes with an Austrian without
+wishing to shake hands with him. It is impossible to talk for three
+minutes with a Prussian without longing to quarrel with him."
+
+Does this difference in the two organizations spring from temperament,
+education, or the degree of latitude? We cannot say; but it is a fact
+that along the whole way from Ostrow to Oderburg, we know when we have
+left Austria and entered Prussia by the way in which the porters bang
+the carriage doors. This double impression is particularly evident at
+Frankfort, a town of gentle manners, cultivated habits, and amateur
+bankers; the country of Goethe has appreciated this difference between
+the extreme civilization of Vienna and the rough Protestant shell of
+Berlin.
+
+We have seen the different demonstrations of feeling at the departure of
+the two garrisons; the people of Frankfort not having the least doubt of
+the result of the war, and believing, after the conclusions of the Diet,
+in the superiority of the Austrian arms, which would be aided by all the
+little States of the Confederation. They had not cared to put the least
+restraint on the manifestation of their feelings; they allowed the
+Prussians to depart like vanquished enemies whom they would never see
+again, and they had, on the contrary, feted the Austrians like
+victorious brothers, for whom if they had had the time, they would have
+made triumphal arches.
+
+The good burgomaster's drawing-room, where we have introduced our
+readers, was at noon on June 12th an exact and complete specimen of all
+the other drawing-rooms of the town, whatever the origin, country or
+religion of the inhabitants might chance to be.
+
+Thus, while Helen, with whose grief all sympathized, wept, keeping her
+face buried in the cushions, and her good grandmother left the window to
+sit beside her and hide her somewhat from view, Councillor Fischer,
+editor of the "Post Zeitung," was writing on a corner of the table, an
+article in which he compared with undisguised antipathy and sympathy,
+the departure of the Prussians to a nocturnal flight, and that of the
+Austrians to a triumphal leave-taking.
+
+In front of the fireplace, the Senator von Bernus, one of the most
+distinguished men in Frankfort, by ability, education, and birth, was
+talking with his colleague, Doctor Speltz, Chief of Police, who, owing
+to the position which he held, was always well informed. A slight
+difference rather than a discussion had arisen between them. Herr Doctor
+Speltz did not completely agree with the opinion of the majority of the
+town's people as to the certain victory of the Austrians. His private
+information, as Chief of Police, was of the kind which may be relied on,
+and which is obtained, not to help the opinions of others, but to form
+one's own, and it represented the Prussian troops as full of enthusiasm,
+admirably armed, and burning with desire for battle. Their two generals,
+Frederick Charles of Prussia and the Crown Prince, were both able to
+command and to execute, and their rapidity and courage no one could
+doubt.
+
+"But," observed Herr von Bernus, "Austria has an excellent army which is
+animated with an equal spirit; it was beaten at Palestro, at Magenta,
+and at Solferino, it is true, but by the French, who also beat the
+Prussians at Jena."
+
+"My dear von Bernus," replied Speltz, "it is a far cry from the
+Prussians of Jena to the Prussians of to-day; the miserable state into
+which the Emperor Napoleon reduced them, by only allowing them to put
+forty thousand men under arms for six years, was the providential cause
+of their strength; for with this reduced army the officers and
+administrators could superintend the smallest details and bring them as
+near as possible to perfection. From this has grown the Landwehr."
+
+"Well," said von Bernus, "if the Prussians have the Landwehr, the
+Austrians have the Landsturm; all the Austrian population will rise in
+arms."
+
+"Yes, if the first battles are unsuccessful; yes, if there is a chance
+that by rising they can repel the Prussians. But three-quarters of the
+Prussian army are armed with needle guns which fire eight or ten shots a
+minute. The time is past when, as said Marshal Saxe, the rifle is only
+the handle of the bayonet; and of whom did he say that? Was it not the
+French, a fiery and warlike nation, not methodical and military like the
+Austrians. You know, mein Gott, victory is an entirely moral question;
+to inspire the enemy with an unaccountable fear is the secret.
+Generally, when two regiments meet, one of them runs without having ever
+come to grips with the enemy. If the new guns, with which the Prussians
+are armed, do their work, I am very much afraid that the terror in
+Austria will be so great that the Landsturm, from Konigsgratz to
+Trieste, from Salzburg to Pest, will not raise a man."
+
+"Psst!... my dear friend, you have named the real stumbling block; if
+the Hungarians were with us, my hope would be a conviction. The
+Hungarians are the nerve of the Austrian army, and one can say of them
+what the ancient Romans said of the Marsi; 'What are we to do, either
+against the Marsi or without the Marsi?' But the Hungarians will not
+fight until they have their separate government, their constitution, and
+their three ministers, and they are right. For one hundred and fifty
+years Hungary has been promised that constitution, it has been given and
+withdrawn again, and now Hungary is angry; but the emperor has only one
+word to say, one signature to write, and the whole nation would rise for
+him. Then the Szozat would be heard, and in three days they would have a
+hundred thousand men under arms."
+
+"What is the Szozat?" asked a big man, who kept a whole window to
+himself, and whose expansive face testified to great commercial
+prosperity. He was, indeed, the first wine merchant of Frankfort,
+Hermann Mumm.
+
+"The Szozat," said Fischer, still writing his article, "is the Hungarian
+Marseillaise by the poet Voeroesmarti. What the deuce are you doing
+there, Fellner?" he added, lifting his glasses to his forehead and
+looking at the burgomaster, who was playing with his two youngest
+children.
+
+"I am doing something much more important than your article, councillor,
+I am making a village, of which Master Edward is to be the baron, with
+some houses I got in a box from Nuremburg."
+
+"What does baron mean?" asked the child.
+
+"That is a difficult question. To be a baron is much and it is nothing.
+It is much if you are called 'Montmorency.' It is nothing if you are
+called 'Rothschild.'" And he went back seriously to his village.
+
+"It is said," went on von Bernus to Doctor Speltz, taking up the
+conversation where they had left it before Hermann Mumm's interruption,
+"that the Emperor of Austria has named General Benedek as General in
+Chief with all powers."
+
+"The nomination was discussed in the council and signed yesterday."
+
+"Do you know him?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"It seems to me a good choice."
+
+"May God grant it."
+
+"Benedek is a self-made man, he has won every step sword in hand. The
+army will love him better than it would love an archduke made
+field-marshal by right of birth."
+
+"You will laugh at me, von Bernus, and will say I am a bad republican.
+Very well, I would rather have an archduke than this self-made man as
+you call him. Yes, if all our officers were self-made men, it would be
+admirable, because, if none knew how to command, they would at least
+know how to obey: as it is, our officers are nobles, who are officers by
+position or by favour. They will not obey, or will only obey such a
+commander unwillingly. Further, you know, I have the misfortune to be a
+fatalist, and to believe in the influence of the stars. General Benedek
+is a Saturnian. May Austria escape his fatal influence! He may have
+patience in a first loss, resolution against a second perhaps; but in a
+third he will lose his head and be good for nothing.
+
+"Also, do you not see that there cannot be two equally Great Powers in
+Germany. Germany, with Prussia in the north, and Austria in the south,
+has two heads like the Imperial Eagle. Now, he who has two heads has
+not even one. Last winter I was at Vienna on New Year's Day. Always, on
+January 1st a new standard is raised on the fortress. The Standard for
+1866 was displayed at six in the morning. A moment afterwards a furious
+storm, such as I have seldom seen, came from the north, the Standard was
+torn, and the rent cut off the two heads of the Eagle. Austria will lose
+her supremacy both in Italy and Germany."
+
+A profound gloom as of painful foreboding seemed to have spread over the
+company. The only person unaffected was "Baron" Edward, who, while
+anxiously considering as to in which corner of his village he should put
+the belfry, had fallen fast asleep.
+
+Herr Fellner rang three times, and a beautiful peasant from Baden,
+answering the signal, came in and took the child. She was carrying him
+away asleep in her arms, when Herr Fellner, wishing to change the
+subject, motioned to the company.
+
+"Listen!" he said, and putting his hand on the nurse's shoulder.
+"Linda," he said, "sing us that song with which the Baden mothers sing
+their children to sleep." Then, turning to the others he said:
+"Gentlemen, listen to this song, which is still sung low in the Duchy of
+Baden. Perhaps, in a few days, the time may have come to sing it aloud.
+Linda learnt it from her mother, who sang it over her brother's cradle.
+Their father was shot by the Prussians in 1848. Now Linda, sing as your
+mother sang."
+
+Linda put her foot on a chair, holding the child in her arms as if she
+were pressing it to her breast and covering it with her body. Then, with
+anxious eyes, in a low and trembling voice, she sang:
+
+         Sleep soft, my child, without a cry,
+         For hark! the Prussian passeth by.
+     The Prussian slew thy father dear
+     And robbed thy mother of gold and gear
+     The Prussian he will close thine eye.
+
+         Sleep soft, my child, without a cry,
+         For hark! the Prussian passeth by.
+
+     All bloody is the Prussian's hand
+     It closes on our dying land.
+     So must we all lie still and dumb
+     As doth thy father in his tomb.
+
+         Sleep soft, my child, without a cry,
+         For hark! the Prussian passeth by.
+
+     God knows how many a weary day
+     We wait the dawning of that ray
+     Those blessed radiance shall restore
+     Our liberty to us once more.
+
+         Sleep soft, my child, without a cry,
+         For hark! the Prussian passeth by.
+
+     But when that longed for hour shall come,
+     However narrow be his tomb,
+     His foes within that grave so deep
+     Shall share for aye thy father's sleep.
+
+         Then shout, my child, shout loud and high,
+         The Prussian in his grave doth lie.
+
+The nurse had sung this song with such expression, that a shudder passed
+over the hearts of those who listened, and none thought of applauding.
+She went out with the child in a profound silence.
+
+Only Helen murmured in her grandmother's ear: "Alas! alas! Prussia means
+Frederic, and Austria means Karl!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE DECLARATION OF WAR
+
+
+On June 15th, at eleven in the morning, Count Platen of Hallermund,
+presented himself to the King of Hanover. They had conversed for some
+minutes when the king said:
+
+"I must tell this news to the queen. Wait for me here; I will come back
+in a quarter of an hour."
+
+Within the palace King George required no guide. Queen Mary was engaged
+upon a piece of wool work with the young princesses. Seeing her husband
+she went to him and offered him her forehead to kiss. The princesses
+took possession of their father's hands.
+
+"See," said the king, "this is what our cousin the King of Prussia does
+us the honour to communicate through his First Minister." The queen took
+the paper and began to read. "Stay," said the king, "I want to call
+Prince Ernest."
+
+One of the princesses hurried to the door.
+
+"Prince Ernest," she cried to the usher.
+
+Five minutes after the prince came in, embraced his father and sisters,
+and kissed his mother's hand.
+
+"Listen to what your mother is going to read," said the usher to him.
+
+The Minister Bismarck in the name of his master offered to Hanover an
+offensive and defensive alliance, on the condition that Hanover should
+support Prussia to the utmost of its power with men and soldiers and
+should give the command of its army to King William. The dispatch added
+that if this pacific proposal were not immediately accepted the King of
+Prussia would consider himself as in a state of war with Hanover.
+
+"Well?" asked the king of his wife.
+
+"No doubt," she replied, "the king has already decided in his wisdom
+what is best to do; but, if he has not finally decided and such a
+feature as the opinion of a woman is considered to be as a weight in the
+balance, I would say to you, refuse, sire!"
+
+"Oh yes, yes, sire!" cried the young prince, "refuse!"
+
+"I thought it right to consult you both," replied the king, "partly
+because of your upright and loyal natures, partly because your interests
+are one with mine."
+
+"Refuse, father: the prediction must be fulfilled to the end."
+
+"What prediction?" asked the king.
+
+"You forget, sire, that the first word which Benedict said to you was
+this: 'You will be betrayed by your near relation.' You are betrayed by
+your German cousin; why should he be wrong about the rest since he was
+right at the beginning?"
+
+"You know that he has predicted our downfall?"
+
+"Yes, but after a great victory. We are little kings, it is true; but we
+are, on the English side, great princes, let us act greatly."
+
+"That is your opinion, Ernest?"
+
+"That is my prayer, sire," said the young prince, bowing.
+
+The king turned to his wife and interrogated her by a movement of his
+head.
+
+"Go, my dear," said she, "and follow your own thought, which is ours
+also."
+
+"But," said the king, "if we are obliged to leave Hanover, what will
+happen to you and the two princesses?"
+
+"We will stay where we are, sire, in our castle of Herrenhausen. After
+all, the King of Prussia is my cousin, and if our crown is in danger
+through him, our lives are not. Summon your council, sire, and take with
+you the two voices which say to you: 'Not only no treason against
+others, but above all no treason against our honour!'"
+
+The king called a council of his ministers, who unanimously voted for
+refusal.
+
+At midnight Count Platen replied verbally to the Prince of Issemburg,
+who had brought the proposal.
+
+"His Majesty the King of Hanover declines the proposals of His Majesty
+the King of Prussia; as he is constrained to do by the laws of the
+Confederation."
+
+This reply was instantly telegraphed to Berlin.
+
+Immediately upon the receipt of the reply, another telegram from Berlin
+ordered the troops concentrated at Minden to enter Hanover. A
+quarter-of-an-hour later, the Prussian troops set foot over the borders
+of Hanover.
+
+A quarter-of-an-hour had sufficed for Prussia to receive the reply and
+to order the opening of the campaign. Already the Prussian troops from
+Holstein, who had obtained permission from His Majesty the King of
+Hanover to cross his territory in order to get to Minden, had stationed
+themselves at Marbourg, and were thus in occupation, within the kingdom,
+as enemies, even before the king's decision.
+
+Moreover, King George had only held back his answer until the evening in
+order to secure time for taking measures himself. Orders had been given
+to the different regiments of the Hanoverian army to mobilize and
+assemble at Gottingen. The intention of the king was to manoeuvre so
+as to obtain the assistance of the Bavarian army.
+
+Towards eleven at night, Prince Ernest had asked permission of Queen
+Mary to take leave of her and at the same time to present to her his
+friend Benedict. The real object of the young prince was to get his
+mother to entrust her hand to the palmist, and to be reassured by him as
+to the dangers which might encompass the queen.
+
+The queen received her son with a kiss, and the Frenchman with a smile.
+Prince Ernest explained his wish to her. She readily granted his request
+and held out her hand. Benedict knelt on one knee and respectfully put
+his lips to the tips of her fingers.
+
+"Sir," she said, "in the circumstances in which we are placed, it is not
+my good- but my ill-fortune that I wish you to tell me."
+
+"If you see misfortunes before you, madam, I may be permitted to seek in
+yourself the powers which Providence has given you to resist them. Let
+us hope that the resistance will be stronger than the strife."
+
+"A woman's hand is feeble, sir, when it has to struggle against that of
+destiny.
+
+"The hand of destiny is brute force, madam; your hand is intelligent
+force. Look, here is a very long first joint to the thumb."
+
+"What does that mean?" asked, the queen.
+
+"Will power, Majesty. Your resolution once taken, reason alone can
+conquer you and make you change--danger, accident, persecution, never."
+
+The queen smiled and nodded approvingly.
+
+"Also, you can bear to hear the truth, madam. Yes, a great misfortune
+menaces you."
+
+The queen started. Benedict went on quickly.
+
+"But, calm yourself, it is neither the death of the king, nor of the
+prince: the line of life is magnificently marked, on their hands. No,
+the danger is entirely political. Look at the line of fate: it is broken
+here, above the line of Mars, which shows from what direction the storm
+will come; then this line of fate, which might dominate again if it
+stopped at the circle of the middle finger, that is, at the circle of
+Saturn, goes on, on the contrary, to the base of the first finger, a
+sign of ill-fortune."
+
+"God tries every one according to the rank he holds. We will endeavour
+to bear our ill-fortune like Christians if we cannot bear it like
+kings."
+
+"Your hand has answered me before you, madam; the Mount of Mars is
+smooth and without lines, the Mount of the Moon is smooth and even; it
+means resignation, madam, the first of all the virtues. With this power
+Diogenes broke his porringer; with this, Socrates smiled at death; with
+this, the poor man is a king, the king is a god! With resignation and
+calm any strong feeling shown in the hand, worthily developed may
+replace the line of Saturn and create a new good fortune. But there will
+be a long struggle first. That struggle presents strange signs. I see in
+your hand, madam, auguries opposed to each other; a prisoner without a
+prison, wealth without riches: an unhappy queen, a happy wife, and a
+happy mother. The Lord will try you, madam, but as a daughter whom He
+loves. For the rest, you will have every kind of resource, madam; first
+music, next painting; the pointed and slim fingers show that; religion,
+poetry, invention, two princesses who love you at your side, a king and
+a prince who love you from a distance. God tempers the wind to the
+freshly shorn lamb."
+
+"Yes, sir, shorn to the quick," murmured the queen, raising her eyes to
+heaven. "After all, perhaps the misfortunes of this world will secure
+the joys of another. In this case, I shall be not only resigned, but
+consoled."
+
+Benedict bowed like a man who, having accomplished what was required of
+him, only awaits his dismissal.
+
+"Have you a sister, sir?" asked the queen of Benedict, as she toyed with
+a string of pearls, fastened by a clasp of diamonds, which evidently
+belonged to one of the young princesses.
+
+"No, madam," replied Benedict, "I am alone in the world."
+
+"Then do me the pleasure to accept this turquoise for yourself. I am not
+making you a present; under that guise it would be worthless. No! it is
+an amulet which I offer you. You know that we people of the north have a
+superstition that turquoises bring good luck. Keep this as a remembrance
+of me."
+
+Benedict bowed, received the turquoise ring and put it on the little
+finger of his left hand. While he did this the queen called Prince
+Ernest to her, and took up a satchel of perfumed leather.
+
+"My son," said she, "we know the place which the exile's first step
+leaves, but not that at which his last will pause. This satchel contains
+500,000 francs worth of pearls and diamonds. If I wished to give them to
+the king, he would refuse to take them."
+
+"Oh! mother!"
+
+"But to you, Ernest, I have the right to say _I wish it_! I wish you,
+dear child, to take this satchel as a last resource, to bribe a gaoler
+if you are made prisoner; to reward devotion--who knows--perhaps for the
+personal needs of the king or yourself. Hang it round your neck, put it
+in your belt; but in all cases, keep it always upon you. I embroidered
+it with my own hands; it bears your own monogram. Hush! here is your
+father!"
+
+At this moment the king came in.
+
+"There is not a minute to spare, we must be off," said, he, "Ten minutes
+ago the Prussians entered Hanover."
+
+The king embraced the queen and his daughters; and Prince Ernest, his
+mother and sisters. Then, clinging together, king, queen, prince,
+princesses, went down the steps before which the horses were waiting.
+There took place the last adieus: there, tears flowed from the eyes of
+the most valiant, as well as from those of the most resigned. The king
+set an example by mounting his horse first.
+
+The prince and Benedict rode two horses exactly alike, which were of the
+beautiful Hanoverian race, crossed with an English strain. An English
+carbine, which would send a pointed bullet four thousand yards, hung at
+the saddle-bow; and a pair of double-barrelled pistols, as true as
+duelling pistols, rested in the holsters.
+
+A last farewell passed between the riders already in the saddle and the
+queen and princesses on the steps. Then the cavalcade, preceded by two
+scouts bearing torches, started at a quick trot.
+
+A quarter-of-an-hour later they were in Hanover. Benedict proceeded to
+the Royal Hotel to settle his account with Mr. Stephen. Every one was
+up, for the news of the invasion of the Prussians and the departure of
+the king had already spread. As for Lenhart, he was invited to join the
+main body of the army with his vehicle. The rendezvous, as we know, was
+at Gottingen. As Lenhart was greatly attached to the dog Frisk, Benedict
+did not hesitate to entrust it to his care.
+
+A deputation of the notabilities of the town, with the burgomaster at
+their head, waited on the king to bid him farewell. The king, his voice
+full of emotion, commended his wife and daughters to their care. There
+was but one voice in assuring him of their devotion. The whole town was
+abroad notwithstanding the hour of the night, and accompanied him,
+shouting 'Long live the king! Long live George V! May he return
+victorious!' Again the king commended the queen and the princesses, not
+now to the deputation, but to the whole population. The king entered the
+royal carriage amid a concert of tears and sobs. One would have said
+that every daughter had just lost a father, every mother a son, every
+sister a brother. Women crowded to the door of his carriage to kiss his
+hand. The locomotive had to whistle five or six times, and the signal
+had five or six times to be repeated, before the crowd could be detached
+from the carriage doors. At last the train had to be put into motion so
+as to shake off gently and almost imperceptibly the clusters of men and
+women who clung to it.
+
+Two hours later Gottingen was reached.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE BATTLE OF LANGENSALZA
+
+
+Two days after, the army, drawn from all parts of the kingdom, was
+assembled round the king.
+
+Among others the regiment of the Queen's Hussars commanded by Colonel
+Hallelt, had remained thirty-six hours on horseback, and had been
+marching for thirty-six hours.
+
+The king was lodged at the Crown Inn. This inn was on the line of march,
+and as each regiment of cavalry or infantry arrived, the king, warned by
+the music, went to the balcony and passed it in review. They filed one
+after another past the inn, flowers on their helmets, and cries of
+enthusiasm on their lips. Gottingen, the town of study, shuddered every
+instant, roused by the cheering warriors.
+
+All the old soldiers on leave, whom there had not been time to recall,
+came of their own accord to rejoin their flag. All of them felt
+joyously, bringing with them from their villages and all along their
+routes a large number of recruits. Lads of fifteen gave their ages as
+sixteen in order to be enlisted.
+
+On the third day they started. During this time the Prussians, on their
+side, had manoeuvred. General Manteuffel from Hamburg, General von
+Rabenhorst from Minden, and General Beyer from Wetzlar were approaching
+Gottingen and enclosing the Hanoverian army in a triangle.
+
+The simplest rules of strategy prescribed the union of the Hanoverian
+army, sixteen thousand strong, with the Bavarian, eighty thousand
+strong. The king, in consequence, had sent out couriers to Charles of
+Bavaria, brother of the old King Louis, who ought to have been in the
+valley of the Werra, to warn him, in entering Prussia and crossing
+Mulhausen, that he should proceed towards Eisenach. He added that he was
+followed closely by three or four Prussian regiments, who, united, would
+make twenty or twenty-five thousand men.
+
+They arrived at Eisenach, by way of Verkirchen. Eisenach, defended by
+only two Prussian battalions, was about to be carried at the point of
+the bayonet, when a courier arrived from the Duke of Gotha, on whose
+territory they were, bringing a dispatch from the duke.
+
+The dispatch announced that an armistice was arranged. The duke, in
+consequence, summoned the Hanoverians to retire. Unfortunately, as it
+came from a prince, the message was received without suspicion. The
+vanguard halted and took up its quarters where it was.
+
+Next day, Eisenach was occupied by a regiment of the Prussian army. A
+great deal of time and many men had been lost in taking Eisenach, a
+useless manoeuvre: and they resolved to leave Eisenach on the right
+and to proceed to Gotha. In order to put this project into execution,
+the army concentrated on Langensalza.
+
+In the morning the king left, having on his left Major Schweppe, who
+held the sovereign's horse by invisible reins. The Prince Royal was on
+his right, having with him Count Platen, the first minister, and in the
+various uniforms of their regiments or of their calling, Count Wedel,
+Major von Kohlrausch, Herr von Klenck, Captain von Einem, various
+cuirassiers of the Guard, and Herr Meding. The cortege left Langensalza
+very early, and went to Thannesbruck.
+
+Benedict rode near the prince, fulfilling the functions of a staff
+officer.
+
+The army had left its cantonments in order to proceed to Gotha: but at
+ten in the morning, the vanguard, as it arrived on the banks of the
+Unstrut, was attacked by two Prussian regiments, commanded by the
+Generals Flies and Seckendorff. They were able to mount nearly a
+thousand men, both troops of the guard and _landwehr_.
+
+Among these regiments of the guard was that of Queen Augusta, one of the
+elite. The rapidity of the Prussian fire showed at once that they must
+be armed, at least the greater part of them, with quick-firing rifles.
+
+The king put his horse to the gallop in order to arrive as soon as
+possible on the spot where the battle had begun. The little village of
+Merscleben was on a hill to the left: behind the village, on higher
+ground than the Prussian artillery posts, they placed four batteries
+which at once opened fire.
+
+The king desired to be informed of the disposition of the field. In
+front of him, running to the right and left was the Unstrut and its
+marshes; then a great thicket, or rather, a wood called Badenwaeldschen;
+and behind the Unstrut, upon the steep slope of the mountain, the
+Prussian masses advancing, preceded by formidable artillery which fired
+as it came.
+
+"Is there a higher point whence I can direct the battle?" asked the
+king.
+
+"There is a hill half a kilometre from the Unstrut, but it is under the
+fire of the enemy."
+
+"That is the place for me," said the king. "Come, gentlemen."
+
+"Pardon, sire," said the prince, "but half a gun-shot away from the hill
+where Your Majesty wishes to establish your camp, there is a sort of
+wood of alders and aspens stretching to the river. We must search that
+wood."
+
+"Order fifty skirmishers to go down to the river."
+
+"That will be unnecessary, sire," said Benedict, "there is no need for
+more than one man for that."
+
+And he went off at a gallop, crossed the wood in every direction and
+reappeared.
+
+"There is no one there, sire," said he, saluting.
+
+The king put his horse to the gallop and posted himself on the top of
+the little hill. His horse was the only white one, and served as a
+target for bullets and balls. The king wore his uniform as general of
+the forces, blue, turned up with red; the prince his uniform of the
+hussars of the guard.
+
+Battle was joined. The Prussians had driven back the Hanoverian
+outposts, who had recrossed the river, and a hot cannonade was exchanged
+between the Hanoverian artillery before Merscleben, and Prussians on the
+other side of the Unstrut.
+
+"Sire," said Benedict, "don't you fear that the Prussians will send men
+to hold the wood which I searched just now, and will fire on the king as
+at a target from its outskirts, only three hundred metres away?"
+
+"What would you suggest?" asked the prince.
+
+"I propose, monseigneur, to take fifty men and go to guard the wood. Our
+fire will protect you as the enemy approach."
+
+The prince exchanged a few words with the king, who nodded approvingly.
+
+"Go," said Prince Ernest; "but for heaven's sake don't get killed."
+
+Benedict showed the palm of his hand.
+
+"Can a man be killed, who has a double line of life on his hand?"
+
+And he galloped to the infantry of the line.
+
+"Fifty good marksmen for me," said he in German.
+
+A hundred presented themselves.
+
+"Come," said Benedict, "we shall not be too many."
+
+He left his horse with a hussar of the prince's regiment, and threw
+himself into the underwood at the head of his men, who scattered. They
+had scarcely disappeared among the trees, when a terrible fusillade
+burst forth. Two hundred men had just passed the Unstrut; but, as they
+were ignorant of the number of men following Benedict, they retreated
+fighting, supposing him to have superior forces, and leaving a dozen
+dead in the wood. Benedict guarded the bank of the Unstrut, and by a
+well-sustained fire, kept off all approach.
+
+The king had been recognized, the bullets whistled around him and even
+between his horse's legs.
+
+"Sire," said Major Schweppe, "perhaps it would be well to seek a place a
+little further from the field of battle."
+
+"Why so?" asked the king.
+
+"The bullets may reach Your Majesty!"
+
+"What does it matter! Am I not in the hands of the Lord?"
+
+The prince came up to his father.
+
+"Sire," said he, "the Prussians are advancing by great masses towards
+Unstrut, despite our fire."
+
+"What are the infantry doing?"
+
+"They are marching to take the offensive."
+
+"And--they march well?"
+
+"As on parade, sire."
+
+"The Hanoverian troops were once excellent troops; in Spain they held
+the elite of the French troops in check. To-day, when they fight before
+their king they will prove worthy of themselves, I trust."
+
+And, in fact, all the Hanoverian infantry, formed in column, advanced
+with the calm of veterans under the fire of the Prussian batteries.
+After having been a moment astounded at the hail of bullets which the
+muskets rained upon them, they continued their march, crossed the
+marshes of Unstrut, took the thicket of Badenwaeldschen by bayonet and
+struggled hand to hand with the enemy.
+
+For a moment smoke and the unevenness of the ground hid the general
+aspect of the battle. But at that moment a horseman was seen to emerge
+from the smoke and to move towards the hill where the king was
+stationed, riding in hot haste and mounted on the horse of a Prussian
+officer. It was Benedict, who had killed the rider in order to take his
+horse, and who was coming to say that the Prussians had commenced the
+attack.
+
+"Einem! Einem!" cried the king, "haste, order the cavalry to charge."
+
+The captain hastened. He was a giant of over six feet, the most vigorous
+and handsomest man in the army. He put his horse to the gallop, crying,
+"Hurrah!" A minute afterwards, a sound like a hurricane was heard. It
+was the cuirassiers of the guard charging.
+
+It would be impossible to describe the enthusiasm of the men as they
+passed the base of the hill, where stood the heroic king who wished to
+be at the most dangerous post. Cries of "Long live the king! long live
+George V! long live Hanover!" made the air tremble as in a tempest. The
+horses tore up the earth like an earthquake.
+
+Benedict could not restrain himself. He put his spurs to his horse and
+disappeared in the ranks of the cuirassiers. Seeing the storm which was
+bursting upon them, the Prussians formed into squares. The first which
+encountered the Hanoverian cavalry disappeared under their horses' feet;
+then, whilst the infantry fired in their faces, the cuirassiers took the
+Prussian army on the flank, which, after a desperate struggle, tried to
+retreat in order, but, ferociously pursued, found themselves routed.
+
+The prince followed these movements with an excellent pair of field
+glasses and described everything to the king, his father. But soon his
+glasses followed only a group of fifty men, at the head of whom was
+Captain Einem, whom he recognized by his great stature, and of whom
+Benedict, recognizable by his blue uniform among the white cuirassiers,
+was one. The squadron passed on by Nagelstadt and proceeded towards the
+last Prussian battery which still held out. The battery fired on the
+squadron from a distance of thirty yards. Everything vanished in the
+smoke. Twelve or fifteen men alone remained; Captain Einem was lying
+under his horse.
+
+"Oh! poor Einem!" cried the prince.
+
+"What has happened to him?" asked the king.
+
+"I think he is dead," said the young man; "but no, he is not dead. There
+is Benedict helping to drag him from under his horse. He is only
+wounded. He is not even wounded! Oh, father, father! There are only
+seven left out of fifty; only one artilleryman is left; he is aiming at
+Einem, he is firing.... Oh, father! you are losing a brave officer, and
+King William a brave soldier; the artilleryman has killed Einem with a
+shot from his carbine, and Benedict has cut him down at his gun with his
+sabre."
+
+The Prussian army was in full flight, the victory was with the
+Hanoverians!...
+
+The Prussians retired to Gotha. The rapidity of the march to the field
+of battle had so fatigued the Hanoverian cavalry that they could not
+pursue the fugitives. In this respect the advantages of the battle were
+lost.
+
+The results were: eight hundred prisoners, two thousand dead or wounded,
+two cannon taken.
+
+The king rode round the field of battle to complete his task by showing
+himself to the unhappy wounded.
+
+Benedict had become an artist once more, and was dreaming of his
+picture. He was seated on the first piece of cannon which had been
+taken, and was sketching a general view of the battlefield. He saw that
+the prince was searching among the killed and wounded officers of the
+cuirassiers.
+
+"Pardon, monseigneur," said he, "you are looking for the brave Captain
+Einem, are you not?"
+
+"Yes," said the prince.
+
+"There, monseigneur, there, on your left, in the midst of that heap of
+dead."
+
+"Oh," said the prince, "I saw him doing miracles."
+
+"Can you believe that after I had drawn him from under his horse, he
+stabbed six with his sabre? Then he was hit for the first time and fell.
+They thought he was dead, and threw themselves upon him. He raised
+himself on one knee and killed two, who cried to him to surrender. Then
+he stood upright and it was at that moment that the last surviving
+artilleryman sent a ball into his forehead, which killed him. As I was
+not able to save him, being too much occupied myself, I avenged him!"
+
+Then, presenting his sketch to the prince as calmly as if in the studio:
+
+"Do you think that is right?" he asked.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+IN WHICH BENEDICT'S PREDICTION CONTINUES TO BE FULFILLED
+
+
+The visit to the field of battle having been paid, the king followed the
+highway and entered the town of Langensalza. He established his
+headquarters in the sharpshooters' barracks. The major-general had given
+orders that all should remain quiet during the night.
+
+His Majesty's first care was to send by three different routes
+despatches to the queen to tell her of the day's victory and to ask for
+reinforcements, if not for the next day for the day after. And, as it
+turned out, he had nothing to fear from the Prussians: they were too
+thoroughly beaten not to wish for a day's rest.
+
+The night was gay; money had been given to the soldiers, and they were
+told to pay for everything they had. The bands played "God save the
+King," and the soldiers sang in chorus,--a song by a Hanoverian
+volunteer, to the Polish tune:
+
+     "A thousand soldiers swear on bended knee."
+
+The next day was spent in waiting for news of the Bavarian army, and in
+sending out couriers. The first came back with promises which were never
+kept.
+
+A truce until morning had been offered to the Prussians so that the dead
+might be buried. The Prussians refused, and the Hanoverians alone
+proceeded with this pious work. The soldiers dug great trenches 25 feet
+long and 8 feet wide. The dead were placed in these in two rows. Four
+thousand armed men led by the king and prince stood bare-headed while
+Beethoven's funeral march was played. Over each grave a squadron passed
+and fired a salute by way of military mourning. The municipal officers
+who had come to thank the king for his orders to the soldiers, which had
+been strictly carried out, were present at the ceremony.
+
+At eleven in the evening the men who were on guard towards the north
+announced that a large Prussian army was arriving by way of Mulhausen.
+It proved to be General Manteuffel's.
+
+The third day after the battle, the Hanoverian army had received no news
+of the Bavarian army, and was surrounded by 30,000 men.
+
+Towards midday, a lieutenant-colonel came with a flag of truce, from
+General Manteuffel, to propose that the king should surrender.
+
+The king replied that he knew perfectly well that he was hemmed in on
+all sides, but that he, his son, his major-general, his officers, and
+soldiers, from the highest to the lowest, preferred to die, unless an
+honourable capitulation were offered them.
+
+At the same time he called a council of war which declared unanimously
+for a capitulation, as long as it was honourable. There was, indeed, no
+choice. The army had only three hundred shells left, and rations for one
+night and day. The whole court, the king included, had dined on a piece
+of boiled beef and potatoes; the soup was given to the wounded. Every
+man was allowed but one glass of bad beer.
+
+Each article of the capitulation was discussed, so as to spin out the
+delay as long as possible. The speedy arrival of the Bavarians was
+still hoped for.
+
+At length, during the night, the following conditions were drawn up,
+between General Manteuffel for the King of Prussia, and General von
+Arentschild for the King of Hanover.
+
+The Hanoverian army was to be disbanded and the soldiers sent back to
+their homes. All the officers and non-commissioned officers were to go
+free. They were to retain their arms and equipments. The King of Prussia
+was to guarantee their pay. The king, the prince, and their suite were
+to be free to go wherever they wished. The king's private fortune was to
+be intact and inviolable.
+
+The capitulation being signed, General Manteuffel went to the king's
+quarters. Entering his cabinet he said to him:
+
+"I am sorry, sire, to present myself before Your Majesty in such sad
+circumstances. We understand all that Your Majesty suffers, we Prussians
+who have known Jena. I beg Your Majesty to tell me to what place you
+wish to retire, and to give me my orders. It shall be my duty to see
+that you suffer no inconvenience on your journey."
+
+"Sir," replied the king coldly, "I do not know where I shall await the
+finding of the congress which has to decide whether I shall remain king,
+or become once more a simple English prince. Probably with my
+father-in-law, the Duke of Saxe-Altenburg, or with His Majesty the
+Emperor of Austria. In either case I have no need of your protection,
+for which I thank you."
+
+The same day the king's aide-de-camp left for Vienna, to ask permission
+for his master to retire through the Austrian states. As soon as this
+request reached Vienna, one of the emperor's aides-de-camp left to
+serve as guide and escort to the king. This officer was the bearer of
+the Marie-Therese medal for the king, and the order of knighthood for
+the prince.
+
+On the same day, the king sent, as messengers to announce his arrival to
+His Majesty the Emperor of Austria; Herr Meding, representing the
+regency, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Herr von Platen, and the
+Minister of War, Herr von Brandis.
+
+The prince asked Benedict to accompany him. As Benedict had never seen
+Vienna, he assented. But upon conditions. His life, as at Hanover, was
+to be entirely independent of the court. He still had to arrange
+Lenhart's business, which, as we know, had been left to Benedict's
+discretion. Benedict had kept Lenhart for seventeen days. He now gave
+him four hundred francs and one hundred more as a gratuity--an
+unexampled generosity to which Lenhart replied by declaring his
+attachment to the House of Hanover to be such that he would never return
+to Brunswick from the moment when Brunswick became Prussian. This
+declaration was worth two hundred francs to him from the King of
+Hanover, and one hundred francs from the prince.
+
+After this Lenhart's resolution was fixed. He sold, or had sold, all the
+carriages and horses which he had at Brunswick and with the proceeds he
+meant to set up a livery stable in Frankfort, a free town, where you
+seldom see any Prussians. At Frankfort, his brother Hans was in service
+with one of the best families in the town, that of Chandroz. Madame
+Chandroz' daughter, the Baroness von Bulow, was the burgomaster's
+goddaughter. With such connections he could be sure of prospering, and
+Benedict promised him his custom in case he returned to Frankfort.
+
+The adieux between Benedict and Lenhart were most affecting, and still
+more so between Lenhart and Frisk, but they were forced to part.
+Lenhart set out for Frankfort. The king, the prince, Benedict, and
+Frisk, on their arrival at Vienna, took up their residence in the little
+chateau of Froehliche Wiederkehr, which means Happy Return.
+
+In this way Benedict's prediction to the king was realized--of victory,
+overthrow, exile.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+WHAT PASSED AT FRANKFORT BETWEEN THE BATTLES OF LANGENSALZA AND SADOWA
+
+
+Frankfort followed from afar and with anxiety the struggle which went on
+in the other parts of Germany. But she did not believe that that
+struggle could reach even her. By June 29th Prince Charles of Bavaria
+had been appointed general of the Federated Troops. On the same day
+Frankfort heard the news of the victory of Langensalza. This caused
+great joy throughout the town, though no one dared to show it. On June
+30th Rudolfstadt and the Hanseatic towns declared that they withdrew
+from the Confederation. The Wurtemberg and Baden regiments were in the
+town; the soldiers, in groups of four and five, went gaily about the
+streets in hackney carriages. On July 1st, news came of the capitulation
+of the Hanoverian Army. On July 3rd Mecklenburg, Gotha, and the younger
+branch of Reuss declared that they withdrew from the Confederation. On
+July 4th the Prussian papers accused the people of Frankfort of having
+turned all Prussian subjects out of the town, even those who had been
+established there for ten years, and of having illuminated their streets
+on the news of the victory of Langensalza. They had not done so; but the
+falser the charge, the more it frightened the people of Frankfort.
+Evidently the Prussians were trying to pick a quarrel with them. On July
+5th the gloom increased; news came of the defeat of the Austrians
+between Konigsgratz and Josephstadt. On July 8th the first news of the
+battle of Sadowa arrived in Frankfort.
+
+Everything that that fatalist, Dr. Speltz, had said with regard to
+Marshal Benedek came true. After two checks he lost his head; to speak
+in the language of Herr Speltz, Saturn ruled above Mars and Jupiter.
+What he had foreseen in another direction, about the superior equipment
+of the Prussians--in conjunction with their natural courage--also came
+true. In no single encounter had the Austrians the advantage. The only
+victory gained over the Prussians was that when the King of Hanover had
+been in command.
+
+But what particularly terrified Frankfort was the order given by the
+commanding officers of the Allies' Army to make entrenchments in the
+neighbourhood of the town. On this occasion, the Senate awoke from its
+inactivity, it arose and protested to the Diet that Frankfort was an
+unfortified town which was not able, and did not wish to be defended.
+But, in spite of the protestations of the Senate, the troops came to
+Frankfort.
+
+On July 12th a fresh regiment was announced. It was the 8th regiment of
+the Federated Army, under the orders of Prince Alexander of Hesse,
+composed of men from Wurtemberg, Baden, and Hesse, and an Austrian
+Brigade commanded by Count Monte Nuovo. They had scarcely entered
+Frankfort, when Count Monte Nuovo enquired for the house of the Chandroz
+family, and got himself billeted upon the widowed Madame von Beling who
+resided there.
+
+Count Monte Nuovo, which title disguised the celebrated name of Neuburg,
+was the son of Marie Louise. He was a handsome, tall, fashionable
+general of forty-eight or fifty, who presented himself to Madame von
+Beling with all the Austrian grace and courtesy, and who, in saluting
+Helen, let fall from his lips the name of Karl von Freyberg.
+
+Helen started. Emma had excused herself, as the wife of a Prussian, from
+doing the honours of her house to a man with whom her husband might be
+fighting on the morrow. This absence gave Count Monte Nuovo the
+opportunity of being alone with Helen. Helen, it is hardly necessary to
+say, awaited this moment with impatience.
+
+"Count," said she, as soon as they were alone, "you mentioned a certain
+name."
+
+"The name of a man who adores you, Fraulein."
+
+"The name of my _fiance_," said Helen, rising.
+
+Count Monte Nuovo bowed and signed to her to reseat herself.
+
+"I know it, Fraulein," he said; "Count Karl is my friend. He has bidden
+me hand you this letter and to give you news of him with my own lips."
+
+Helen took the letter.
+
+"Thank you, sir," she said, and, eager to read it. "You will allow me,
+won't you?"
+
+"Certainly," said the count bowing, and he appeared to become absorbed
+in a portrait of Herr von Beling in his uniform.
+
+The letter was all vows of love and protestations of tenderness such as
+lovers write to each other. Old phrases always new; flowers plucked on
+the day of creation, and, after six thousand years, as sweet as on the
+first day.
+
+Having finished the letter, as Count Monte Nuovo still looked straight
+at the portrait:
+
+"Sir," said Helen, in a low voice.
+
+"Fraulein?" answered the count, approaching her; "Karl lets me hope that
+you will give me some details yourself," and he adds: 'Before coming to
+grips with the Prussians, he will, or indeed we shall perhaps, have the
+pleasure of seeing you again.'"
+
+"It is possible, Fraulein, especially if we meet the Prussians in three
+or four days."
+
+"Where did you leave him?"
+
+"At Vienna, where he was organizing his volunteer regiment. We arranged
+a meeting-place at Frankfort, my friend Karl von Freyberg having done me
+the honour of wishing to serve under my orders."
+
+"He tells me that he has as his lieutenant a Frenchman whom I know. Do
+you know of whom he is speaking?"
+
+"Yes; he met him at the King of Hanover's, where he went to pay his
+respects; a young Frenchman called Benedict Turpin."
+
+"Ah! yes," said Helen smiling, "he whom my brother-in-law wished me to
+marry in gratitude for the sabre-cut he received from him."
+
+"Fraulein," said Count Monte Nuovo, "these things are riddles to me."
+
+"And a little to me also," said Helen; "I will explain to you." And she
+told him what she knew of Frederic's duel with Benedict. She had
+scarcely finished when some one simultaneously knocked and rang at the
+door. Hans went to open it, and a voice asking for Madame von Beling,
+and reaching her ears through all the closed doors between, made her
+start.
+
+"What is the matter, Fraulein?" asked Count Monte Nuovo. "You are quite
+pale!"
+
+"I recognize that voice!" exclaimed Helen.
+
+At the same moment the door opened, and Hans appeared.
+
+"Fraulein," said he, "it is Count Karl von Freyberg."
+
+"Ah!" cried Helen, "I knew it! Where is he? What is he doing?"
+
+"He is below in the dining-room, where he is asking Madame von Beling's
+permission to pay his respects, to you."
+
+"Do you recognize the gentleman in that?" asked Count Monte Nuovo.
+"Another man would not even have asked for your grandmother, but have
+flown straight to you."
+
+"And I could have pardoned him." Then, in a louder voice. "Karl, dear
+Karl!" she said. "This way!"
+
+Karl came in and threw himself into Helen's arms, who pressed him to her
+breast. Then, looking round him, he saw Count Monte Nuovo, and held out
+his hand to him.
+
+"Excuse me, count," said he, "for not having seen you before; but you
+will readily understand that I had eyes for none but her. Is not Helen
+as beautiful as I told you, count?"
+
+"More beautiful," replied he.
+
+"Oh! dear, dear Helen," cried Karl, falling on his knees and kissing her
+hands.
+
+Count Monte Nuovo began to laugh.
+
+"My dear Karl," said he, "I arrived here an hour ago; I asked to be
+quartered at Madame von Beling's, in order to be able to carry out my
+commission. It was done as you knocked. I have nothing more to do here.
+If I have forgotten anything, here you are, and you can supply it.
+Fraulein, may I have the honour of kissing your hand?"
+
+Helen held out her hand, looking at Karl as if for his permission, which
+he gave with a nod. The count kissed Helen's hand, then that of his
+friend, and went out.
+
+The lovers gave a sigh of relief. Fate gave them, amid all the reverses
+of their political fortunes, one of those rare moments which she grants
+to those whom she favours most.
+
+The news from the north was only too true. But all hope was not lost in
+Vienna. The emperor, the Imperial Family, and the Treasury had retired
+to Pest, and a desperate resistance was being prepared. On the other
+hand, the cession of Venice to Italy gave liberty to a hundred and sixty
+thousand men, as a reinforcement to the army in the north. It only
+remained to revive the spirits of the soldiers by a victory, and it was
+hoped that Count Alexander of Hesse would gain that victory. The battle
+would take place in all probability in the outskirts of Frankfort. This
+is why Karl had chosen to serve in the Prince of Hesse's army, and in
+Count Monte Nuovo's brigade. There at least, he was sure that he should
+see fighting. A second cousin of the Emperor Francis Joseph, brave and
+courageous, he had every interest in risking his life for the House of
+Austria, to which he belonged.
+
+Helen devoured Karl with her eyes. His dress was that which she had seen
+him wear every day when she met him going or returning from the hunt;
+but, without one being able to be precise about it, there was something
+more warlike about him; his expression was--somewhat more severe. One
+felt that he was conscious of danger at hand, and in meeting it like a
+man he met it as one who clung to life, yet who above his life put
+honour.
+
+During this time, Earl's little troop, whose second in command was
+Benedict, bivouacked a hundred paces from the railway station, just
+under the Burgomaster Fellner's windows. Not that they had anything to
+complain of from the authorities. Karl had sold one of his estates, and
+each of his men received a shilling every day for food. Each man was
+armed with a good carbine, rifle-barrelled and able, like a quick-firing
+gun, to fire eight or ten shots a minute. Each man also carried a
+hundred cartridges, and, in consequence, the hundred men could fire ten
+thousand shots. The two leaders carried double-barrelled carbines.
+
+The burgomaster returning to the Hotel de Ville, found in front of his
+door the little detachment dressed in an unknown uniform. He stopped
+with that naive bourgeois curiosity which we call _flanerie_. After
+staring at the soldiers he went on to their leader before whom he
+stopped, not only with simple curiosity but astonishment. It seemed to
+him that the face of the leader was not entirely unknown to him.
+
+And in fact, the officer, smiling, asked in excellent German:
+
+"May I enquire after Burgomaster Fellner's health?"
+
+"Ah! heavens and earth!" cried the burgomaster, "I was not mistaken. It
+is M. Benedict Turpin!"
+
+"Bravo! I told you that your memory was unusually well developed. It
+must be so to recognize me in this costume."
+
+"But you have become a soldier?"
+
+"An officer."
+
+"An officer! I beg your pardon."
+
+"Yes, an amateur officer."
+
+"Come up to my house; you must be in need of refreshment, and your men
+are thirsty. Aren't you, my friends?"
+
+The men laughed.
+
+"We are always more or less thirsty," one of them replied.
+
+"Very well, I will send twenty-five bottles of wine and beer down to
+you," said the burgomaster. "Come in, M. Benedict!"
+
+"Remember that my eye is upon you from the window," said Benedict, "and
+be careful."
+
+"Be easy in your mind, captain," replied he who had spoken before.
+
+"Madame Fellner," said the burgomaster on entering, "here is a captain
+of volunteers who is quartered on us. We must give him a worthy
+reception."
+
+Madame Fellner, who was doing worsted work, raised her head and looked
+at her guest. An expression resembling her husband's passed over her
+face.
+
+"Oh! it is surprising, my dear!" she cried, "how like this gentleman is
+to a young French painter...."
+
+"There!" said Fellner, "there is no need to keep your incognito. Pay
+your respects to my wife, my dear Benedict; you are recognized."
+
+Benedict held out his hand to Madame Fellner. As for the burgomaster, a
+slave to his promise, he looked out amongst a bunch of keys that of the
+cellar, and went down to choose the wine in which he wished Benedict's
+men to drink his health. A few minutes after, shouts of "Long live the
+burgomaster!" told that his wine was found to be of good quality.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE FREE MEAL
+
+
+The burgomaster was uneasy, and did not try to hide it. The Prussians
+had marched on Frankfort by way of Vogeberg: a combat was bound to take
+place on the frontiers of Bavaria, and, if the Allies' army was beaten,
+the Prussians would occupy Frankfort on the following day. Orders had
+been given of which no one knew, but which could not be kept from him,
+as burgomaster. On July 14th, that is to say on the third day, the
+Federated Assembly, the Military Commission, and the Chancellor's
+Office, had received orders to go to Augsburg, a proof that Frankfort
+was not sure of being able to preserve her neutrality. The conviction,
+held by every one in Frankfort, that this was the moment of supreme
+crisis, had raised the sympathy of the inhabitants for the defenders of
+the cause dear to all, that is to say the cause of Austria, to the
+highest pitch. So, when the dinner hour came, the great houses of
+Frankfort invited the officers, while the bourgeois and working people
+invited the privates. Some took dinner to them, others laid tables
+before their doors.
+
+Hermann Mumm, the famous wine merchant, had invited a hundred privates,
+corporals, and sergeants, and had laid an immense table before his door,
+where each man had his bottle of wine.
+
+Burgomaster Fellner, his brother-in-law, Doctor Kugler, and the other
+inhabitants of the road abutting on the railway station, took care of
+Karl's hundred men. He himself dined with Madame von Beling and Count
+Monte Nuovo. Benedict, whom good Madame Fellner would not suffer to
+depart, could not refuse her invitation. They had invited Senators von
+Bernus and Speltz, but they had each their own guests, and only M.
+Fischer, the journalist, who lived a bachelor life, could come. Prince
+Alexander of Hesse dined with the Austrian consul.
+
+The diners in the street formed strange contrasts with those inside. The
+soldiers, drinking together, careless of the morrow, looked for nothing
+but death; but death to a soldier is only a _vivandiere_ in black, who
+pours him the last glass of brandy at the end of the last day. The
+soldier only fears to lose his life, because in losing his life, he
+loses all with it, and at one blow; while the merchant, the banker, even
+the bourgeois, before losing life, may lose fortune, credit, and
+position. He may see his coffers pillaged, his house ransacked, his wife
+and daughters dishonoured, his children calling him, impotent to help
+them. He may be tortured through his family, his money, his flesh, and
+his honour. It was of these things that the citizens of the free town of
+Frankfort thought, and these things prevented them from being as gay as
+they would have wished with their guests.
+
+As for Karl and Helen, they thought of nothing but their happiness. For
+them, the present was everything. They wished to forget: and, by force
+not of wishing, but of love, they did forget.
+
+But the saddest of these gatherings, despite Benedict's efforts, was
+certainly that which took place at the burgomaster's. Herr Fellner was,
+in his administrative capacity, one of the most intelligent burgomasters
+that Frankfort had ever possessed. Furthermore, he was an excellent
+father to his family, adoring his children, and adored by them. During
+fourteen years of married life not the smallest cloud had passed across
+his union. During the whole dinner, in spite of the weighty political
+preoccupation which absorbed him, he attempted, with the help of his
+brother-in-law the councillor, and his friend Fischer, to throw a little
+gaiety over the solemnity of the conversation. At dessert a servant
+entered and informed Benedict that his travelling companion, Lenhart,
+asked leave to offer him his services again. The burgomaster enquired
+who Lenhart was, and, at the moment when Benedict smilingly asked
+permission to go and shake his hand in the vestibule, the ex-livery
+stable keeper slapped the servant on the shoulder to make him give way,
+and came in saying:
+
+"Don't give yourself the trouble, M. Benedict; I'll come right into his
+worship the burgomaster's dining-room. I am not proud. Good day, your
+worship, and ladies and gentlemen."
+
+"Ah!" said the burgomaster, recognizing the old Saxon accent, "you are
+from Sachsenhausen?"
+
+"Yes, and my name is Lenhart, at your service; I am brother to Hans, who
+is in service with Madame von Beling."
+
+"Well then, my friend," said the burgomaster, "drink a glass of wine to
+the health of M. Benedict, whom you wish to see."
+
+"Two, if you like; he well deserves them! Ah! there's no
+stand-offishness with regard to the Prussians about him. Thunder and
+lightning! how he went at them at the battle of Langensalza!"
+
+"What! you were there?" asked the burgomaster of Lenhart.
+
+"On! yes, that I was, and now mad I was at not getting a slap at those
+cuckoos myself!"
+
+"Why do you call them cuckoos?" asked the journalist.
+
+"Because they take other people's nests to lay their eggs in."
+
+"But how did you know I was here?" asked Benedict, a little embarrassed
+by this unceremonious visit.
+
+"Oh!" said Lenhart, "I was walking peacefully along the road, when a dog
+came and jumped at my neck. 'There,' I said, 'it is Frisk, M. Benedict's
+dog.' Your men looked at me as if I were a curiosity, because I
+mentioned your name. 'Is M. Benedict here?' I asked them. They answered
+me: 'Yes, he is there, he is dining with your burgomaster, Herr Fellner,
+a good man, who has good wine.' 'Herr Fellner's good health,' I said to
+myself: 'Here, it's true! he is my burgomaster, because ever since
+yesterday I've been established in Frankfort, and as he is my
+burgomaster, I can go in And call on him, to say good-morning to M.
+Benedict.'"
+
+"Well now that you have said good-morning to me, my good Lenhart, and
+drunk the health of his worship the burgomaster," said Benedict--
+
+"Yes, but I haven't drunk yours, my young master, my benefactor, my
+idol! for you are my idol, M. Benedict. When I speak of you, when I talk
+about your duel, where you overcame those two men, one with a sabre cut,
+and what a one it was! M. Frederic de ----, you know the one I mean,
+don't you? Another with a pistol shot, that was a journalist, a great
+tall, ungainly fellow, like you, Herr Fischer."
+
+"Thanks, my friend."
+
+"I haven't said any harm, I hope."
+
+"No, but leave these gentlemen in peace," said Benedict.
+
+"They are very peaceful, M. Benedict; look how they are listening."
+
+"Let him go on," said the doctor.
+
+"I'd go on all the same, even if you wouldn't let me. Ah! when I'm on
+the subject of M. Benedict, I never run dry. Don't shrug your shoulders,
+M. Benedict; if you'd wanted to kill the baron, you'd have killed him,
+and if you'd wanted to kill the journalist, you'd only yourself to
+please."
+
+"As a matter of fact," said the burgomaster, "we have seen that story in
+the 'Kreuz Zeitung.' My word! I read it without ever thinking that it
+was to you it happened."
+
+"And the pretty thing is that it was he who told it you!" continued
+Lenhart. "He is as learned as a sorcerer! Only glanced at the poor King
+of Hanover's hand, and he foretold everything that's happened to him.
+First, the victory, then the pill."
+
+At the moment, when they were going from the dining-room to the
+drawing-room, the sound of trumpets and drums was heard; the trumpet
+sounded "to horse," the drum beat "the alert." Madame Fellner waited
+impatiently; but her husband, smiling, signed to her to be patient. For
+the moment, a more lively and more general preoccupation was started by
+the sound of the alarm.
+
+"This tells me, madam," said Benedict, pointing towards the street, "I
+have only time to drink your husband's health, and to the long and happy
+life you and your beautiful family will have with him."
+
+The toast was repeated by all, and even by Lenhart, who thus drank
+twice, as he had said, to the health of the burgomaster. After which,
+grasping the hands of Herr Fellner, his brother-in-law, and the
+journalist, and kissing that of Madame Fellner, Benedict ran downstairs
+and out, crying: "To arms!"
+
+The same warlike sound had surprised Karl and Helen at the end of
+dinner. Karl felt a terrible blow at his heart. Helen grew pale,
+although she did not know the meaning of the beating of the drums nor
+of the sounding of the trumpets; yet she felt it to be sinister. Then,
+at the glance exchanged between Count Monte Nuovo and Karl, she
+understood that the moment of separation had come. The count had pity on
+the two young lovers, and, to give them a minute for their last adieux,
+he took leave of Madame von Beling, and said to his young friend:
+
+"Karl, you have a quarter-of-an-hour."
+
+Karl threw a rapid glance at the clock. It was half-past four.
+
+"Thank you, general," he answered. "I will be at my post at the time you
+mention."
+
+Madame von Beling had gone to see Count Monte Nuovo off, and in order to
+be alone, the young people went into the garden, where a thick arbour of
+vines hid their adieux. One might as well try to write down the
+melancholy song of the nightingale, which burst forth a few paces from
+them, as to describe the dialogue interspersed with sighs and tears,
+with vows, with sobs, with promises of love, with passionate outbursts,
+and with tender cries. What had they said at the end of a
+quarter-of-an-hour? Nothing, and everything. The parting was inevitable.
+
+As on the first occasion, Karl's horse was waiting at the door. He
+dragged himself away, leading Helen with him, encircled by his arms,
+there he covered her face with a rain of kisses.
+
+The door was open. The two Styrians beckoned him. A quarter to five was
+striking. He threw himself upon his horse, driving the spurs into him.
+The two Styrians ran beside him, following the galloping horse. The last
+words which Karl heard were these: "Thine, in this world or in the
+next!" and with the ardour of a lover and the faith of a Christian, he
+replied: "So be it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+THE BATTLE OF ASCHAFFENBURG
+
+
+During his dinner, Prince Alexander of Hesse had received this dispatch:
+
+"The Prussian vanguard has appeared at the end of the Vogelsburg pass!"
+
+This news very much astonished the commander-in-chief, who was expecting
+the enemy to come by the pass through the Thuringian Forest. He had, in
+consequence, immediately sent a telegram to Darmstadt to order a
+detachment of three thousand men to come by rail to Aschaffenburg and
+seize the bridge. Then he had immediately sounded the bugle-call and the
+signal to saddle.
+
+Two steamboats were waiting at Hackenhausen. A hundred railway carriages
+were waiting at the station, capable of holding a hundred men each.
+
+We have already mentioned the effect produced by the double trumpet
+call.
+
+There was a moment of confusion: for a moment every one ran to and fro,
+uniforms were confused, cavalry and infantry were mixed, then as if a
+clever hand had put each man in his place, at the end of five minutes
+the cavalry were mounted and the infantry had their proper weapons.
+Everything was ready for a start.
+
+Again, Frankfort showed its sympathy, not exactly to the Austrians, but
+to the defenders of Austria. Beer was handed round in half-pints and
+wine in jugfuls. Gentlemen of the first houses in the town shook hands
+with the officers. Fashionable ladies spoke cheeringly to the soldiers.
+A hitherto unknown brotherhood, born of the common danger, reigned over
+the free town.
+
+People called from windows: "Courage! victory! long live Austria! long
+live the Allies! long live Prince Alexander of Hesse!"
+
+Marie Louise's son was greeted for his part with cries of "Long live the
+Count of Monte Nuovo!" But it must be said that, as they came for the
+most part from ladies, they were due rather to his fine figure and
+military bearing than to his royal birth.
+
+Karl's Styrian sharpshooters received orders to take their places in the
+first carriages. It was they who were to attack the Prussians. They went
+gaily into the station with no other music than the count's two flute
+players. After them came Count Monte Nuovo's Austrian brigade and lastly
+the Allies of Hesse and Wurtemberg. The Italian brigade had left by the
+steamboats, protesting against what they had to do, and declaring they
+would never fire on their friends the Prussians for their enemies the
+Austrians.
+
+The train went off, carrying men, rifles, guns, ammunition, horses, and
+ambulances. An hour and a half afterwards they were at Aschaffenburg.
+Night was beginning to fall. They had not seen the Prussians.
+
+Prince Alexander of Hesse sent a party out to reconnoitre. The party
+came back towards eleven at night, after having fired a few shots at the
+Prussians at two hours' journey from Aschaffenburg.
+
+A peasant who had crossed the pass at the same time as the Prussians,
+said that they were nearly five or six thousand strong, and that they
+had stopped because they were waiting for a body of seven or eight
+thousand men which was late. The numbers promised to be nearly equal.
+
+It was found necessary to defend the passage of the Main and to protect
+Frankfort and Darmstadt by gaining the victory. The Styrian
+sharpshooters were placed on the road. Their mission was to do the
+greatest amount of damage possible to the enemy and retire, leaving the
+infantry and cavalry to work in their turn, and to rally at the head of
+the bridge, the allies only means of retreat, and to defend that bridge
+to the last.
+
+During the night each man took up his position for the next day, and
+supped and slept in the open. A reserve of eight hundred men had been
+lodged in Aschaffenburg to defend the town if it were attacked. The
+night passed without disturbance.
+
+At ten o'clock, Karl, growing impatient, mounted his horse and leaving
+the command of his men to Benedict galloped off towards the Prussians
+who at last were beginning to march.
+
+In the course of his gallop Karl went up to Count Monte Nuovo and
+brought back the guns, which were put in position across the road. Four
+felled trees made a sort of entrenchment for the artillery. Karl got on
+to this entrenchment with his two Styrians, who took their flutes from
+their pockets, as if on parade, and began to play their sweetest and
+most charming airs. Karl could resist no longer. In a minute he took his
+pipe from his waistcoat pocket and sent on the wind a last message to
+his country.
+
+The Prussians were advancing all this time. At half-range the booming of
+the two Austrian guns interrupted our three musicians, who put their
+flutes back into their pockets, and took up their rifles. The two
+volleys were well aimed, they killed or wounded a score of men. Again an
+explosion was heard, and a second messenger of death swept through the
+Prussian ranks.
+
+"They are going to try and carry the guns by assault," said Karl to
+Benedict. "Take fifty men, and I'll take fifty; we will creep through
+the little wood on each side of the road. We have time for two shots
+each. We must kill a hundred men and fifty horses. Let ten of your men
+fire at the horses and the rest at the men."
+
+Benedict took fifty men and crept along the right of the road. Karl did
+the same and crept along the left. The count was not mistaken; cavalry
+advanced from the middle on the first rank, and the gleam of the sabres
+was soon visible in the sunshine. Then was heard the thunder of three
+hundred horses, galloping forward.
+
+Now began a fusillade, on both sides of the road, which would have
+seemed a game, if, at the first two shots, the colonel and the
+lieutenant had not been shot down from their horses, and if at each shot
+that followed those two a man or a horse had not fallen. Soon the road
+was strewn with dead men and horses. The first ranks could not advance.
+The charge stopped a hundred paces from the two guns, which kept up
+their fire and completed the confusion in the column.
+
+Behind them the Prussians had brought forward the artillery, and had
+placed in position six guns to silence the two Austrian guns.
+
+But our sharpshooters had advanced to about three hundred paces from the
+battery, and, when the six artillerymen had raised the match to fire
+with the regularity of a Prussian manoeuvre, six shots were fired,
+three to the right and three to the left of the road, and the six
+artillerymen fell dead.
+
+Six others took the burning match and fell beside their comrades.
+Meanwhile the two Austrian guns had fired and demolished one of the
+Prussian guns.
+
+The Prussians did what they ought to have done at first; that is, they
+attacked the Styrian sharpshooters. They sent out five hundred Prussian
+sharpshooters with fixed bayonets.
+
+Then, on both sides of the plain began a terrible fusillade, while along
+the road the infantry advanced in columns, firing on the battery as they
+came. The artillerymen harnessed horses to the guns and retreated. The
+two guns, by retiring, left the Neuberg brigade uncovered.
+
+A hillock a little distance from Aschaffenburg was then crowned by a
+battery of six guns, the fire of which raked the Prussian masses.
+
+The count himself seeing that in spite of the fire along the whole line,
+the Prussians were advancing, put himself at the head of a regiment of
+cuirassiers and charged. Prince Alexander ordered all the Baden army to
+support him. Unfortunately, he placed the Italian regiment on his left
+wing and for the second time the Italians told him that they would
+remain neutral, exposed to the shots of both sides, but would not fire
+themselves.
+
+Whether by chance, or because they had been warned of this neutrality,
+the Prussians brought their principal effort to bear upon this left
+wing, which, by standing still, allowed the enemy to unhorse Count Monte
+Nuovo.
+
+The Styrian sharpshooters had done marvels. They had lost thirty men,
+and had killed more than three hundred of the enemy. Then, according to
+their orders, they had rallied at the head of the Aschaffenburg bridge.
+
+From that spot, Karl and Benedict heard a quick fusillade at the other
+end of the town. It was the Prussian right wing which had overthrown
+Prince Alexander's left wing and was attacking the suburbs of the town.
+
+"Listen," said Karl to Benedict, "the day is lost! Fate has overtaken
+the 'house of Austria.' I am going to kill myself, because it is my
+duty; but you, who are not tied to our fortune; you, who are fighting as
+an amateur; you, who are French when all is said and done, it would be
+folly for you to kill yourself for a cause which is not your own, and
+not even that with which you agree. Right to the last moment; then, when
+you know that all resistance is useless, get back to Frankfort, go to
+Helen; tell her that I am dead, if you have seen me die, or that I am in
+retreat on Darmstadt or Wurtzburg with the remains of the army. If I
+live, I will write to her. If I die, I die thinking of her. This is my
+heart's testament, I confide it to you."
+
+Benedict pressed Karl's hand.
+
+"Now," proceeded Karl, "it seems to me that it is a soldier's duty to
+give the most service possible, to the last moment; we have a hundred
+and seventy men left. I am going to take some, I will take half to
+support the defenders of the town. You stay with the others at the
+bridge. Do your best here. I will do my best wherever I am. Do you hear
+the fusillade coming nearer? We have no time to lose. We must say
+farewell."
+
+The two young men threw themselves into each other's arms. Then Karl
+hurried into the streets and disappeared in the smoke. Benedict went to
+a little hill covered with a thicket, where he could defend himself and
+protect the bridge.
+
+He was scarcely there when he saw a cloud of dust rapidly approaching.
+It was the Baden cavalry, which had been driven back by the Prussian
+cuirassiers. The first fugitives crossed the bridge without difficulty;
+but soon the passage was obstructed with men and horses, and the first
+ranks were forced to return upon those who followed them.
+
+At that moment, a volley from Benedict and his men felled fifty men and
+twenty horses. The cuirassiers stopped astonished, and courage returned
+to the Baden infantry. A second volley followed the first, and the click
+of the balls on the cuirasses could be heard like the sound of hail on a
+roof. Thirty men and horses fell. The cuirassiers became disordered, but
+in retiring they encountered a square broken by the lancers, which fled
+before them. The square found itself between the spears of the lancers
+and the sabres of the cuirassiers. Benedict saw them coming mixed
+pell-mell with the lancers and cuirassiers.
+
+"Aim at the officers," cried Benedict, and he himself picked out a
+captain of cuirassiers and fired. The captain fell. The others had each
+chosen officers, but found it more convenient to choose the officers of
+the lancers. Death thus offered a larger target. Almost all the officers
+fell, and the horses bounding riderless joined the squadron. Men were
+still continuing to crowd the bridge.
+
+Suddenly the greater part of the allies' army arrived almost upon the
+heels of the enemy. At the same time, in the street of the burning town,
+Karl was retreating with his usual calm. He killed a man at each shot.
+He was bare-headed. A ball had carried away his Styrian cap. A trickle
+of blood was running down his cheek.
+
+The two young men greeted each other from afar. Frisk, recognizing Karl,
+whom he considered an admirable hunter, ran towards him, all delight at
+seeing him again.
+
+At that moment, a heavy gallop made the earth shake. It was the Prussian
+cuirassiers returning to the charge. Through the dust of the road and
+the smoke of the firing could be seen the glitter of their breastplates,
+helmets, and sword blades. They made a hole in the centre of the Baden
+and Hessian fugitives, and penetrated a third of the way over the
+bridge.
+
+With a last glance, Benedict saw his friend fighting against a captain,
+into whose throat he twice thrust his bayonet. The captain fell, but
+only to be succeeded by two cuirassiers who attacked Karl, sword in
+hand. Two shots from Benedict's rifle killed one and wounded the other.
+
+Then he saw Karl carried away among the fugitives crossing the bridge,
+in spite of his efforts to rally them. Enclosed on all sides, his sole
+path to hope of safety was the bridge. He threw himself upon it with the
+sixty or sixty-five men who were left. It was a terrible struggle; the
+dead were trodden under foot, the cuirassiers, like giants on their
+great horses, stabbed the fugitives with their shortened swords.
+
+"Fire on them!" cried Benedict.
+
+Those of his men who had their rifles loaded fired; seven or eight
+cuirassiers fell; the bullets rattled on the breastplates of the rest.
+
+A fresh charge brought the cuirassiers into the midst of the Styrian
+infantry. Pressed by two horsemen, Benedict killed one with his bayonet,
+the other tried to crush him with his horse against the parapet of the
+bridge. He drew his short hunting knife and thrust it up to the hilt in
+the horse's chest, the horse reared with a scream of dismay. Benedict
+left his knife with its living sheath, ran between the horse's legs,
+leapt over the parapet of the bridge and sprang, armed as he was, into
+the Main. As he fell, he cast a last look at the spot where Karl had
+disappeared, but his gaze sought his friend in vain.
+
+It was about five o'clock in the evening.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE EXECUTOR
+
+
+Benedict had jumped into the Main on the left side of the bridge; the
+current carried him towards the arches. When he came to the surface he
+looked round him and saw a boat moored to one of them. A man was lying
+in the boat. Benedict swam towards him with one hand, holding his rifle
+above the water with the other. The boatman seeing him coming raised his
+oar.
+
+"Prussian or Austrian?" asked he.
+
+"French," answered Benedict. The boatman held out his hand.
+
+Benedict, dripping as he was, jumped into the boat.
+
+"Twenty florins," he said, "if we are in Dettingen in an hour. We have
+the current with us and I will row with you."
+
+"That will be easy," said the boatman, "if you are sure you will keep
+your word."
+
+"Wait a minute," said Benedict; throwing down his Styrian tunic and cap,
+and feeling in his pocket, "here are ten."
+
+"Then, come on," said the boatman.
+
+He took one oar, Benedict took the other: the boat impelled by four
+vigorous arms went rapidly down the river.
+
+The struggle was still continuing; men and horses fell from the bridge
+into the stream. Benedict would have liked to stop and watch the
+spectacle, but time did not allow.
+
+No one paid any attention to the little boat flying down stream. In five
+minutes the oarsmen were out of range and out of danger.
+
+While passing a little wood on the edge of the river, called
+Joli-Buisson, he thought he saw Karl fighting desperately in the middle
+of a group of Prussians. But as the uniform of all the Styrians was
+alike, it might have been one of the infantry. Then Benedict fancied he
+saw a dog like Frisk in the throng, and he remembered that Frisk had
+followed Karl.
+
+At the first bend of the river, they ceased to see anything of the
+battle. Further on, they saw the smoke of the burning houses in
+Aschaffenburg. Then at the little village of Lieder, everything
+disappeared. The boat flew down the river and quickly they passed
+Menaschoft, Stockstadt, Kleim, and Ostheim. After that the banks of the
+Main were deserted down to Mainflig. On the other bank, almost opposite,
+stood Dettingen.
+
+It was a quarter-past six, the boatman had earned his twenty florins.
+Benedict gave them to him; but before parting from him he considered for
+a moment.
+
+"Would you like to earn twenty florins more?" he asked.
+
+"I should just think so!" replied the boatman. Benedict looked at his
+watch.
+
+"The train does not go until a quarter-past seven, we have more than an
+hour before us."
+
+"Besides which the trouble at Aschaffenburg will make the train another
+quarter of an hour late, if it does not stop it altogether."
+
+"The deuce it will!"
+
+"Will what I tell you fly away with my twenty florins?"
+
+"No; but go into Dettingen first of all. You are just my height, go and
+buy me a boatman's dress like yours. Complete, you know. Then come back,
+and I will tell you what remains to be done."
+
+The boatman jumped out of the boat and ran down the road to Dettingen. A
+quarter-of-an-hour later, he came back with the complete costume, which
+had cost ten florins. Benedict gave him that amount.
+
+"And now," asked the boatman, "what is to be done?"
+
+"Can you wait for me here three days with my uniform, my rifle, and my
+pistols? I will give you twenty florins."
+
+"Yes; but if at the end of three days you do not come back?"
+
+"The rifle, the pistols, and the uniform will be yours."
+
+"I will wait here eight days. Gentlemen must have time to settle their
+affairs."
+
+"You are a good fellow. What is your name?"
+
+"Fritz."
+
+"Very well, Fritz, goodbye!"
+
+In a few moments Benedict had put on the coat and trousers and covered
+his head with the boatman's cap. He walked a few steps and then stopped
+suddenly:
+
+"By the way, where will you stay at Dettingen?" he asked.
+
+"A boatman is like a snail, he carries his house on his back. You will
+find me in my boat."
+
+"Night and day?"
+
+"Night and day."
+
+"All is well then."
+
+And in his turn Benedict went towards Dettingen.
+
+Fritz had prophesied truly, the train was half an hour late. Indeed it
+was the last train which went through; hussars were sent to take up the
+rails; lest troops should be sent to Frankfort to help the allies.
+
+Benedict took a third-class ticket, as befitted his humble costume. The
+train only stopped at Manau for a few minutes, and arrived at Frankfort
+at a quarter to nine, scarcely ten minutes late.
+
+The station was full of people who had come to get news. Benedict passed
+through the crowd as quickly as possible, recognized M. Fellner,
+whispered in his ear "beaten," and went off in the direction of the
+Chandroz' house.
+
+He knocked at the door. Hans opened it. Helen was not in the house, but
+he went and asked for Emma. Helen was at the Church of Notre Dame de la
+Croix. Benedict asked the way there, and Hans, who thought he brought
+news of Karl, offered to show him. In five minutes they were there: Hans
+wished to go back, but Benedict kept him, in case there might be some
+order to be given. He left him in the porch and went in. One chapel was
+hit by the trembling light of a lamp. A woman was kneeling before the
+altar, or rather, crouching on the steps. This woman was Helen.
+
+The eleven o'clock train had brought the news that a battle would take
+place that day. At twelve o'clock Helen and her maid had taken a
+carriage, and driven by Hans had gone down the Aschaffenburg road as far
+as the Dornighem wood. There, in the country silence they had heard the
+sound of cannon. It is unnecessary to say that each shot had had an echo
+in her heart. Soon she could listen no longer to the sound which grew
+louder and louder. She went back to Frankfort, and got down at the
+Church of Notre Dame de la Croix, sending back Hans to ease the minds
+of her mother and sister. Hans had not dared to say where Helen was
+without the permission of the baroness.
+
+Helen had been praying since three o'clock. At the sound of Benedict's
+approach she turned. At first sight, and in his disguise, she did not
+recognize the young painter whom Frederic had wished her to marry, and
+took him for a Sachsenhausen fisherman.
+
+"Are you looking for me, my good man?" she said.
+
+"Yes," answered Benedict.
+
+"Then you are bringing me news of Karl?"
+
+"I was his companion in the fight."
+
+"He is dead!" cried Helen, wringing her hands with a sob, and glancing
+reproachfully at the statue of the Madonna. "He is dead! he is dead!"
+
+"I cannot tell you for certain that he is alive and not wounded. But I
+can tell you I do not know that he is dead."
+
+"You don't know?"
+
+"No, on my honour, I don't know."
+
+"Did he give you a message for me before you left him?"
+
+"Yes, these are his very words."
+
+"Oh, speak, speak!" And Helen clasped her hands and sank on a chair in
+front of Benedict as though before a sacred messenger. A message from
+those whom we love is always sacred.
+
+"Listen; he said to me: 'The day is lost. Fate has overtaken the house
+of Austria. I am going to kill myself because it is my duty.'"
+
+Helen groaned.
+
+"And I!" she murmured. "He did not think of me."
+
+"Wait." He went on, "But you who are not tied to our fortune; you, who
+are fighting as an amateur; you, who are French when all is said, and
+done, it would be folly for you to kill yourself for a cause which is
+not your own. Fight to the last moment, then when you know that all
+resistance is vain, get back to Frankfort, go to Helen, tell her that I
+am dead, if you have seen me die, or that I am in retreat for Darmstadt
+or Wurtzburg with the remains of the army. If I live, I will write to
+her if I die, I die thinking of her. This is my heart's testament, I
+confide it to you.'"
+
+"Dear Karl! and then...?"
+
+"Twice we saw each other in the fray. On the bridge at Aschaffenburg,
+where he was slightly wounded in the forehead, then a quarter-of-an-hour
+later, between a little wood called Joli-Buisson and the village of
+Lieder."
+
+"And there?"
+
+"There he was surrounded by enemies, but he was still fighting."
+
+"My God!"
+
+"Then I thought of you.... The war is over. We were the last of
+Austria's vital powers, her last hope. Dead or alive, Karl is yours from
+this hour. Shall I go back to the battlefield? I will search until I get
+news of him. If he is dead, I will bring him back."
+
+Helen let a sob escape her.
+
+"If he is wounded, I will bring him back to you, recovered I assure
+you."
+
+Helen had seized Benedict by the arm, and looked fixedly at him.
+
+"You will go on to the battlefield?" she said.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And you will seek for him among the dead?"
+
+"Yes," said he, "until I find him."
+
+"I will go with you," said Helen.
+
+"You?" cried Benedict.
+
+"It is my duty. I recognize you now. You are Benedict Turpin, the French
+painter who fought with Frederic, and who spared his life."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then you are a friend and a man of honour. I can trust in you. Let us
+go."
+
+"Is that settled?"
+
+"It is settled."
+
+"Do you seriously wish it?"
+
+"I do wish it."
+
+"Very well, then, there is not an instant to lose."
+
+"How shall we go?"
+
+"The railways have been destroyed."
+
+"Hans will take us."
+
+"I have a better plan than that. Carriages can be broken, drivers can be
+forced. I have the right man, a man who would break all his carriages
+and lame all his horses for me."
+
+Benedict called, and Hans appeared.
+
+"Run to your brother Lenhart. Tell him to be here within ten minutes
+with his best carriage and horses, and wine and bread. As you pass the
+chemist's tell him to get bandages, lint, and strapping."
+
+"Oh, sir," said Hans, "I must write that down."
+
+"Very well, a carriage, two horses, bread and wine; you mustn't forget
+that. I will see to the rest. Go." Then, turning to Helen, "Will you
+tell your relatives?" asked Benedict.
+
+"Oh no!" she cried. "They would wish to prevent me from going. I am
+under the protection of the Virgin."
+
+"Pray then. I will come back here for you."
+
+Helen threw herself on her knees. Benedict went quickly out of the
+church. Ten minutes later he came back with all the necessary things
+for the dressing of wounds, and four torches.
+
+"Shall we take Hans?" asked Helen.
+
+"No, it must not be known where you are. If we bring back Karl wounded,
+a room must be ready for him, and a surgeon ready. Also, his arrival
+would cause agitation to your sister, scarcely well again, or to your
+grandmother, whose age must be taken into consideration."
+
+"What time shall we get back?"
+
+"I don't know, but we may be expected at four in the morning. You hear,
+Hans? And if they fear for your young mistress--"
+
+"You will answer," said Lenhart, "that they may be easy, because
+Benedict Turpin is with her."
+
+"You hear, dear Helen. I am ready when you are."
+
+"Let us go," she said, "and not lose a minute. My God! when I think that
+he may be there, perhaps lying on the earth under some tree or bush,
+bleeding from two or three wounds, and calling on me with his dying
+voice for help!" and in high agitation she went on: "I am coming, dear
+Karl, I am coming!"
+
+Lenhart whipped up his horses, and the carriage went off as quickly as
+the wind and as noisily as thunder.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+FRISK
+
+
+In less than an hour and a half they were in sight of Dettingen, which
+was the more easy to see because it appeared from afar as the centre of
+a vast fire. As they drew nearer, Benedict said that the light came from
+the camp fires. After the victory, the Prussians had pressed their
+outposts beyond the little town.
+
+Helen feared that they would not be allowed to continue their journey,
+but Benedict reassured her. The pity shown to the wounded, and the
+respect for the dead in all civilized countries, when once the battle is
+over, left him no doubt that Helen would be allowed to seek for her
+_fiance_, dead or living, and that he would be allowed to aid her.
+
+In fact, the carriage was stopped at the outposts, and the chiefs of the
+watch could not take it upon themselves to let them pass, but said they
+must refer to General Sturm, who commanded the outposts.
+
+General Sturm had his quarters in the little village of Horstein, rather
+further on than Dettingen. Benedict was told where the house was, and
+went off at a gallop to make up for lost time. When he reached the house
+indicated, he found that General Sturm was away and that he would have
+to speak to the major.
+
+He went in, and an impatient voice called out, "wait a minute."
+
+Benedict had heard that voice before.
+
+"Frederic!" he cried.
+
+It was Baron Frederic von Bulow, whom the King of Prussia had made
+Staff-major to General Sturm. This rank was an advancement from
+brigade-general. Benedict explained that he was searching for Karl, who
+was dead or wounded on the field. Frederic would have liked to go with
+him, but he had work that must be done. He gave Benedict a permit to
+search the battlefield, and to take with him two Prussian soldiers as
+guards, and a surgeon.
+
+Benedict promised to send back the surgeon with news of the expedition,
+and went out to the carriage where Helen was waiting impatiently.
+
+"Well?" asked she.
+
+"I have got what we want," answered Benedict. Then in an undertone he
+said to Lenhart, "Go on twenty paces, then stop."
+
+He told Helen what had happened, and that if she wished to see her
+brother-in-law it would be easy to go back.
+
+Helen chafed at the very idea of seeing her brother-in-law. He would be
+sure to keep her from going among the dead and wounded, and the thieves
+who were on the battlefield to rob the dead.
+
+She thanked Benedict, and cried to Lenhart:
+
+"Drive on, please!"
+
+Lenhart whipped up his horses. They got back to Dettingen. Eleven
+o'clock struck as they entered the town. An immense fire was burning in
+the principal square. Benedict got down and went towards it. He went up
+to a captain who was walking up and down.
+
+"Excuse me, captain," he said, "but do you know Baron Frederic von
+Bulow?"
+
+The captain looked him up and down. It must be remembered that Benedict
+was still in his boatman's dress.
+
+"Yes," he answered, "I know him, and what then?"
+
+"Will you do him a great service?"
+
+"Willingly; he is my friend; but how came he to make you his messenger?"
+
+"He is at Horstein, and obliged to stay there by order of General
+Sturm."
+
+"He is very uneasy about a friend of his, who was killed or wounded on
+the field. He sent me and a comrade to search for this friend, the
+_fiance_ of the lady whom you see in the carriage, and said: 'Take this
+note to the first Prussian officer you see. Tell him to read it, and I
+am sure he will have the kindness to give you what you ask for.'"
+
+The officer went to the fire, and read what follows:
+
+     "Order to the first Prussian officer whom my messenger meets, to
+     put at the disposal of the bearer two soldiers and a surgeon. The
+     two soldiers and the surgeon will follow the bearer wherever he
+     leads them.
+
+     "From the quarters of General Horstein, eleven at night:
+
+                           "By order, General Sturm.
+                              "Principal staff officer,
+                          "BARON FREDERIC VON BUeLOW."
+
+
+
+Discipline and obedience are the two chief virtues of the Prussian army.
+These are what have made it the first army in Germany. The captain had
+hardly read his superior's order when he dropped the haughty look which
+he had assumed for the poor devil of a boatman.
+
+"Hullo," he called to the soldiers round the fire. "Two volunteers to
+serve the principal staff officer, Frederic von Bulow."
+
+Six men presented themselves.
+
+"That's good, you and you," said the captain, choosing two men.
+
+"Now who is the regiment's surgeon?"
+
+"Herr Ludwig Wiederschall," answered a voice.
+
+"Where is he billeted?"
+
+"Here in the square," answered the same voice.
+
+"Tell him he is to go on an expedition to Aschaffenburg to-night, by
+order of the staff officer."
+
+A soldier got up, went across the square and knocked at the door; a
+moment after he came back with the surgeon-major.
+
+Benedict thanked the captain. He answered that he was very happy to do
+anything for the Baron von Bulow.
+
+The surgeon was in a bad temper, because he had been roused out of his
+first sleep. But when he found himself face to face with a young lady,
+beautiful and in tears, he made his excuses for having kept her waiting,
+and was the first to hasten the departure.
+
+The carriage reached the bank of the river by a gentle slope. Several
+boats were anchored there. Benedict called in a loud voice:
+
+"Fritz!"
+
+At the second call a man stood up in a boat and said:
+
+"Here I am!"
+
+Benedict issued his orders.
+
+Every one took their places in the boat; the two soldiers in the prow,
+Fritz and Benedict at the oars, and the surgeon and Helen in the stern.
+A vigorous stroke sent the boat into the middle of the stream. It was
+less easy travelling now, they had to go against the current; but
+Benedict and Fritz were good and strong rowers. The boat went slowly
+over the surface of the water.
+
+They were far from Dettingen when they heard the clock strike midnight.
+They passed Kleim, Ostheim, Menaschoft, then Lieder, then Aschaffenburg.
+
+Benedict stopped a little below the bridge, it was there that he wished
+to begin his search. The torches were lit and carried by the soldiers.
+
+The battle had not been finished until dark; the wounded alone had been
+carried away, and the bridge was still strewn with dead, against whom
+one stumbled in the dark corners, and who could be seen by their white
+coats in the light ones.
+
+Karl, with his grey tunic, would have been easily recognized, if among
+Prussians and Austrians; but Benedict was too sure of having seen him
+below the bridge to waste time in seeking for him where he was not. They
+went down to the fields, strewn with clumps of trees, and at the end of
+which was the little wood called Joli-Buisson. The night was dark, with
+no moon, there were no stars, one would have said that the dust and
+smoke of battle was hanging between the earth and the sky. From time to
+time silent flashes of lightning lifted the horizon like an immense
+eyelid: a ray of wan light leapt out and lighted up the landscape for a
+second with bluish light. Suddenly all became dark again. Between the
+flashes, the only light which appeared on the left bank of the Main was
+that of the two torches carried by the Prussian soldiers, which made a
+circle of light a dozen paces across.
+
+Helen, white as a ghost, and gliding like a ghost over the unevennesses
+of the ground as if they were non-existent, walked in the middle of the
+circle with arms outstretched, saying. "There, there, there!" wherever
+she thought she saw motionless corpses lying. When they came near they
+found them to be corpses indeed, but recognized Prussians or Austrians
+by their uniforms.
+
+From time to time also, they saw something gliding between the trees,
+and heard steps hastening away; these were of some of the miserable
+robbers of the dead who follow a modern army as wolves used to follow
+ancient armies, and whom they disturbed in their infamous work.
+
+From time to time Benedict stopped the group with a gesture; a profound
+silence fell, and in this silence he cried: "Karl! Karl!"
+
+Helen with staring eyes and holding her breath, seemed like a statue of
+suspense. Nothing replied, and the little troop moved on.
+
+From time to time Helen also stopped, and automatically, under her
+breath, as if she was afraid of her own voice, called in her turn,
+"Karl! Karl! Karl!"
+
+They drew near the little wood and the corpses became fewer. Benedict
+made one of these pauses, followed by silence, and for the fifth or
+sixth time cried:
+
+"Karl!"
+
+This time, a lugubrious and prolonged cry replied, which sent a shudder
+through the heart of the bravest.
+
+"What is that cry?" asked the surgeon.
+
+"It is a dog, howling for some one's death," answered Fritz.
+
+"Can it be?" murmured Benedict. Then he went on, "Over here! over here!"
+directing them towards the voice of the dog.
+
+"My God!" cried Helen, "have you any hope?"
+
+"Perhaps, come, come!" and without waiting for the torches he ran ahead.
+When he came to the edge of the wood, he cried again:
+
+"Karl!"
+
+The same lugubrious, lamentable cry was heard, but nearer.
+
+"Come," said Benedict, "it is here!"
+
+Helen leapt over the ditch, entered the wood, and without thinking of
+her muslin dress which was being torn to rags, she pushed on through the
+bushes and thorns. The torch-bearers had been thoughtful enough to
+follow. There in the wood they heard the sound of the robbers fleeing.
+Benedict signed a halt in order to give them time to escape. Then all
+was silent again he called a third time:
+
+"Karl!"
+
+This time a howl, as lamentable as the two first, answered, but so close
+to them that all hearts beat quickly. The men recoiled a step. The
+boatman pointed.
+
+"A wolf!" said he.
+
+"Where?" asked Benedict.
+
+"There," said Fritz pointing. "Don't you see his eyes shining in the
+dark like two coals?"
+
+At that moment a flash of lightning penetrated the trees, and showed
+distinctly a dog sitting beside a motionless body.
+
+"Here, Frisk!" cried Benedict.
+
+The dog made one bound to his master's neck and licked his face; then
+again, taking his place beside the corpse, he howled more lamentably
+than ever.
+
+"Karl is there!" said Benedict.
+
+Helen sprang forward, for she understood it all.
+
+"But he is dead!" continued Benedict.
+
+Helen cried out and fell on Karl's body.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+THE WOUNDED MAN
+
+
+The torchbearers had come up and a group, picturesque and terrible, was
+formed, by the bright light of the burning resin. Karl had not been
+plundered like the other corpses, the dog had guarded his body and
+prevented this. Helen was stretched upon him, her lips to his, weeping
+and groaning. Benedict was on his knees beside her, with the dog's paws
+on his shoulders. The surgeon stood, his arms folded, like a man
+accustomed to death and its sadness. Fritz had thrust his head through
+the leaves of a thorn-tree. Every one was silent and motionless for a
+moment.
+
+Suddenly Helen cried out, she sprang up, covered with Karl's blood, her
+face haggard and her hair wild. They all looked at her.
+
+"Ah!" she cried. "I am going mad." Then, falling on her knees, "Karl!
+Karl! Karl!" she cried.
+
+"What is it?" asked Benedict.
+
+"Oh! have pity on me," said Helen. "But I thought I felt a breath on my
+face. Did he wait for me, to give his last sigh?"
+
+"Excuse me, madam," said the surgeon, "but if he whom you call Karl is
+not dead, there is no time to be lost in looking to him."
+
+"Oh! come and look, sir," said Helen, moving quickly to one side.
+
+The surgeon knelt down, the soldiers brought the torches near, and
+Karl's pale, but still handsome face was seen. A wound in his head had
+covered his left cheek with blood, and he would have been unrecognizable
+if the dog had not licked the blood away from his face as it flowed.
+
+The surgeon loosened his collar; then he raised him to undo his tunic.
+The wound was terrible, for the back of his tunic was red with blood.
+The surgeon undid his coat, and with the swiftness of habit cut his coat
+up the back; then he called for water.
+
+"Water," repeated Helen in an automatic voice that sounded like an echo.
+
+The river was only fifty paces away, Fritz ran to it and brought back
+the wooden shoe, with which he was accustomed to bail out the boat, full
+of water. Helen gave her handkerchief.
+
+The surgeon dipped into the water and began to wash the wounded man's
+chest, while Benedict supported his body across his knees. It was only
+then that they saw a clot of blood on his arm, this was a third wound.
+That on his head was insignificant. That in his chest seemed the most
+serious at first, but an artery had been cut in his right arm, and the
+great loss of blood had led to a fainting fit during which the blood had
+ceased to flow.
+
+Helen, during this sad examination, had not ceased asking.
+
+"Is he dead? is he dead?"
+
+"We are going to see," said the surgeon. And on examination it proved
+that his blood still flowed. Karl was not dead.
+
+"He lives!" said the surgeon.
+
+Helen cried out and fell on her knees.
+
+"What must we do to bring him to life?" she asked.
+
+"The artery must be tied," said the surgeon, "will you let me take him
+to the ambulance?"
+
+"Oh, no, no!" cried Helen. "I cannot be parted from him. Do you think he
+will bear being taken to Frankfort?"
+
+"By water, yes. And I confess to you that considering the interest you
+take in this young man, I would rather some one else performed this
+operation. Now, if you have any way of taking him quickly by water--"
+
+"I have my boat," said Fritz, "and if this gentleman" (he pointed to
+Benedict) "will give me a helping hand we will be in Frankfort in three
+hours."
+
+"It remains to be seen," said the surgeon, "considering his great loss
+of blood, whether he will live three hours."
+
+"My God, my God!" cried Helen.
+
+"I don't dare to ask you to look, madam, but the earth is soaked with
+his blood!"
+
+Helen gave a cry of dismay, and put her hand before her eyes.
+
+While talking, while reassuring, while frightening Helen with the
+terrible cold-bloodedness of a man used to death, the surgeon was
+binding up the wound in Karl's chest.
+
+"You say you fear that he has lost too much blood? How much blood can
+one lose without dying?" asked Helen.
+
+"It depends, madam."
+
+"What have I to fear or hope for?" asked Helen.
+
+"You have to hope that he will live to reach Frankfort, that he has not
+lost as much blood as I fear he has, and that a clever surgeon will tie
+up the artery. You have to fear that he will have a second haemorrhage
+to-day, or in eight or ten days, when the wound is healed."
+
+"But we can save him, can't we?"
+
+"Nature has so many resources, that we must always hope, madam."
+
+"Well," said Helen, "do not let us lose an instant."
+
+Benedict and the surgeon took the torches, the two soldiers carried the
+wounded man to the bank. They laid him in the stern of the boat on a
+mattress and blanket fetched from Aschaffenburg.
+
+"May I try to rouse him?" asked Helen, "or ought I to leave him in his
+present state?"
+
+"Do not do anything to bring him back to consciousness, madam it is this
+which stops the haemorrhage, and if the artery is tied before he wakes,
+all may be well."
+
+They all took their places in the boat, the two Prussians stood holding
+the torches; Helen was kneeling, the surgeon supported the wounded man;
+Benedict and Fritz rowed. Frisk, who did not seem to feel pride in
+having played such a splendid part, was sitting in the prow. This time,
+well ballasted, pulled by four arms, vigorous and accustomed to the
+exercise, the boat sped like a swallow over the surface of the water.
+
+Karl remained unconscious. The doctor had thought that the air, cooler
+on the water than on the land, would rouse him, but it did not. He
+remained motionless, and gave no sign of life.
+
+They arrived at Dettingen. Benedict gave a handsome reward to the two
+Prussian soldiers, and asked the surgeon, whom Helen could only thank by
+pressing his hands, to tell Frederic all the details of the expedition.
+
+Benedict called Lenhart, who was sleeping on the box of his carriage,
+and told him to go to Frankfort as fast as possible, and tell some
+porters to wait with a litter on the banks of the Main at Frankfort. As
+for him, with Helen and Earl, he continued his journey by water, that
+being the smoothest road that one can find for a sick man.
+
+Towards Hanau the sky began to get light; a great band of rosy silver
+stretched itself above the Bavarian mountains.
+
+It seemed to Helen that the wounded man shuddered. She gave a cry that
+made the two rowers turn, then without another movement, Karl opened his
+eyes, murmured the name of Helen, and closed them again. All this was so
+rapid, that if Fritz and Benedict had not seen it with her, she would
+have doubted it. That opened eye, that gently murmured word did not seem
+a return to life, but the dream of a dying man.
+
+The sun in rising sometimes has this effect on the dying, and before
+closing for ever their eyes look for the last time upon the sun. This
+idea came to Helen.
+
+"Oh, Heaven!" she murmured, with sobs. "Is he breathing his last sigh?"
+
+Benedict left the oar for a moment and went to Karl. He took his hand,
+felt his pulse; and found it imperceptible. He listened to his heart; it
+seemed to be still.
+
+At each test Helen murmured: "Oh, Heaven!"
+
+At the last test he shared her doubts. He took out a lancet, which he
+always carried, and pricked the shoulder of the wounded man, who did not
+feel or move; but a feeble drop of blood appeared.
+
+"Be of good courage, he is still alive," he said, and again took up his
+oar.
+
+Helen began to pray.
+
+Since the evening, no one had eaten but Fritz. Benedict broke a piece of
+bread and gave it to Helen. She refused it with a smile.
+
+They reached Offenbach, and could see Frankfort in the distance
+silhouetted against the sky. They were due there at about eight o'clock.
+At eight o'clock, in fact, the boat stopped at the landing-place by the
+bridge. Soon they saw Lenhart and his carriage, and close to him a
+litter. They raised the wounded man with the same precautions as before,
+put him in the litter, and drew the curtains round him.
+
+Benedict wished Helen to go in Lenhart's carriage; the bodice of her
+dress was stained with blood. She wrapped herself in a large shawl and
+walked beside the litter. To save time she asked Benedict to go and seek
+for the same doctor who had attended the Baron von Bulow, Doctor
+Bodemacker. She herself crossed all the town from the Sachsenhausen
+Strasse to her mother's house, following the litter which bore Karl.
+People watched her pass with astonishment, and went to question Fritz
+who walked behind. And when he said it was a _fiancee_ who was following
+the body of her lover, and as every one knew that Fraulein Helen von
+Chandroz was engaged to Count Karl von Freyberg, they recognized the
+beautiful young lady, and stepped back bowing respectfully.
+
+When they reached the house the door was already open. Her grandmother
+and sister were waiting on each side of the door, and as she passed
+Helen took a hand of each.
+
+"To my room!" she said.
+
+The wounded man was taken to her room and laid on her bed. At that
+moment Doctor Bodemacker arrived with Benedict.
+
+The doctor examined Karl, and Benedict looked on with anxiety almost
+equal to Helen's.
+
+"Who saw this man before me?" asked, the doctor. "Who bound his
+wounds?"
+
+"A regimental surgeon," answered Helen.
+
+"Why did he not tie the artery?"
+
+"It was at night, by torchlight, in the open air; he did not dare. He
+told me to get a cleverer man, and I came to you."
+
+The surgeon looked at Karl uneasily. "He has lost a quarter of his
+blood," he murmured.
+
+"Well?" asked Helen.
+
+The doctor bent his head.
+
+"Doctor," cried Helen, "don't tell me there is no hope: it is always
+said that people quickly recover lost blood."
+
+"Yes," replied the doctor, "when he can eat. But never mind, a doctor
+must do all he can. Can you help me?" he asked Benedict.
+
+"Yes," he answered, "I have some idea of surgery."
+
+"You will leave the room, won't you?" the surgeon asked Helen.
+
+"Not for the world!" she cried, "no, no, I will stay to the end."
+
+The operation on the arm was finished with a cleverness which astonished
+Benedict.
+
+"Now," said the doctor, "ice water must be slowly dropped on that arm!"
+
+Some ice was procured and in five minutes was upon the arm.
+
+"Now," said the doctor, "we shall see."
+
+"What shall we see?" asked Helen anxiously.
+
+"We shall see the effect of the ice water."
+
+All three were standing by the bed, and it would be difficult to say
+which was the most interested in its success: the doctor, from
+professional pride; Helen, from her great love of the wounded man; or
+Benedict, from his friendship with Karl and Helen.
+
+At the first drops of ice water which fell on the arm, Karl shuddered
+visibly. Then his eyelids trembled, his eyes opened, and he looked round
+him with surprise until they became fixed on Helen. A faint smile
+appeared on his lips and the corners of his eyes. He tried to speak and
+breathed the name of Helen.
+
+"He must not speak," said the doctor, "until to-morrow at least."
+
+"Enough, my beloved," said Helen. "To-morrow you can tell me you love
+me."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+THE PRUSSIANS AT FRANKFORT
+
+
+In Frankfort all was sorrow and dismay at the news of the defeat. The
+inhabitants were deeply apprehensive of their treatment by the Prussians
+since seeing what had occurred in Hanover. On the evening of the battle,
+as we have said, the news of the disaster had reached Frankfort, and
+from the next day, the 15th, the conviction that its occupation would be
+immediate had cast an aspect of mourning over the town. Not a single
+person was to be seen on the fashionable promenade. The Prussians, so it
+was said, would make their entry on the 16th after midday.
+
+Night came, and with it a strange solitude in the streets, where, if one
+met a wayfarer it was evident from his hurry that he was on urgent
+business, carrying perhaps jewels or valuables for deposit at one of the
+foreign legations. At an early hour the houses had been shut up. Behind
+the bolted doors and windows one guessed that the inmates were silently
+digging holes for the concealment of their treasures.
+
+Morning came and everywhere might be seen affixed placards of the
+Senate, reading as follows:
+
+"The King of Prussia's royal troops will make their entry into Frankfort
+and its suburbs; our relations with them will therefore be materially
+changed from what they were when they were in garrison here. The Senate
+deplores this change which has been brought about in the relations in
+question, but the national sacrifices we have already made will render
+our inevitable pecuniary losses easy in comparison with what we have
+already lost. We all know that the discipline of the King of Prussia's
+troops is admirable. In circumstances of great difficulty the Senate
+exhorts all alike, of whatever rank or position, to give a friendly
+reception to the Prussian troops."
+
+The Frankfort battalion received orders to hold itself ready, with band
+in front, to march out and meet the Prussians and do them honour. From
+ten o'clock in the morning every advantageous spot, all the belfries and
+housetops from which the suburbs, and particularly the road from
+Aschaffenburg could be seen, were crowded with curious spectators.
+Towards noon the Prussians were descried at Hanau. The railway brought
+them by thousands and they were seen occupying as if by magic all the
+strategic points along the line, not without certain precautions which
+indicated their uneasiness as to what might portend.
+
+Nothing occurred, however, until four o'clock. Then successive trains
+left Hanau bearing the victorious army and rolled up to the town gates
+until seven o'clock. It was clear that General Falkenstein now waited
+the submission of the municipality, perhaps believing that the keys of
+the town would be brought him on a silver salver. He waited in vain.
+
+All was silence. None of the inhabitants moved and the Prussian
+soldiers, prominent among whom were the cuirassiers who had charged so
+vigorously in the battle, seemed spectres in their great cloaks and
+steel helmets. In the evening the Zeil is ever a melancholy place. On
+this occasion how sad it looked, despair seemed inextricably
+intermingled with its brooding shadows, in which stood out like a
+squadron of phantoms the Prussian cuirassiers. Now and again the
+trumpets sounded sinister fanfares.
+
+The fact that the Prussians were Germans was completely forgotten; their
+attitude clearly showed that they were enemies.
+
+Suddenly the music of the battalion of Frankfort broke out, coming from
+the further side of the town. It met the Prussians at the top of the
+Zeil, drew up in ranks and presented arms to the beating of the drums.
+
+The Prussians did not appear to notice these friendly advances. Two
+cannons arrived at a gallop. One was trained on the Zeil, the other on
+the Ross-market. The head of the Prussian column was formed on the
+Schiller Square and commanded the Zeil: for a quarter-of-an-hour the
+cavalry remained in line on horseback, then they dismounted and stood
+awaiting orders. This kind of encampment during which expectation grew
+tenser lasted until eleven. Then, all at once as the clocks struck,
+groups of ten, fifteen, or twenty men detached themselves, struck on the
+doors and invaded the houses.
+
+No order had been given in the town for the provision of rations and
+wine. So the Prussians, treating Frankfort as a conquered world, chose
+the most comfortable houses in which to establish themselves.
+
+The battalion remained a quarter-of-an-hour presenting arms; after which
+the commanding officer ordered muskets to be grounded. The band
+continued to play. It was ordered to cease.
+
+After two hours, as no word had been exchanged between the battalion and
+the Prussian army, the former received the order to retire, arms lowered
+as for a funeral. It was the funeral of Frankfort's liberty.
+
+The whole night passed in the same terrors as if the town had been taken
+by assault. If doors opened slowly, they were broken; cries of terror
+were heard in the houses and no one dared to ask what caused them. As
+the house of Hermann Mumm appeared one of the most important, he had to
+lodge and board two hundred soldiers and fifteen officers this first
+night. Another house, that of Madame Luttereth, lodged fifty men, who
+amused themselves with breaking the windows and furniture, on the
+alleged pretext that she had given evening parties and balls without
+inviting the Prussian officers in garrison. Accusations of this kind,
+accusations which served as the pretext for unheard of violence were
+preferred against all classes of society. And the Prussian officers said
+to their men: "You have a right to get all you can from these Frankfort
+rascals, who have lent Austria twenty-five millions without charging
+interest."
+
+It was vain to say that the town had never had twenty-five millions in
+its coffers; that had it had them such a loan could not have been made
+without a decree of the Senate and the Legislature, and that the most
+skilful investigator would fail to find a trace of such a decree. The
+officers persisted, and, as the soldiers had no need to be encouraged in
+a preliminary pillage while waiting the great day of plunder which had
+been promised them, they gave themselves up to the most brutal
+disorders, believing themselves authorized by the hatred of their chiefs
+towards the unhappy town. From this night commenced what was rightly
+called _the Prussian Terror at Frankfort_.
+
+Frederic von Bulow, who knew of the orders to treat Frankfort as a
+hostile city, had had a guard placed at the Chandroz' house to secure
+the safety of the family, his pretext being that it had been reserved
+for General Sturm and his staff.
+
+Daylight dawned and presently, few having slept, all the world was
+abroad, lamenting their misfortune and enquiring about those suffered by
+their friends. Then came the billstickers slowly and unwillingly, like
+men under constraint, fixing up the following notice:
+
+
+     "Authority having been given me over the Duchy of Nassau, the town
+     of Frankfort and its suburbs, as also over that part of Bavaria
+     which is occupied by the Prussian troops and over the Grand-duchy
+     of Hesse, all workmen and functionaries will in future take orders
+     from me. These orders will be duly and formally communicated.
+
+     "Dated at Frankfort, July 16th, 1866,
+
+    "The Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Main,
+           "Falkenstein."
+
+
+
+Two hours later the general addressed a note to the Deputies Fellner and
+Muller, in which he stated that as armies at war could procure what they
+had need of in the enemy's country, the town of Frankfort would furnish
+to the army of the Main:
+
+"1. For each soldier a pair of boots to sample.
+
+"2. Three hundred good horses ready saddled to replace those lost by the
+army.
+
+"3. The pay of the army for a year to be sent instantly to the army
+treasurer."
+
+By way of recompense the town was to be freed from all imposts, except
+cigars, the general engaging furthermore to reduce the burden of the
+military billeting as much as possible.
+
+The total claimed for army pay was 7,747,008 florins.
+
+The two members hastened to General Falkenstein's headquarters, and were
+admitted to him. His first words were:
+
+"Well, sirs, have you brought my money?"
+
+"We beg leave to submit to your Excellency," said Fellner, "that we
+have no authority to decree payment of such a sum, as the government of
+the town having been dissolved, its consent cannot be obtained."
+
+"That does not concern me," said the general, "I have conquered the
+country and I raise an indemnity. It is perfectly regular."
+
+"Will you allow me to say to your Excellency that a town which does not
+defend itself cannot be conquered. Frankfort, a free town, relies for
+its defence on its treaties, and has never thought of opposing your
+army."
+
+"Frankfort has found twenty-four millions for the Austrians," cried the
+general, "and can easily find fifteen or eighteen for us. But if it
+refuses, I myself will find them. Four hours only of pillage and we
+shall see if your street of the Jews and the coffers of your bankers do
+not produce twice as much."
+
+"I doubt, general," said Fellner coldly, "whether Germans can be got to
+treat Germans in such a way."
+
+"Who speaks of Germans? I have a Polish regiment brought expressly."
+
+"We have done no harm to the Poles; we have afforded them a refuge
+against you whenever they required it. The Poles are not our enemies;
+the Poles will not pillage Frankfort."
+
+"That is just what we are going to see," said the general, stamping his
+foot with one of those oaths of which the Prussians enjoy the monopoly.
+"I don't care a damn if I am called a second Duke of Alva, and I warn
+you that if at six o'clock to-day the money is not paid, you will be
+arrested to-morrow and thrown into a dungeon, which you will leave only
+when the last thaler of the 7,747,008 florins is paid."
+
+"We know your first minister's maxim, 'Might is right.' Dispose of us as
+you wish," answered Fellner.
+
+"At five o'clock, the men whom I shall order to receive the seven
+million florins will be at the door of the bank, in readiness to
+transport the money to my headquarters." Then he added so that the
+burgomaster could hear the orders: "Arrest and bring before me, the
+Journalist Fischer, editor in chief of the 'Post Zeitung.' I shall
+commence with him in dealing with the newspaper men and the newspapers."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Two hours later Fischer was arrested in his house where, after a
+communication from Fellner he had remained in expectation of the event,
+and brought to headquarters. General Falkenstein had contrived to keep
+himself at boiling point, so the moment he saw Fischer:
+
+"Let him enter," he said, in the third person, which in Germany is the
+sign of the most profound contempt. And, as Fischer did not enter as
+quickly as the general wished, he cried: "A thousand thunders! if he
+hangs back, shove him in."
+
+"Here I am," said Fischer; "forewarned of your intention I could have
+left Frankfort, but it is my custom to face danger."
+
+"Oh! so you knew that you would be in danger, Mr. Pocket-pen, when you
+reached me."
+
+"An unarmed man is always in danger from a powerful armed enemy."
+
+"You consider me your enemy, then?"
+
+"The indemnity you have exacted from Frankfort and your threats against
+Herr Fellner are not those of a friend, you will allow."
+
+"Oh! you have no need to await my threats and orders to declare yourself
+my enemy. We know your paper, and it is because we know it that you are
+going to sign the following declaration. Sit down there, take a pen, and
+write."
+
+"I take a pen; but, before using it, what are you about to dictate?"
+
+"You want to know? Well, here it is. I, Dr. Fischer Goullet, Councillor
+of State, editor in chief.... But you are not writing."
+
+"Finish your sentence, sir, and if I decide to write I will do so."
+
+"Editor-in-chief of the 'Post Zeitung,' acknowledge myself guilty of
+systematic and calumnious hostility towards the Prussian Government."
+
+Fischer threw down the pen.
+
+"I will never write that, sir," said he; "it is false."
+
+"Tempests and thunders!" cried the general, making a step towards him.
+"You give me the lie."
+
+Fischer took a newspaper from his pocket.
+
+"This will inform you better than I can, sir," he said; "it is the last
+issue of my paper published an hour before your entry here. This is what
+I wrote in it:
+
+     "'The history of the days which are to come is written at the point
+     of the bayonet. It is not for the citizens of Frankfort to change
+     anything. For the population of a small and weak state there is
+     nothing else to do but to succour the combatants, whether friends
+     or enemies: they must dress wounds, nurse the sick, exercise
+     charity towards all. Right behaviour is as much the duty of every
+     one as obedience towards the responsible authority.'"
+
+Then, seeing the general shrugging his shoulders, Fischer in his turn
+took a step forward and holding out his paper:
+
+"Read yourself, if you doubt me," said he.
+
+The general tore it from his hands.
+
+"You wrote that yesterday," he said white with rage, "because yesterday
+you felt us coming, because, yesterday, you were afraid of us." And
+tearing up the newspaper he crushed it into a ball and threw it in the
+Councillor's face, shouting; "You are a coward."
+
+Fischer threw a wild glance around him as if for a weapon with which to
+avenge this insult; then with his hand to his forehead he staggered,
+turned round with a strangled cry and fell in a heap, killed by the
+bursting of a blood vessel in the brain.
+
+The general went to him, pushed him with his foot, and seeing that he
+was dead:
+
+"Throw this rascal into a corner," said he to his soldiers, "until his
+family comes to fetch him."
+
+The soldiers dragged the corpse into a corner of the ante-room.
+
+Meanwhile, Fellner, fearing that harm would befall his friend, had run
+to Hannibal Fischer, the journalist's father, and had told him of the
+general's orders. Hannibal Fischer was an old man of eighty, he went to
+the headquarters and asked for his son. The son had been seen going up
+to the first floor where General Falkenstein held his audiences, but no
+one had seen him leave. The old man went up and asked for the general.
+He had gone to lunch and his door was closed.
+
+"Sit down there," said some one, "he may return."
+
+"Cannot you tell him that it is a father who claims his son?"
+
+"What on?" asked one of the soldiers.
+
+"My son, Councillor Fischer, who was arrested this morning."
+
+"Why, it is the father," said the soldier to his comrade.
+
+"If he wants his son, let him take him," said the other.
+
+"How, take him?" said the old man, bewildered.
+
+"Certainly," answered the soldier. "There he is waiting for you." And
+he pointed to the corpse in the corner.
+
+The father approached the body, knelt on one knee and raised his son's
+head.
+
+"Then they have killed him?" he asked the soldiers.
+
+"No, indeed, he died of his own accord."
+
+The father kissed the corpse on the forehead.
+
+"These are unhappy days," he said, "in which fathers bury their
+children."
+
+Then he went down, called a street porter, sent him for three of his
+mates, mounted again to the ante-chamber and showing them the body:
+
+"Take my son," he said, "and bear him to my house." The men took the
+body on their shoulders and bore him to a barrow. The father walked
+before it bare-headed and pale, his eyes bathed in tears; and to all who
+questioned him about this strange procession, carrying a dead man
+through the town without a priest, replied: "It is my son, Councillor
+Fischer, whom the Prussians have killed." And thus the news spread over
+Frankfort.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+GENERAL MANTEUFFEL'S THREATS
+
+
+At five o'clock in the afternoon of July 17th, as the general had said,
+he sent to the bank a squad of eight men under the command of a
+sergeant-major, accompanied by two men with wheel-barrows for the seven
+million florins. His notion of the weight of the coin, which in gold
+would amount to more than fifty tons, must have been a curious one.
+Seeing his men return without the money, General Falkenstein declared
+that if it were not forthcoming the next day he would permit pillage and
+bombardment. Meanwhile the members Bernus and Speltz were arrested and
+conducted to the guard-room, when, having left them in view behind the
+bars for two hours to convince every one of his power over the town
+authorities, he sent them off to Cologne with four soldiers and a letter
+for the governor.
+
+This act of brutality had its effect. It alarmed a great many
+influential people who went to find the bank manager and urge him to
+advance the seven millions demanded. The directors of the bank gave way
+and the money was paid to the last florin on July 19th.
+
+The same day the city battalion was disbanded in the presence of the
+Prussian Colonel von der Goltz. The soldiers had not expected this, and
+some of the oldest of them shed tears.
+
+At the same time, the Prussians took their fill of the townspeople's
+horses. They requisitioned seven hundred, including two little ponies of
+Madame de Rothschild. The carriages were then seized, and if a lady
+happened to take a cab she was obliged when she met an officer in search
+of one, to get out in the mud and leave him to take her place.
+
+Two orders were circulated. The first enjoined the presentation at the
+police station every morning, before eight o'clock, of a list of all
+travellers who had arrived in the hotels and boarding-houses.
+
+Many societies formed for divers purposes such as gymnastics, education,
+and the like, were called before the commander-in-chief and dissolved.
+Such of them as had for object military exercises were invited to
+deposit their arms. Finally the general addressed to the presidents of
+the societies some kindly words upon the necessity of the measures
+taken, and upon the actual situation in general. You ask me how kindly
+words could be uttered by M. de Falkenstein. Reassure yourself, the
+illustrious general had not altered his habits. Having received his
+millions at two o'clock he had at once left Frankfort. General Wranzel
+acted as his deputy for two or three hours and showed a smiling face
+between two morose ones, for at five o'clock, General Manteuffel
+arrived. He at once issued the following order:
+
+     "To assure the subsistence of the Prussian troops a storehouse will
+     be at once established in this town of Frankfort-on-the-Main, by
+     order of His Excellency the Lieutenant-General Manteuffel,
+     commander-in-chief of the army of the Main. It will be provisioned
+     as follows:
+
+  15.000 loaves of bread of 5 lbs. 9 ozs.
+   1,480 hundredweight of sea biscuits.
+     600      "        of beef.
+     800      "        of smoked bacon.
+     450      "        of rice.
+     450      "        of coffee.
+     100      "        of salt.
+   5,000      "        of hay.
+
+     "A third part of these quantities is to be placed at our disposal
+     in convenient places between now and the morning of the 21st. The
+     second third on the 21st in the evening, and the last third on July
+     22nd at the latest.
+
+     "Frankfort, July 20th, 1866.
+
+     "The Military Superintendent of the army of the Main.
+
+                         "KASUISKIL"
+
+
+
+The unhappy townspeople had believed themselves free from these imposts
+according to General Falkenstein's promise--except, indeed, as regards
+cigars, of which both the Prussian officers and men required nine
+provided each day.
+
+The next day, while at breakfast with his family towards ten o'clock,
+Fellner received a letter from the new commander. It was addressed: "To
+the Very Illustrious Herren Fellner and Muller, proxies of the town of
+Frankfort." He turned it and turned it about between his hands without
+unsealing it. Madame Fellner trembled, Herr Kugler, his brother-in-law,
+grew pale, and seeing the drops of perspiration on their father's
+forehead as he sighed deeply, the children began to cry. At last he
+opened it, but seeing his pallor as he read, all rose to their feet
+awaiting his first words. But he said nothing, he let his head fall on
+his breast and dropped the letter on the floor. His brother-in-law
+picked it up and read:
+
+     "To the Very Illustrious Herren Fellner and Muller, proxies of the
+     government in this town.
+
+     "You are invited by these presents to take the necessary measures
+     for a war indemnity of twenty-five millions of florins to be paid
+     within twenty-four hours to the pay office of the Army of the Main
+     in this town.
+
+     "The Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Main,
+
+                         "MANTEUFFEL"
+
+
+
+"Oh!" murmured Fellner, "my poor Fischer, you are fortunate."
+
+
+Within two hours bills which Messrs. Fellner and Muller had had printed
+were posted all over the town. They consisted of General Manteuffel's
+letter to them with this addition:
+
+"The Burgomasters Fellner and Muller declare that they will die rather
+than assist in the spoliation of their fellow citizens."
+
+The blow to the city was the more terrible because it was entirely
+unexpected. The city had just paid more than six millions of florins,
+had contributed in goods an equivalent sum, and was billeting soldiers
+at a crushing expense. Some had ten, others twenty, thirty, or even
+fifty soldiers. General Falkenstein had prescribed the soldiers' rations
+as for the officers, they were entitled to anything they asked for. A
+soldier's daily rations comprised, coffee and accessories in the
+morning; a pound of meat, vegetables, bread, and half a bottle of wine
+at noon; a collation with a pint of beer in the evening, in addition
+eight cigars. These cigars had to be specially bought from the dealers
+coming with the army. Usually the soldiers demanded and got an extra
+meal at ten in the morning of bread-and-butter and brandy, and after
+lunch they got coffee. The sergeant-majors had to be treated like
+officers, being provided with roast meat and a bottle of wine at dinner,
+with coffee to follow. Havana cigars, eight in number, were insisted on.
+
+The citizens dared not complain, for the soldiers whatever they did were
+always found to be in the right. But when they heard of this new
+exaction of General Manteuffel, used as they were to theft and rapine on
+the part of the Prussians, the Frankfortians, mute with astonishment,
+looked at each other, not being able to grasp the extent of their
+misfortune. As soon as the news was actually billed they rushed in
+crowds to see it with their own eyes. Hours were spent in deploring the
+enemy's greed, but nothing was done towards obeying the order.
+Meanwhile, some of the chief citizens, M. de Rothschild among them, had
+gone to seek General Manteuffel. In reply to their observations he said:
+
+"To-morrow my cannon will be trained upon all the chief points of the
+town, and if in three days I have not half of the contribution, and the
+rest in six, I double it."
+
+"General," answered M. de Rothschild, "you know the range of your
+cannons I do not doubt, but you do not know that of the measures you are
+taking--if you ruin Frankfort, you ruin the neighbouring provinces."
+
+"Very well, gentlemen," answered Manteuffel, "the contribution, or
+pillage and bombardment."
+
+In spite of the intervention of the foreign legations, those of France,
+Russia, England, Spain, and Belgium, on July 23rd, masses of troops were
+put in movement with loaded cannon. These were ranged on the chief
+spaces in the town. At the same time batteries were established on the
+Muhlberger and the Roederberg, as also on the left bank of the Main.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+GENERAL STURM
+
+
+Brigadier-General Roeder, who had replaced General Manteuffel, had
+brought with him General Sturm and his brigade. Baron von Bulow was the
+principal staff officer of this brigade, and, as we have related, on the
+day the Prussians entered Frankfort he had safeguarded the Chandroz
+family, by placing four men and a serjeant-major in their house. The
+serjeant-major bore a letter for Madame von Beling, informing her why
+she was thus garrisoned and urging her to prepare the best rooms on her
+first floor for General Sturm and his suite. Madame von Beling acted on
+these instructions, and the men had better rations and cigars supplied
+to them than if the municipality had catered for them.
+
+After the surgeon's departure Karl lay still unconscious, but his
+breathing gradually became more perceptible. Towards evening he uttered
+a sigh, opened his eyes, and by a slight movement of his left hand
+seemed to beckon Helen. She rushed to him, seized his hand and placed
+her lips upon it. Benedict wished her to retire, promising to watch over
+Karl, but Helen refused, saying that no one but herself should nurse
+him.
+
+Benedict being desirous of ridding himself of the sailor's clothes in
+which he had descended the river before General Sturm arrived, and
+having no other suit, left the house to get a new outfit. Lenhart was at
+the front door with his carriage and, driving to the port, he soon found
+Fritz and his boat. There was his uniform, with his pistols and carbine.
+He took them and put them in the carriage. Frisk, who had spent the day
+incessantly watching for his master, joyfully jumped in. Benedict gave
+Fritz twenty florins and sent him back to Aschaffenburg. Then Lenhart
+took him to a tailor where he had no difficulty in obtaining an outfit.
+Next he took a bath. He had fought during the whole of the 14th and had
+not closed his eyes during thirty-six hours, so he found it refreshing.
+Afterwards he allowed Lenhart to take him to his own house, and there he
+got between the sheets.
+
+When he awoke it was ten o'clock; he had slept for six hours. He rushed
+to the Chandrozes. He found Helen as he had left her kneeling by Karl's
+bed. She raised her head and smiled. She also had not slept for thirty
+hours, but the devotion of women knows no bounds. Nature has intended
+them for sisters of charity. Love is as strong as life itself.
+
+Karl seemed to sleep; it was evident that, as no blood flowed to it, the
+brain was in a state of torpor; but every time a spoonful of syrup of
+digitalis was placed in his mouth he absorbed it better. Benedict's work
+was to renew the ice which dripped upon the arm, washing the wound made
+first by the cuirassier's sabre and then by the doctor's lancet.
+
+Towards eight in the morning Emma came into the room for news of the
+wounded man. She found Helen asking Benedict for more ice. He was an
+entire stranger to Emma, but by a flash of intuition she guessed him to
+be the man who had spared her husband's life. She was thanking him when
+Hans came to announce Fellner. The worthy man was afraid that the
+Prussians would break into the house, and came to offer his services.
+
+While they were talking, Frederic arrived with the news that his general
+was only five minutes behind him.
+
+Nothing can describe Emma's joy and happiness in seeing Frederic. The
+war was nearly over, rumours of peace became stronger, her Frederic was
+then out of danger. Love is egoistic, scarcely had she thought of what
+was happening in the city; the entry of the Prussians, their exactions,
+their imposts, their brutalities, the death of Herr Fischer; all these
+seemed vague--a letter from Frederic had been the important event.
+Frederic: it was he whom she embraced. He was safe and sound, unwounded,
+and no longer in danger. Keenly interested as she was in her sister and
+Karl and their mutual love, she felt how fortunate Frederic was that he
+was not Karl.
+
+Frederic went up to Karl, who recognized him and smiled.
+
+While General Sturm ate a splendid dinner, Frederic, to whom Benedict
+had whispered a few words about the behaviour of the Prussians at
+Frankfort, went out to judge for himself. He was told that the Senate
+was sitting and he went in. The Senate declared that the demand made
+upon it being impossible of fulfilment it submitted itself to the
+general's clemency.
+
+On leaving the Senate, Frederic saw the cannon trained on the town, the
+crowds round all the posted bills. He saw besides, entire families
+driven from their homes by the Prussians, bivouacking on the open
+spaces. The men were swearing, the women were in tears. A mother was
+calling for vengeance, as she tended her child of ten, through whose arm
+a bayonet had been thrust. Without knowing what he did the unfortunate
+child had followed a Prussian, singing the song that the people of
+Sachsenhausen had made on the Prussians:
+
+     Warte, kuckuck, warte
+     Bald kommt Bonaparte
+     Der wird alles wieder holen
+     Was ihr hobt bei uns gestohlen.[1]
+
+The Prussian had used his bayonet on the lad. But instead of consoling
+the mother and calling for vengeance with her, the passers-by had signed
+to her to be quiet, to dry her tears and wipe the blood away; so great
+was the general terror.
+
+The Prussians, however, had not everywhere had a like experience. One of
+them lodging with a man of Sachsenhausen, to frighten him had drawn his
+sabre and placed it on the table. The man without offering any remark
+had gone out and returned within five minutes with an iron trident,
+which he in his turn put on the table. "What does this signify?" the
+Prussian had asked. "Well," was the reply, "you wanted to show me that
+you had a fine knife, and I have wanted to convince you that I have a
+fine fork." The Prussian had taken the joke badly, he had tried to make
+play with his sabre and had been transfixed to the wall with the
+trident.
+
+Passing by Hermann Mumm's house, the baron noticed him sitting at his
+door, his head buried in his hands. He touched him on the shoulder. Mumm
+looked up.
+
+"Is that you?" he said, "and have you pillagers also?"
+
+"Pillagers?" asked Frederic.
+
+"Come and see! Look at my china which my family for three generations
+has collected--all broken. My cellar is empty, and naturally so, for I
+have been lodging two hundred soldiers and fifteen officers. Listen to
+them!" And Frederic heard shouts from within of "wine, more wine! or we
+blow the place to pieces with cannon balls!"
+
+He went into the house. Poor Mumm's fine house looked like a stable. The
+floors were covered with wine, straw, and filth. Not a window remained
+whole, not an article of furniture was unbroken.
+
+"Look at my poor tables," said the unhappy Mumm. "At them have sat for
+over a century the best people of Frankfort; yes, the king, many
+princes, and the members of the Diet have dined at them. Not a year ago
+Frau and Fraulein von Bismarck complimented me on the collation I gave
+them. And now, days of horror and desolation have come, and Frankfort is
+lost."
+
+Frederic was powerless and could only leave the place. He well knew that
+neither General Roeder nor General Sturm would stop the pillaging.
+Roeder was ruthless, Sturm was mad. He was an old style Prussian
+general, who when opposed struck down the obstacle.
+
+Presently he met Baron von Schele, the postmaster-general. Since the
+entry of the Prussians he had received the order to institute a
+censorship, unsealing letters and drawing up reports upon those who
+discovered hostile feelings to the Prussian government. He had refused
+to obey, and, his successor having arrived from Berlin, the censorship
+was in operation. Von Schele, who looked on Frederic as a Frankfortian
+rather than a Prussian, told him all this and invited him and his
+friends to resist.
+
+He reached Fellner's with a broken heart and found all the family in
+despair. Fellner had just received the official intimation of the
+refusal of the chief commercial houses to pay the millions demanded by
+the Prussians and the decree of the Senate in the matter. Although as a
+member of the Senate he knew its contents, he was re-reading it
+mechanically, while his wife and children sobbed around him, for all
+feared what excesses the Prussians might commit on receipt of the
+refusal. While they sat together, Fellner was informed of the decision
+just come to by the Legislative Assembly, that a deputation should be
+sent to the king to obtain the remission of the imposition of
+twenty-five millions of florins exacted by General Manteuffel.
+
+"Ah," said Frederic, "if only I could see the King of Prussia."
+
+"Why not?" said Fellner, catching at a straw.
+
+"Impossible, my dear Fellner, I am only a soldier. When a general
+commands I must obey. But, if the millions are going to be found, my
+family will contribute its share."
+
+Being powerless to assist Fellner, he left him and had walked a few
+steps when a soldier saluted and asked him to proceed to General Sturm
+who was waiting for him.
+
+General Sturm was a biggish, strongly made man of about two and fifty.
+He had a small head, with a high brow. His round face was red and when
+he was angry, which was often, it became crimson. His large eyes were
+almost always injected with blood, and he glared with fixed pupils when,
+as invariably was the case, he wished to be obeyed. All this, with his
+big mouth, thin lips, yellow teeth, menacing eyebrows, aquiline nose,
+and thick, short red neck, made him a formidable looking man. His voice
+was loud and penetrating, his gestures commanding, his movements
+brusque and rapid. He walked with long strides, he despised danger, but
+nevertheless seldom encountered any unless it was worth his while.
+
+He had a passion for plumes, red, waving colours, the smell of powder,
+of gaming; he was as brusque in his words as in his movements; violent
+and full of pride he brooked contradictions ill and readily flew into a
+passion. Then his face grew a crimson-violet, his grey eyes became
+golden and seemed to emit sparks. At such times, he completely forgot
+all the decencies of life, he swore, he insulted, he struck.
+Nevertheless he had some common sense, for knowing that he must from
+time to time have duels to fight, he spent his spare time in sword
+exercise and pistol shooting with the _maitre-d'armes_ of the regiment.
+And it must be allowed that he was a first-rate performer with both
+weapons; and, not only so, he had what was called "an unfortunate hand,"
+and where another would have wounded slightly he wounded badly, and
+frequently he killed his adversary. This had happened ten or twelve
+times. His real name was _Ruhig_, which means peaceful, so inappropriate
+to its owner that he received the surname of _Sturm_, meaning storm or
+tempest. By this name he was always known. He had made a reputation for
+ferocity in the war against the Bavarians in 1848-49.
+
+When Frederic presented himself he was relatively calm. Sitting in a
+great chair, and it was rare for him to be seated, he almost smiled.
+
+"Ah, it is you," he said. "I was asking for you. General Roeder was
+here. Where have you been?"
+
+"Excuse me, general," Frederic answered. "I had gone to my mother-in-law
+for news of one of my friends, who was seriously wounded in the battle."
+
+"Ah! yes," said the general, "I heard about him--an Austrian. It is too
+good of you to enquire about such imperial vermin. I should like to see
+twenty-five thousand of them lying on the battlefield, where I would let
+them rot from the first man to the last."
+
+"But, your Excellency, he was a friend--"
+
+"Oh, very well--the matter is not in question. I am satisfied with you,
+baron," said General Sturm, in the same voice in which another man would
+have said "I loathe you!" "and I wish to do something for you."
+
+Frederic bowed.
+
+"General Roeder was asking for a man with whom I am well pleased, to
+carry to His Majesty King William I, whom God preserve, the two Austrian
+and Hessian flags taken by us in the battle of Aschaffenburg. I have
+thought of you, dear baron. Will you accept the mission?"
+
+"Your Excellency," replied Frederic, "nothing could honour or delight me
+more. If you recollect, it was the king who placed me near you; to bring
+me into contact with the king in such circumstances is to do me a favour
+and to do him, I dare hope, a pleasure."
+
+"Well, you must leave within the hour and not come to me with 'my little
+wife,' or 'my grandmother.' An hour suffices for embracing all the
+grandmothers and all the wives in the world, all sisters and children
+into the bargain. The flags are in the ante-room there. Within the hour
+jump on the train on your way to Bohemia, and to-morrow you will be with
+the king at Sadowa. Here is your letter of introduction to His Majesty.
+Take it."
+
+Frederic took the letter and saluted, his heart full of joy; he had not
+had to ask for leave; as if the general had read, had known his dearest
+wish, he had offered it, and with it had done him a favour of which he
+had not dreamt.
+
+In two bounds he had reached Benedict.
+
+"My dear friend," he said, "I leave for Sadowa in an hour, but hesitate
+to say with what object."
+
+"Tell me all the same," said Benedict.
+
+"Well, I am taking the flags captured from the Austrians."
+
+"And you can take them without grieving me; for, if all Prussians were
+like yourself, I should have fought with them and not with the
+Hanoverians and Austrians," said Benedict. "Now go and say your adieux."
+
+He was still embracing his wife and little child, when the same soldier
+who had already been sent to him, called to ask him not to take the
+flags without exchanging a last word with the general.
+
+
+[1]
+
+     Wait, wait a bit, cuckoo,
+     Bonaparte is coming, who
+     Soon will force you
+     to restore
+     All you stole from us before.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+THE BREAKING OF THE STORM
+
+
+The general received Frederic with the same calm and gracious expression
+as before.
+
+"Excuse me for delaying," he said, "after I was so anxious to speed you;
+but I have a little service to ask."
+
+Frederic bowed.
+
+"It is about General Manteuffel's subsidy of twenty-five millions of
+florins. You know about it, don't you?"
+
+"Yes," said Frederic, "and it is a heavy impost for a poor city with
+some 40,000 inhabitants."
+
+"You mean 72,000," said Sturm.
+
+"No, there are only about 40,000 Frankfortians, the remainder of the
+72,000 counted as natives are strangers."
+
+"What does that matter?" said Sturm, becoming impatient. "The statistics
+say 72,000 and General Manteuffel has made his calculation accordingly."
+
+"But if he has made an error, it seems to me that those who are charged
+with the execution of his order should point it out."
+
+"That is not our affair. We are told 72,000 inhabitants, and 72,000
+there therefore are. We are told 25 million florins, and 25 million
+florins there are also. That is all! Just fancy! the senators have
+declared, that we can burn the town, but they will not pay the subsidy."
+
+"I was present," said Frederic quietly, "and the sitting was admirably
+conducted, with much dignity, calm, and sorrow."
+
+"Ta ta ta ta," said Sturm. "General Manteuffel before leaving gave
+General Roeder the order to get in these millions. Roeder has ordered
+the town to pay them. The Senate has chosen to deliberate; that is its
+own affair. Roeder came round to me about it, it is true; but I told him
+that it was nothing to worry about. I said. 'The chief of my staff
+married in Frankfort; he knows the town like his own land, everyone's
+fortune even to shillings and half-pence. He will indicate five and
+twenty millionaires.' There are twenty-five of them here, are there
+not?"
+
+"More than that," answered Frederic.
+
+"Good; we will commence with them, and if there is a balance the others
+shall supply it."
+
+"And have you reckoned on me to give you the names?"
+
+"Certainly. All I require is twenty-five names and five and twenty
+addresses. Sit down there, my dear fellow, and write them out."
+
+Frederic sat down, took a pen and wrote;
+
+     "Honour obliging me to decline to denounce my fellow citizens, I
+     beg the illustrious Generals von Roeder and Sturm to obtain the
+     desired information elsewhere than from myself.
+
+      "Frankfort, July 22nd, 1866.
+           "FREDERIC BARON VON BUeLOW."
+
+
+
+
+Then, rising and bowing low, he put the paper in the general's hands.
+
+"What is this?" he asked.
+
+"Read, it, general," said Frederic.
+
+The general read it, and gave his chief of the staff a side glance.
+
+"Ah! ah!" he said, "I see how I am answered when I ask a favour; let me
+see how I am answered when I command. Sit there and write--"
+
+"Order me to charge a battery, and I will do it, but do not order me to
+become a tax collector."
+
+"I have promised General Roeder to get him the names and addresses and
+have told him that you will supply them. He will send for the list
+directly. What am I to say to him?"
+
+"You will tell him that I have refused to give it."
+
+Sturm crossed his arms and approached Frederic.
+
+"And do you think that I will allow a man under my orders to refuse me
+anything?"
+
+"I think you will reflect that you gave me not only an unjust but a
+dishonouring order and you will appreciate the reason of my refusal. Let
+me go, general, and call a police officer; he will not refuse you, for
+it will be all in his work."
+
+"Baron," replied Sturm, "I considered I was sending the king a good
+servant for whom I asked a reward. I cannot reward a man of whom I have
+to complain. Give me back His Majesty's letter."
+
+Frederic disdainfully tossed the letter on the table. The general's face
+grew purple, livid marks appeared upon it, his eyes flamed.
+
+"I will write to the king," he cried furiously, "and he will learn how
+his officers serve him."
+
+"Write your account, sir, and I will write mine," answered Frederic,
+"and he will see how his generals dishonour him."
+
+Sturm rushed and seized his horsewhip.
+
+"You have said dishonoured, sir. You will not repeat the word, I
+trust?"
+
+"Dishonoured," said Frederic coldly.
+
+Sturm gave a cry of rage and raised his whip to strike his young
+officer, but observing Frederic's complete calm he let it fall.
+
+"Who threatens strikes, sir," Frederic answered, "and it is as if you
+had struck me."
+
+He turned to the table and wrote a few lines. Then he opened the door of
+the ante-room and calling the officers who were there:
+
+"Gentlemen, he said, I confide this paper to your loyalty. Read what it
+says aloud."
+
+     "I tender my resignation as chief of General Sturm's staff and
+     officer in the Prussian army.
+
+     "Dated at noon July 22nd, 1866.
+
+               "FREDERIC VON BUeLOW."
+
+
+
+"Which means?" asked Sturm.
+
+"Which means that I am no longer in His Majesty's service nor in yours,
+and that you have insulted me. Gentlemen, this man raised his horsewhip
+over me. And having insulted me, you owe me reparation. Keep my
+resignation, gentlemen, and bear witness that I am free from all
+military duty at the moment I tell this man that he is no longer my
+chief, and consequently that I am not his inferior. Sir, you have
+injured me mortally, and I will kill you, or you will kill me."
+
+Sturm burst out laughing.
+
+"You give your resignation," he said, "well, I do not accept it. Place
+yourself in confinement. Sir," said he, stamping his foot and walking
+towards Frederic, "to prison for fifteen days with you."
+
+"You have no longer the right to give me an order," said Frederic,
+detaching his epaulettes.
+
+Sturm, exasperated, livid, foaming at the mouth, again raised his whip
+upon the chief of his staff, but this time he slashed his cheek and
+shoulder with it. Frederic, who until now had held himself in, uttered a
+cry of rage, made a bound aside and drew his sword.
+
+"Imbecile," shouted Sturm, with a burst of laughter, "you will be shot
+after a court martial."
+
+At this Frederic lost his head completely and threw himself upon the
+general, but he found four officers in his path. One whispered to him:
+"Save yourself; we will calm him."
+
+"And I," said Frederic, "I who have been struck; who will calm me?"
+
+"We give you our word of honour that we have not seen the blow," said
+the officers.
+
+"But _I_ have _felt_ it. And as I have given my word of honour that one
+of us must die, I must act accordingly. Adieu, gentlemen."
+
+Two of the officers trying to follow him:
+
+"Thunders and tempests! gentlemen," called the general after them. "Come
+back; no one leaves this room except this madman who will be arrested by
+the provost marshal."
+
+The officers came back hanging their heads. Frederic burst out of the
+room. The first person he met on the stairs was the old Baroness von
+Beling.
+
+"Gracious heavens! what are you doing with a drawn sword?" she asked.
+
+He put the sword in its scabbard. Then he ran to his wife and embraced
+her and the baby.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Ten minutes later an explosion was heard in Frederic's room. Benedict,
+who was with Karl, rushed to it and burst open the door.
+
+Frederic was lying on the floor dead, his forehead shattered by a
+bullet. He had left this note on the table:
+
+     "Struck in the face by General Sturm, who has refused to give me
+     satisfaction, I could not live dishonoured. My last wish is that my
+     wife in her widow's dress should leave this evening for Berlin, and
+     there beg from Her Majesty the Queen the remission of the subsidy
+     of twenty-five million florins, which the town as I testify is
+     unable to pay.
+
+     My friend, Benedict Turpin, will, I know, avenge me.
+
+                "FREDERIC, BARON VON BUeLOW."
+
+
+
+Benedict had just time to read this when he turned at a cry behind him.
+It was from the poor widow.
+
+Benedict, leaving Emma in her mother's care, went to his room and wrote
+four notes, each in these terms:
+
+     "Baron Frederic von Bulow has just shot himself in consequence of
+     the insult offered him by General Sturm, who has refused to give
+     him satisfaction. His body lies in the house of the Chandroz
+     family, and his friends are invited to pay their last respects
+     there.
+
+                            "His executor,
+                              "BENEDICT TURPIN.
+
+     "P.S.--You are asked to make the news of his death known as widely
+     and publicly as possible."
+
+Having signed them he sent them by Hans to four of Frederic's most
+intimate friends. Then he went down to General Sturm's rooms and sent in
+his name.
+
+The name, "Benedict Turpin," was entirely unknown to General Sturm; he
+had with him the officers who had witnessed the quarrel with Frederic,
+and at once said: "Ask him to come in." Although he knew nothing of what
+had passed the general's face plainly showed traces of furious passion.
+
+Benedict came in.
+
+"Sir," he said, "probably you are ignorant of the sequel to the
+occurrence between you and my friend, Frederic von Bulow--the incident
+which led to your insult. I have to inform you that my friend, since you
+refused to give him satisfaction, has blown out his brains."
+
+The general started in spite of himself. The officers, dismayed, looked
+at each other.
+
+"My friend's last wishes are recorded on this piece of paper. I will
+read them."
+
+The general, seized with nervous tremor, sat down.
+
+Benedict read, speaking courteously and calmly.
+
+"Struck in the face by General Sturm, who has refused to give me
+satisfaction, I could not live dishonoured."
+
+"You hear me, sir?" Benedict asked.
+
+The general made a sign of assent.
+
+"My last wish is that my wife in her widow's dress should leave this
+evening for Berlin, and there beg from Her Majesty the Queen the
+remission of the subsidy of twenty-five million florins which the town,
+as I testify, is unable to pay."
+
+"I have the honour to inform you, sir," added Benedict, "that I am going
+to conduct Madame von Bulow to Berlin."
+
+General Sturm got up.
+
+"One moment," said Benedict. "There is a final line to read, and you
+will see it is of some importance."
+
+"My friend, Benedict Turpin, will, I know, avenge me."
+
+"Which means, sir?" said, the general, while the officers stood
+breathlessly by.
+
+"Which means, that you shall hear from me immediately respecting the
+time and place and weapons, for I mean to kill you and so avenge
+Frederic von Bulow."
+
+And Benedict, saluting first the general and then the young officers,
+left the room before they had recovered from their surprise.
+
+When he gained the other room, Emma, who had read her husband's last
+words, was already making her preparations for her journey to Berlin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+THE BURGOMASTER
+
+
+Two things had principally struck Sturm in Frederic's short will. First;
+the legacy to Benedict of vengeance; but we must do him the justice to
+say that this was a minor consideration. There is an unfortunate error
+amongst military men that courage is only to be found under a uniform,
+and that one must have seen death at close quarters in order not to fear
+it. Now we know that Benedict in this respect was on a level with the
+bravest soldier. Under whatever aspect he encountered death, whether it
+might be at the point of the bayonet, by the talons of a tiger, the
+trunk of an elephant, or the poisonous fang of a serpent; still it was
+death--the farewell to sunshine, life, love; to all that is glorious and
+all that makes the breast beat high; and in its place, that dark mystery
+which we call the grave. But Sturm did not recognize the threat of
+death, for he was protected by his individual temperament and character
+from perceiving it. He could only recognize an actual menace accompanied
+by shouts, gesticulations, threats, and oaths. And Benedict's extreme
+politeness gave him no idea of serious danger. He supposed, as all
+vulgarians do, that any one who goes duelling with the courtesy of the
+ordinary forms of life is arming at preserving by his politeness a means
+of retreat.
+
+Therefore Frederic's legacy to Benedict troubled him little. But it was
+also prescribed that Madame von Bulow should start for Berlin to beg of
+the queen the remission of the fine imposed upon Frankfort. He decided
+to see General von Roeder without a moment's delay and tell him what had
+occurred.
+
+He found Roeder furious at the Senate's decision. After listening to
+Sturm he determined to have recourse again to his old tactics. He took a
+pen and wrote:
+
+     "To Herren Fellner and Muller, burgomasters of Frankfort and
+     government administrators.
+
+     "I have to request you to supply me by ten o'clock to-morrow
+     morning with a list of the names and addresses of all members of
+     the Senate, of the permanent house of representation, and of the
+     Legislative Assembly, house-property owners being identified as
+     such.
+
+                               "VON ROEDER.
+
+     "P.S.--Scales for weighing gold are waiting at General von Roeder's
+     address. An answer to this despatch is requested."
+
+Then he directed an orderly to deliver the document to Fellner as the
+senior burgomaster. Fellner was not at home. He had just received
+Benedict's sad tidings; and being one of Frederic's most intimate
+friends had hastened to the Chandroz' house, telling the news to all
+whom he met on the way.
+
+In less time than it takes to relate, the fact of Frederic's death burst
+upon the town, and its leading citizens, scarcely able to credit it,
+flocked to the room where his body lay.
+
+Fellner was astonished at not seeing Emma; heard that she had gone to
+Berlin, and was asking the cause of this incomprehensible step when
+Councillor Kugler burst in, General Roeder's letter in his hand.
+Fellner opened it at once, read it, meditated; and approaching the bier
+gazed at his dead friend. After a few seconds of contemplation, he
+stooped, kissed the forehead, and murmured: "It is not only the soldier
+who knows how to die."
+
+Then he slowly left the house, crossed the town with bent head, reached
+the house and shut himself up in his room. Supper time came. Supper is
+an important meal in Germany. It is the cheerful repast, at which, in
+commercial towns especially, the head of the family has time to enjoy
+the society of his wife and children; for dinner at two o'clock is only
+an interval hastily snatched in business hours. But by eight, o'clock
+business people have thrown off their harness; the hour of domestic
+pleasure has come. Before refreshing sleep descends to prepare men for
+another day there is an interval in which to enjoy all that they hold
+dear within the four walls of home.
+
+Nothing of the sort was possible on this evening of July 22nd at the
+Fellners'. The burgomaster showed perhaps even more than his customary
+fondness for his children, but it was touched with melancholy. His wife,
+whose gaze never left him, was unable to speak a word; tears stood in
+her eyes. The elder children observing their mother's sadness sat
+silent; and the little ones' voices like the chirping of birds, drew for
+the first time no smiling response from their parents.
+
+Herr von Kugler was mournful. He was one of those men who act promptly
+and vigorously, without deviating from the straight course of honour. No
+doubt he had already said to himself: "Were I in his place, this is what
+I should do."
+
+Supper dragged on. All seemed reluctant to rise from the table. The
+children had dropped asleep, no summons having come from the nurse. At
+last, Mina, the eldest girl, went to the piano to close it for the night
+and unconsciously touched the keys.
+
+The burgomaster shivered.
+
+"Come Mina," he said, "play Weber's 'Last Thought'; you know it's my
+favourite."
+
+Mina began to play, and the pure melancholy notes poured forth like
+golden beads dropped on a salver of crystal. The burgomaster propped his
+bowed head in his hands as he listened to that sweet poetic melody, the
+final note of which expired like the last sigh of an angel exiled to
+earth.
+
+Fellner rose and kissed the girl. She exclaimed in alarm:
+
+"What is the matter with you, father? you are crying."
+
+"I?" said Fellner quickly. "What nonsense, my child," and he tried to
+smile.
+
+"Oh!" murmured Mina, "you can say what you like, father, but I felt a
+tear; and see," she added, "my cheek is wet."
+
+Fellner put a hand on her mouth. Mina kissed it.
+
+At this the father nearly gave way, but Kugler murmured in his ear:
+
+"Be a man, Fellner!" He grasped his brother-in-law's hand.
+
+Eleven o'clock struck--never except for a dance or evening party had the
+family sat up so late. Fellner kissed his wife and the children.
+
+"But, surely you are not going out?" said Madame Fellner.
+
+"No, my dear."
+
+"Your kiss was like a goodbye."
+
+"Goodbye for a little while," said the burgomaster, trying to smile.
+"Don't be uneasy, I am going to work with your brother, that is all."
+
+Madame Fellner looked at her brother and he gave a sign of assent. Her
+husband took her to her bed-room door:
+
+"Go to sleep, dear one," he said, "we have much work before us that must
+be done before morning." She stood where she was until she had seen him
+enter her brother's room.
+
+Madame Fellner spent the night in prayer. This simple woman, whose only
+eloquence was to say "I love you," found words to implore God for her
+husband. She prayed so long and ardently, that at length sleep came to
+her where she knelt; for great was her need of it.
+
+When she opened her eyes the first light of the dawn was filtering
+through the window blinds. Everything seems strange, fantastic, at such
+an hour. It is neither night nor day and nothing looks as it does at any
+other time. She gazed around. She felt weak and chilly and afraid. She
+glanced at the bed--her husband was not there. She rose, but everything
+danced before her eyes. "Is it possible," she thought, "that sleep
+overtook him also while he worked? I must go to him." And, groping her
+way through the passages, which were darker than her own room, she
+reached his. She knocked on the door. There was no answer. She knocked
+louder, but all was silent. A third time she knocked and called her
+husband's name.
+
+Then, trembling with anguish, under a premonition of the sight that
+awaited her, she pushed open the door. Between her and the window, black
+against the sun's first rays, hung her husband's body suspended above an
+overturned chair.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+QUEEN AUGUSTA
+
+
+All through the night that was so sorrowful for the Fellner family the
+Baroness von Bulow was travelling rapidly to Berlin, where she arrived
+about eight o'clock in the morning.
+
+In any other circumstances she would have written to the queen, asked
+for an audience, and fulfilled all the requirements of etiquette. But
+there was no time to lose; General von Roeder had allowed only
+four-and-twenty hours for the payment of the indemnity. It was due at
+ten o'clock, and in case of refusal the city was threatened with
+immediate pillage and bombardment. Notices at the corners of all the
+streets proclaimed that at ten o'clock on the morrow the general with
+his staff would be waiting in the old Senate Hall to receive the levy.
+There was, indeed, not a moment to lose.
+
+On leaving the train, therefore, Madame von Bulow took a cab and drove
+straight to the Little Palace, where the queen had been living since the
+beginning of the war. There Madame von Bulow asked for the chamberlain,
+Waals, who, as has been said already, was a friend of her husband's; he
+came instantly, and seeing her dressed all in black, cried out:
+
+"Good God! has Frederic been killed?"
+
+"He has not been killed, my dear count, he has killed himself,"
+answered the baroness, "and I want to see the queen without a moment's
+delay."
+
+The chamberlain made no objections. He knew how highly the king valued
+Frederic; he knew, also, that the queen was acquainted with his widow.
+He hastened to go and beg the desired audience. Queen Augusta is known
+throughout Germany for her extreme kindness and her distinguished
+intelligence. No sooner had she heard from her chamberlain that Emma had
+come, dressed in mourning, probably to implore some favour, than she
+exclaimed:
+
+"Bring her in! Bring her in!"
+
+Madame von Bulow was immediately summoned and, as she left the room in
+which she had been waiting, she saw the door of the royal apartments
+open and Queen Augusta waiting for her in the doorway. Without advancing
+another step the baroness bent one knee to the ground. She tried to
+speak, but the only words that escaped her lips were:
+
+"Oh, Your Majesty!"
+
+The queen came to her and raised her up.
+
+"What do you want, my dear baroness?" she asked. "What brings you, and
+why are you in mourning?"
+
+"I am in mourning, Your Majesty, for a man and for a city very dear to
+me, for my husband who is dead, and for my native city which is at
+death's door."
+
+"Your husband is dead! Poor child! Waals told me so, and he added that
+he had killed himself. What can have driven him to such a deed? Some
+injustice must have been done him. Speak, and we will redress it."
+
+"It is not that which brings me, madam; I am not the person to whom my
+husband has left the duty of avenging him; in that respect I need only
+leave God's will and his to take their course; what brings me, madam,
+is the despair of my city upon whose ruin your armies, or rather your
+generals, seem to be resolved."
+
+"Come, my child, and tell me about it," said the queen.
+
+She led Emma into her drawing-room and seated herself beside her; but
+Emma slipped from the sofa and knelt once more before the queen.
+
+"Madam, you know the city of Frankfort."
+
+"I was there last year," said the queen, "and had the kindest possible
+reception."
+
+"May the remembrance of it help my words! General Falkenstein when he
+came to our city began by laying upon it a tax of seven million florins;
+that levy was paid, together with one, about equally heavy, in kind.
+That made fourteen millions already, for a small town of seventy-two
+thousand inhabitants, half of whom were foreigners, and consequently did
+not contribute to the payment."
+
+"And did Frankfort pay it?" asked the queen.
+
+"Frankfort paid it, madam, for that was still possible. But General
+Manteuffel arrived and put on a tax, in his turn, of twenty-five million
+florins. Such a tax, if imposed upon eighteen million subjects, madam,
+would yield more milliards of coin than the whole world contains. Well,
+and at this very hour cannon are planted in the streets and on the
+positions that command the town. If the sum is not paid at ten o'clock
+to-day--and it will not be paid, madam, it is impossible--the city will
+be bombarded and given over to pillage, a neutral unwalled city, which
+has no gates, which has not defended itself and cannot defend itself."
+
+"And how comes it, my child," asked the queen, "that you, a woman, have
+taken upon yourself to ask justice for this city? It has a Council."
+
+"It has one no longer, madam; the Council has been dissolved, and two of
+the councillors arrested."
+
+"And the burgomasters?"
+
+"They do not dare to take any step for fear of being shot. God is my
+witness, madam, that I did not put myself forward to come and plead for
+that unhappy city. It was my dying husband who said to me 'Go!' and I
+came."
+
+"But what can be done?" said the queen.
+
+"Your Majesty needs no adviser but your heart. But, I repeat, if by ten
+o'clock to-day, no counter-order comes from the king, Frankfort is
+lost."
+
+"If only the king were here," said the queen.
+
+"Thanks to the telegraph, Your Majesty knows that there are no distances
+now. A telegram from Your Majesty can receive an answer in half-an-hour,
+and in another half-hour that answer can be sent to Frankfort."
+
+"You are right," said Queen Augusta as she went towards a little bureau
+loaded with papers.
+
+She wrote:
+
+     "To His Majesty the King of Prussia.
+
+                    "BERLIN, _July 23rd_, 1866.
+
+     "Sire, I approach you to entreat humbly and earnestly that the
+     indemnity of twenty-five million florins arbitrarily imposed upon
+     the city of Frankfort, which has already paid fourteen millions in
+     money and in kind, may be withdrawn.
+
+     "Your very humble servant and affectionate wife,
+
+                        "AUGUSTA.
+
+     "P.S. Please reply immediately."
+
+She handed the paper to Emma who read and returned it. Herr von Waals
+was summoned and came instantly.
+
+"Take this telegram to the telegraph office and wait for the answer. And
+you, my child," continued the queen, "let us think about you. You must
+be worn out, you must be starving."
+
+"Oh, madam!"
+
+A second time the queen touched her bell.
+
+"Bring my breakfast here," said she; "the baroness will take some with
+me."
+
+A collation was brought in, which the baroness scarcely touched. At
+every footstep she started, believing it to be that of Herr von Waals.
+At length hurried steps were heard, the door opened and Herr von Waals
+appeared, holding a telegram in his hand.
+
+Emma, forgetful of the queen's presence, rushed towards him, but paused
+half-way, ashamed.
+
+"Oh, madam, forgive me," said she.
+
+"No, no," replied the queen, "take it and read it."
+
+Emma, trembling, opened the despatch, glanced at it and uttered a cry of
+joy. It contained these words:
+
+     "At the request of our beloved consort, the indemnity of
+     twenty-five million florins levied by General Manteuffel is
+     countermanded. WILLIAM."
+
+"Well," said the queen, "to whom should this despatch be sent in order
+that it may arrive in time? You, dear child, are the person who has
+obtained this favour, and the honour of it ought to rest with you. You
+say it is important that the king's decision should be known in
+Frankfort by ten o'clock. Tell me to what person it should be
+addressed."
+
+"Indeed, madam, I do not know how to make any answer to so much
+kindness," said the baroness, kneeling and kissing the queen's hands. "I
+know that the proper person to whom to send it would be the
+burgomaster; but who can tell whether the burgomaster may not have fled
+or be in prison? I think the safest way--excuse my egoism, madam--but if
+you do me the honour of consulting me, I would beg that it may be
+addressed to Madame von Beling, my grandmother; she, very certainly,
+will not lose a moment in putting it into the proper hands."
+
+"What you wish shall be done, my dear child," said the queen, and she
+added to the despatch:
+
+     "This favour has been granted to Queen Augusta by her gracious
+     consort, King William; but it was asked of the queen by her
+     faithful friend, Baroness Frederic von Bulow, her principal
+     lady-in-waiting."
+
+                                  "AUGUSTA."
+
+
+
+The queen raised Emma from her knees, kissed her, unfastened from her
+own shoulder the Order of Queen Louisa and fastened it on the baroness's
+shoulder.
+
+"As for you," she said, "you need some hours' rest, and you shall not go
+until you have taken them."
+
+"I beg Your Majesty's pardon," replied the baroness, "but two persons
+are waiting for me, my husband and my child."
+
+Nevertheless, as no train left until one in the afternoon, and as the
+hour could neither be hastened nor retarded, Emma resigned herself to
+waiting.
+
+The queen gave orders that she should receive the same attentions as
+though she were already a lady-in-waiting, made her take a bath and some
+hours' rest, and engaged a carriage for her in the train for Frankfort.
+
+That city, meanwhile, was in consternation. General Roeder, with his
+staff, was waiting in the Council Hall for the payment required; scales
+were ready for the weighing. At nine o'clock the gunners, match alight
+and in hand, came to take their places at the batteries.
+
+The deepest terror prevailed throughout the town. From the arrangements
+which they saw being made, the Frankforters judged that no mercy was to
+be expected from the Prussian generals. The whole population was shut up
+indoors waiting anxiously for the stroke of ten o'clock to announce the
+town's doom.
+
+All at once a terrible rumour began to circulate, that the burgomaster,
+rather than denounce his fellow-citizens, had ended his life--had hanged
+himself. At a few minutes before ten, a man dressed in black came out of
+Herr Fellner's house; it was his brother-in-law, Herr von Kugler, and he
+held in his hand a rope. He walked straight on, without speaking to
+anybody, or stopping till he reached the Romer, pushed aside with his
+arm the sentinels who attempted to prevent his passing, and, entering
+the hall in which General von Roeder was presiding, he advanced to the
+scales and threw into one of them the rope that he had been carrying.
+
+"There," said he, "is the ransom of the city of Frankfort."
+
+"What does this mean?" asked General von Roeder.
+
+"This means that, rather than obey you, Burgomaster Fellner hanged
+himself with this rope. May his death fall upon the heads of those who
+caused it."
+
+"But," returned General von Roeder brutally, while he continued to smoke
+his cigar, "the indemnity must be paid all the same."
+
+"Unless," quietly said Benedict Turpin, who had just come in, "King
+William should withdraw it from the city of Frankfort."
+
+And, unfolding the despatch that Madame von Beling had just received,
+he read the whole of it in a loud voice to General von Roeder.
+
+"Sir," said he, "I advise you to put the twenty-five million florins
+into your profit and loss account. I have the honour to leave you the
+despatch as a voucher."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+THE TWO PROCESSIONS
+
+
+Two very different pieces of news, one terrible, one joyful, ran
+simultaneously through Frankfort. The terrible news was that the
+burgomaster, who had filled two of the highest positions in the little
+republic now extinct, who was the father of six children and a model of
+the household virtues, had just hanged himself rather than yield to a
+greedy and brutal soldier the secrets of private wealth. The joyful news
+was that, thanks to Madame von Bulow's intervention and to the appeal
+made by the queen to her husband, the city of Frankfort had been
+relieved from the tax of twenty-five million florins.
+
+It will easily be understood that nobody in the town talked of any other
+subject. Astonishment and curiosity were even more aroused owing to the
+occurrence of two mysterious deaths at the same time. People wondered
+how it happened that Frederic von Bulow, after having been insulted by
+his superior officer, should before he shot himself have charged his
+wife with her pious errand to Berlin, seeing that he was no citizen of
+Frankfort, but belonged, body and soul, to the Prussian army. Had he
+hoped to redeem the terrible deeds of violence committed by his
+countrymen? Moreover, the young officers who had been present at the
+quarrel between Frederic and the general had not observed entire silence
+about that quarrel. Many of them were hurt in their pride at being
+employed to execute a vengeance of which the cause lay far back amid the
+obscure resentments of a minister who had once been an ambassador. Those
+who felt this said among themselves that they were acting the part not
+of soldiers but of bailiffs and men-in-possession. They had repeated
+some words of the dispute that had taken place before them and had left
+the rest to be guessed.
+
+Orders had been given prohibiting the printing of any placard without
+the authorization of the officer in command; but every printer in
+Frankfort was ready to contravene the order, and at the very moment when
+Councillor Kugler threw the burgomaster's rope into the scale, a
+thousand unseen and unknown hands were pasting upon the walls of
+Frankfort the following notice.
+
+"At three o'clock our worthy burgomaster Fellner hanged himself and
+became the martyr of his devotion to the city of Frankfort. Citizens,
+pray for him."
+
+Benedict, on his part, had visited the printer of the "Journal des
+Postes" who engaged to furnish, within two hours, two hundred copies of
+the telegrams interchanged by the king and queen. He further undertook,
+on condition that the notices were not unduly large, to get them posted
+by his usual billstickers, who were ready to take the risk of officially
+announcing the good news to their neighbours. Accordingly, two hours
+later, two hundred bills were stuck beside the former ones. They
+contained the following words:
+
+     "Yesterday, at two in the afternoon, as is already known, Baron von
+     Bulow blew out his brains, in consequence of a quarrel with General
+     Sturm, in the course of which the general had insulted him. The
+     causes of this quarrel will remain a secret for such people only as
+     do not care to solve it.
+
+     "One clause of the baron's will instructed Madame von Bulow to go
+     to Berlin, and to beg of Her Majesty Queen Augusta that the levy of
+     twenty-five million florins, imposed by General Manteuffel, might
+     be withdrawn. The baroness paused only long enough to put on
+     mourning garments before setting out.
+
+     "We are happy to be able to communicate to our fellow-citizens the
+     two royal despatches which she sent to us."
+
+The crowds that collected before these notices can be imagined. For one
+moment the stir that passed through the whole population assumed the
+aspect of a riot; drums beat, patrols were organized, and the citizens
+received an order to stay at home.
+
+The streets became deserted. The gunners, whose matches, as we have said
+already, had been lighted at ten in the morning, once more stood by
+their cannon with their lighted matches in hand. This sort of threat
+continued for thirty hours. However, as at the end of that time the
+crowds were no longer collecting, as no conflicts took place, and no
+shot was fired, all these hostile demonstrations ceased between the 25th
+and the 26th.
+
+Next morning fresh placards had been stuck up. They contained the
+following notice:
+
+     "To-morrow, July 26th, at two in the afternoon the funerals will
+     take place of the late burgomaster, Herr Fellner, and of the late
+     chief staff officer, Frederic von Bulow.
+
+     "Each party will start from the house of mourning and the two will
+     unite at the cathedral, where a service will be held for the two
+     martyrs.
+
+     "The families believe that no invitation beyond the present notice
+     will be necessary, and that the citizens of Frankfort will not fail
+     in their duty.
+
+     "The funeral arrangements for the burgomaster will be in the hands
+     of his brother-in-law, Councillor Kugler, and those of Major
+     Frederic von Bulow in the hands of M. Benedict Turpin, his
+     executor."
+
+We will not endeavour to depict the homes of the two bereaved families.
+Madame von Bulow arrived about one o'clock on the morning of the 24th.
+Everybody in the house was up, and all were praying round the deathbed.
+Some of the principal ladies of the town had come and were awaiting her
+return; she was received like an angel bearing the mercies of heaven.
+
+But after a few minutes the pious duty that had brought her so swiftly
+to her husband's side was remembered. Everybody withdrew, and she was
+left alone. Helen, in her turn, was watching by Karl. Twice in the
+course of the day she had gone downstairs, knelt by Frederic's bedside,
+uttered a prayer, kissed his forehead, and gone up again.
+
+Karl was better; he had not yet returned to life, but he was returning.
+His eyes reopened and were, able to fix themselves upon Helen's; his
+mouth murmured words of love, and his hand responded to the hand that
+pressed it. The surgeon, only, still remained anxious, and, while
+encouraging the wounded man, would give Helen no reply; but, when he was
+alone with her, would only repeat in answer to all her questions:
+
+"We must wait! I can say nothing before the eighth or ninth day."
+
+The house of Herr Fellner was equally full of mourning. Everybody who
+had filled any post in the old republic, senators, members of the
+Legislative Assembly, etc., came to salute this dead and just man, and
+to lay on his bed wreaths of oak, of laurel, and _immortelles_.
+
+From early in the morning of the 26th, as soon as the cannon were
+perceived to have disappeared and the town to be no longer threatened
+with slaughter at any unexpected moment, all the inhabitants congregated
+about the two doors that were hung with black. At ten o'clock all the
+trade guilds met together in the Zeil with their banners, as if for some
+popular festivity of the free town. All the dissolved societies of the
+city came with flags flying--although they had been forbidden to display
+these ensigns--determined to live again for one more day. There was the
+Society of Carabineers, the Gymnastic Society, the National Defence
+Society, the new Citizens' Society, the young Militia Society, the
+Sachsenhausen Citizens' Society, and the Society for the Education of
+the Workers. Black flags had been hung out at a great number of houses,
+among others at the casino in the street of Saint Gall, which belonged
+to the principal inhabitants of Frankfort; at the club of the new
+Citizens' Union, situated in the Corn Market, at that of the old
+Citizens' Union in Eschenheim Street, and, finally, at the Sachsenhausen
+Club--a club of the people, if there ever was one--belonging to the
+inhabitants of that often mentioned suburb.
+
+A gathering, almost as considerable, was collecting at the corner of the
+Horse Market, near to the High Street. Here, it may be remembered, the
+house was situated which was generally known in the town as the Chandroz
+house, although nobody of that name now existed in it except Helen,
+whose maiden name had not yet been changed for that of a husband. But in
+the street that led to the burgomaster's house, the middle and
+working-classes were assembled, while opposite to the Chandroz house the
+crowd was made up mainly of that aristocracy of birth to which the house
+belonged.
+
+The strangest feature of this second crowd was the number of Prussian
+officers who had assembled to render the last honour to their comrade at
+the risk of displeasing their superiors, Generals Roeder and Sturm.
+These latter had had the good sense to leave Frankfort without making
+any attempt whatever to suppress the display of public feeling.
+
+When Councillor Kugler emerged from the burgomaster's house, following
+the coffin and holding the dead man's two sons by the hand, cries of
+"Hurrah for Madame Fellner! Hurrah for Madame Fellner and her children!"
+rang out, in expression to her of the gratitude felt to her husband. She
+understood this outburst rising to her from so many hearts at once, and
+when she appeared, dressed in black, upon the balcony with her four
+daughters, dressed likewise in black, sobs broke forth and tears flowed
+from every eye.
+
+The same thing happened as Frederic's coffin began its journey; it was
+to Frederic's widow that Frankfort owed its escape from ruin. The cry of
+"Hurrah for Madame von Bulow!" rose from hundreds of throats, and was
+repeated until the fair young widow, wrapped in her draperies of black
+crape, came forward to accept the expression of gratitude offered her by
+the whole town.
+
+Although the officers had received no order to attend Frederic's
+funeral, although neither the drummers who usually precede the coffin of
+a superior officer, nor the soldiers who usually follow it, had been
+commanded to do so, yet, either from their military training or their
+sympathy for the dead man, the drummers were present and so was the
+escort of soldiers when the procession started, and it advanced towards
+the cathedral to the sound of muffled drums. At the agreed point the two
+processions united and went forward side by side, occupying the whole
+width of the street. Only, like two rivers which run parallel, but of
+which the waters do not mingle, the leaders of the two parties walked
+forward. Behind the burgomaster's hearse followed the burghers and the
+populace; behind that of Baron von Bulow the aristocracy and the
+military. For the moment peace appeared to have been made between these
+two populations, one of which weighed so cruelly upon the other that
+only the death of a man universally esteemed could hold them together
+for a few instants, leaving them to fall asunder immediately afterwards
+into mutual hostility.
+
+At the great door of the cathedral the coffins were lifted from the
+hearses and laid side by side. Thence they were borne into the choir,
+but the church had been so filled since early morning by a crowd, eager,
+as the dwellers in large towns always are, for a spectacle, that there
+was scarcely room for the two coffins to pass to the nave. The military
+escort, the drums, and the company of soldiers followed them, but when
+the crowd that accompanied the coffins tried to enter and find a place
+in the building, it was impossible to do so, and more than three
+thousand persons were left in the porch and in the street.
+
+The ceremony began, solemn and lugubrious, accompanied by the occasional
+roll of drums and the sound of gun stocks touching the ground; no one
+could have said to which of the dead these military honours were being
+paid, so that the unfortunate burgomaster had his share in the funeral
+honours bestowed by the very body of men who had caused his death. It is
+true that from time to time the Choral Society sang funeral hymns and
+that the voices of the congregation, rising like a wave, stifled these
+other sounds.
+
+The service was long, and, although it lacked the impressive Roman
+Catholic pomp, it did not fail to produce an immense effect upon those
+who were present. Then the two processions set out for the cemetery, the
+burgomaster attended by funeral chants, the officer by martial music.
+
+The vault of the Chandroz family and that of the burgomaster were at a
+distance from each other, so that the two parties separated. At the
+grave of the civilian there were hymns, speeches, and wreaths of
+_immortelles_, at that of the officer, firing and wreaths of laurel. The
+double ceremonies were not entirely concluded until the evening, nor did
+the gloomy and silent crowd return until then into its usual channels,
+while the drummers, privates, and officers went to their quarters, if
+not like a hostile troop, at least like a body altogether apart from the
+inhabitants.
+
+Benedict had had in his mind throughout the ceremony the idea of
+presenting himself on the morrow to General Sturm in the character of
+Frederic's executor, and, as such, demanding satisfaction for the insult
+offered to his friend. But when he returned to the house he found Emma
+so overcome, Karl so weak, and the old Baroness von Beling so exhausted
+by age and woe together, as to make him think that the unhappy Chandroz
+family still needed him. Now in such a duel as that which he meant to
+propose to General Sturm, one of the results must inevitably ensue;
+either he would kill the general or the general would kill him. If he
+killed the general, he would clearly have to leave Frankfort that very
+moment, in order to escape the vengeance of the Prussians. If he were
+killed he would become completely useless to the family which seemed in
+need even more of his moral protection than of his material support. He
+determined, therefore, to wait for some days, but promised himself, to
+send his card daily to General Sturm--and he kept his word. General
+Sturm could thus be sure, every morning, that though he might forget
+Benedict, Benedict did not forget him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+THE TRANSFUSION OF BLOOD.
+
+
+Three days had elapsed since the events just narrated. The first bursts
+of grief in the two bereaved households were appeased, and though there
+were still tears there were no longer sobs.
+
+Karl grew better and better; for two days past he had raised himself in
+his bed and had been able to give signs of consciousness, not only by
+broken utterances, tender exclamations, and endearing words, but by
+taking part in conversation. His brain, which like the rest of his body
+had been greatly enfeebled, was gradually recovering the supremacy which
+it exercises over the rest of the body in health.
+
+Helen, who beheld this resurrection, and was at the age when youth gives
+one hand to love and one to hope, rejoiced in this visible recovery as
+though heaven itself had promised that no accident should come to
+disturb it. Twice a day the surgeon visited the wounded man, and without
+destroying Helen's hopes he persisted in withholding any assurance of
+complete safety. Karl saw her hope; but he remarked, too, the reserve
+with which the surgeon received all her joyful schemes for the future.
+He, also, was making schemes, but of a sadder kind.
+
+"Helen," said he, "I know all you have done for me. Benedict has told me
+of your tears, your despair, your weariness. I love you with so selfish
+a love, Helen, that I wish, before I die--"
+
+And as Helen made a movement, he added:
+
+"If I die, I wish first to call you my wife, so that in case there
+exists--as they tell us, and as our own pride leads us to believe--a
+world beyond this, I may find my wife there as here. Promise me, then,
+my sweet nurse, that if any one of those accidents that trouble the
+doctor's mind should occur, promise me that you will instantly send for
+a priest, and with your hand in mine say: 'Give us your blessing,
+father, Karl von Freyberg is my husband.' And I swear to you, Helen,
+that my death will be as easy and calm then as it would be full of
+despair if I could not say: 'Farewell, my beloved wife.'"
+
+Helen listened with that smile of hope upon her lips with which she made
+answer to all Karl's words, whether sad or happy. From time to time,
+when she saw her patient becoming excited, she would sign to him to be
+still, and taking down from her bookshelves Uhland, or Goethe, or
+Schiller, would read aloud to him, and almost always Karl would close
+his eyes and presently fall asleep to the sound of her melodious, liquid
+voice. His need of sleep, after so great a loss of blood, was enormous;
+and then, as though she could see the sleep-bringing shadows thickening
+over his brain, she would let her voice grow dim, little by little, and
+with her eyes half upon the sick man and half upon her page would cease
+to speak at the very moment when he began to sleep.
+
+At night she allowed Benedict to take her place by Karl for two or three
+hours, because Karl entreated it, but she did not go out of the room. A
+curtain was drawn across the recess in which her bed--now brought into
+the middle of the room for the patient, previously stood, and behind the
+curtain she slept on a couch, slept so lightly that at the least
+movement in the room, or the first word uttered, the curtain would be
+lifted and her voice would ask anxiously:
+
+"What is it?"
+
+Helen was a sister of those delightful creations that are to be found on
+every page of Germany's popular poetry. We attribute great merit to
+those poetic dreamers who perceive Loreleis in the mist of the Rhine and
+Mignons in the foliage of thickets, and do not remind ourselves that
+there is, after all, no such great merit in finding these charming
+images, because they are not the visions of genius, but actual copies,
+whose originals the misty nature of England and of Germany sets before
+them as models weeping or smiling, but always poetical. Observe, too,
+that on the shores of the Rhine, the Main, or the Danube, it is not
+necessary to seek these types--rare, if not unknown among ourselves--in
+the ranks of the aristocracy, but they may be seen at the citizen's
+window or the peasant's doorway, where Schuler found his Louisa, and
+Goethe his Margaret. Thus Helen accomplished deeds that seem to us the
+height of devotion with the most entire simplicity, and never knew that
+her loving toil deserved a glance of approval from man, or even from
+God.
+
+On the nights when Helen sat up, Benedict rested in Frederic's room,
+throwing himself fully dressed upon the bed, so as to be ready at the
+first call to run to Helen's assistance or to go for the surgeon. We
+have already said that a carriage ready harnessed was always at the
+door, and, oddly enough, the further recovery progressed, the more the
+doctor insisted that this precaution should not be neglected.
+
+July 30th had been reached, when, after having watched by Karl during a
+part of the night, Benedict had yielded his post to Helen, had returned
+to Frederic's room and flung himself upon the bed, when, all at once he
+thought he heard himself loudly called. Almost at the same moment his
+door opened, and Helen, pale, dishevelled, and covered with blood,
+appeared in the doorway making inarticulate sounds that seemed to stand
+for "Help!"
+
+Benedict guessed what had happened. The doctor, less reserved towards
+him than towards the young girl, had told him what possibilities he
+feared, and evidently one of these possibilities had come to pass.
+
+He rushed to Karl's room; the ligature of the artery had burst and blood
+was flowing in waves and in jets. Karl had fainted.
+
+Benedict did not lose an instant; twisting his handkerchief into a rope
+he tied it round Karl's upper arm, broke the bar of a chair with a kick,
+slipped the bar into the knot of the handkerchief, and turning the stick
+upon its axis, made what is known in medical language as a _tourniquet_.
+The blood stopped instantly.
+
+Helen flung herself distractedly upon the bed, she seemed to have gone
+mad. She did not hear Benedict calling to her: "The doctor! the doctor!"
+
+With his free hand--the other was pressing upon Karl's arm--Benedict
+pulled the bell so violently that Hans, guessing something unusual to be
+the matter, arrived quite scared.
+
+"Take the carriage and fetch the doctor," cried Benedict. Hans
+understood everything, for in one glance he had seen all. He flung
+himself downstairs and into the carriage, calling out in his turn: "To
+the doctor's!"
+
+As it was scarcely six o'clock in the morning, the doctor was at home,
+and within ten minutes walked into the room.
+
+Seeing the blood streaming over the floor, Helen, half fainting, and,
+above all, Benedict compressing the wounded man's arm, he understood
+what had happened, the rather that he had dreaded this.
+
+"Ah, I foresaw this!" he exclaimed, "a secondary haemorrhage, the artery
+has given way."
+
+At his voice Helen sprang up and flung her arms about him.
+
+"He will not die! he will not die!" she cried, "you will not let him
+die, will you?"
+
+The doctor disengaged himself from her grasp, and approached the bed.
+Karl had not lost nearly so much blood as last time, but to judge from
+the pool that was spreading across the room he must have lost over
+twenty-eight ounces, which in his present state of weakness was
+exorbitant.
+
+However, the doctor did not lose courage; the arm was still bare; he
+made a fresh incision and sought with his forceps for the artery, which,
+fortunately, having been compressed by Benedict, had moved only a few
+centimetres. In a second the artery was tied, but the wounded man was
+completely unconscious. Helen, who had watched the first operation with
+anxiety, followed this one with terror. She had then seen Karl lying
+mute, motionless, and cold, with the appearance of death, but she had
+not seem him pass, as he had just done, from life to death. His lips
+were white, his eyes closed, his cheeks waxen; clearly Karl had gone
+nearer to the grave than even on the former occasion. Helen wrung her
+hands.
+
+"Oh, his wish! his wish!" she cried, "he will not have the joy of seeing
+it fulfilled. Sir," she said to the doctor, "will he not reopen his
+eyes? Will he not speak again before he dies? I do not ask for his
+life--only a miracle could grant that. But, make him open his eyes,
+doctor. Doctor! make him speak to me! Let a priest join our hands! Let
+us be united in this world, so that we may not be separated in the
+next."
+
+The doctor, despite his usual calm, could not remain cold in the
+presence of such sorrow; though he had done all that was in the power of
+his art and felt that he could do no more, he tried to reassure Helen
+with those commonplaces that physicians keep in reserve for the last
+extremities.
+
+But Benedict, going up to him, and taking him by the hand, said:
+
+"Doctor, you hear what she asks; she does not ask for her lover's life,
+she asks for a few moments' revival, long enough for the priest to utter
+a few words and place a ring upon her finger."
+
+"Yes, yes!" cried Helen, "only that! Senseless that I was not to have
+yielded when he asked and sent at once for the priest. Let him open his
+eyes, let him say 'Yes,' so that his wish may be accomplished and I may
+keep my promise to him."
+
+"Doctor," said Benedict, pressing the hand which he had retained in his,
+"how, if we asked from science the miracle that Heaven seems to deny?
+How if we were to try transfusion of blood?"
+
+"What is that?" asked Helen.
+
+The doctor considered for a second and looked at the patient: then he
+said:
+
+"There is no hope; we risk nothing."
+
+"I asked you," said Helen, "what is transfusion of blood?"
+
+"It consists," replied the doctor, "in passing into the exhausted veins
+of a sick man enough warm, living blood to give him back, if only for a
+moment, life, speech, and consciousness. I have never performed the
+operation, but have seen it once or twice in hospitals."
+
+"So have I," said Benedict, "I have always been interested in strange
+things, so I attended Majendie's lectures, and I have always seen the
+experiment succeed when the blood infused belonged to an animal of the
+same species."
+
+"Well," said the doctor, "I will go and try to find a man willing to
+sell us some twenty or thirty ounces of his blood."
+
+"Doctor," said Benedict, throwing off his coat, "I do not sell my blood
+to my friends, but I give it. Your man is here."
+
+At these words Helen uttered a cry, flung herself violently between
+Benedict and the doctor, and proudly holding out her bare arm to the
+surgeon, said to Benedict:
+
+"You have done enough for him already. If human blood is to pass from
+another into the veins of my beloved Karl it shall be mine; it is my
+right."
+
+Benedict fell on his knees before her and kissed the hem of her skirt.
+The less impressionable doctor merely said:
+
+"Very well! We will try. Give the patient a spoonful of some cordial. I
+will go home and get the instruments."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+THE MARRIAGE _IN EXTREMIS_
+
+
+The doctor rushed from the room as rapidly as his professional dignity
+would allow.
+
+During his absence Helen slipped a spoonful of a cordial between Karl's
+lips while Benedict rang the bell. Hans appeared.
+
+"Go and fetch a priest," said Helen.
+
+"Is it for extreme unction?" Hans ventured to ask.
+
+"For a marriage," answered Helen.
+
+Five minutes later the doctor returned with his apparatus, and asked
+Benedict to ring for a servant.
+
+A maid came.
+
+"Some warm water in a deep vessel," said the doctor, "and a thermometer
+if there is one in the house."
+
+She came back with the required articles.
+
+The doctor took a bandage from his pocket and rolled it round the
+wounded man's left arm, the right arm being injured. After a few moments
+the vein swelled, proving thereby that the blood was not all exhausted,
+and that circulation still continued, although feebly. The doctor then
+turned to Helen.
+
+"Are you ready?" he enquired.
+
+"Yes," said Helen, "but make haste. Oh, God, if he should die!"
+
+The doctor compressed her arm with a bandage, placed the apparatus upon
+the bed so as to bring it close to the patient, and put it into water
+heated to 35 degrees centigrade, so that the blood should not have time
+to cool in passing from one arm to the other. He placed one end of the
+syringe against Karl's arm and almost simultaneously pricked Helen's so
+that her blood spurted into the vessel. When he judged that there were
+some 120 to 130 grammes he signed to Benedict to staunch Helen's
+bleeding with his thumb, and making a longitudinal cut in the vein of
+Karl's arm he slipped in the point of the syringe, taking great care
+that no air-bubble should get in with the blood. While the operation,
+which lasted about ten minutes, was going on, a slight sound was heard
+at the door. It was the priest coming in, accompanied by Emma, Madame
+von Beling, and all the servants. Helen turned, saw them at the door,
+and signed to them to come in. At the same moment Benedict pressed her
+arm; Karl had just quivered, a sort of shudder ran through his whole
+body.
+
+"Ah!" sighed Helen, folding her hands, "thank God! It is my blood
+reaching his heart!"
+
+Benedict had ready a piece of court-plaster, which he pressed upon the
+open vein and held it closed.
+
+The priest approached; he was a Roman Catholic who had been Helen's
+director from her childhood up.
+
+"You sent for me, my child?" he asked.
+
+"Yes," answered Helen; "I desire, if my grandmother and elder sister
+will allow, to marry this gentleman, who, with God's help, will soon
+open his eyes and recover his senses. Only, there is no time to lose,
+for the swoon may return."
+
+And, as though Karl had but awaited this moment to revive, he opened his
+eyes, looked tenderly at Helen and said, in a weak, but intelligible
+voice:
+
+"In the depth of my swoon, I heard everything; you are an angel, Helen,
+and I join with you in asking permission of your mother and sister that
+I may leave you my name."
+
+Benedict and the doctor looked at each other amazed at the
+over-excitement which for the moment restored sight to the dying man's
+eyes and speech to his lips. The priest drew near to him.
+
+"Louis Karl von Freyberg, do you declare, acknowledge, and swear, before
+God and in the face of the holy Church, that you now take as your wife
+and lawful spouse, Helen de Chandroz, here present?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You promise and vow to be true to her in all things as a faithful
+husband should to his wife according to the commandments of God?"
+
+Karl smiled sadly at this admonition of the Church; meant for people who
+expect to live long and to have time for breaking their solemn vow.
+
+"Yes," said he, "and in witness of it, here is my mother's wedding-ring,
+which, sacred already, will become the more sacred by passing through
+your hands."
+
+"And you, Helen de Chandroz, do you consent, acknowledge, and swear,
+before God and the holy Church, that you take for your husband and
+lawful spouse, Louis Karl von Freyberg, here present?"
+
+"Oh, yes, yes, father," exclaimed the girl.
+
+In place of Karl, who was too weak to speak, the priest added:
+
+"Take this token of the marriage vows exchanged between you."
+
+As he spoke he placed upon Helen's finger the ring given him by Karl.
+
+"I give you this ring as a sign of the marriage that you have
+contracted."
+
+The priest made the sign of the cross upon the bride's hand, saying in a
+low voice:
+
+"In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen!"
+
+Stretching out his right hand towards the pair, he added, aloud:
+
+"May the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob join you together and
+bestow His blessing upon you. I unite you in the name of the Father, the
+Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen!"
+
+"Father," said Karl to the priest, "if you will now add to the prayers
+that you have just uttered for the husband the absolution for the dying,
+I shall have nothing more to ask of you."
+
+The priest, raising his hand, pronounced the consecrated words, as if
+Karl's soul had delayed until this solemn moment to depart from the
+body. Helen, who had raised him in her arms, felt herself drawn to him
+by an irresistible power. Her lips clung to those of her lover, and
+between them escaped the words:
+
+"Farewell, my darling wife; your blood is my blood. Farewell."
+
+His body fell back upon the pillow. Karl had breathed his last breath
+upon Helen's mouth. One sob only was heard from the poor girl, and the
+complete prostration with which she fell back upon his body showed
+everybody that he was dead. The spectators rose from their knees. Emma
+threw herself into Helen's arms, exclaiming:
+
+"Now we are doubly sisters, by birth and by affliction." Then, feeling
+that this sorrow required solitude, one after another slipped away,
+slowly, gently, and on tiptoe, leaving Helen alone with her husband's
+body.
+
+At the end of a couple of hours, Benedict, growing uneasy, ventured to
+go to her and knocked slowly at the door, saying.
+
+"It is I, sister."
+
+Helen, who had locked herself in, came to open the door. With amazement
+he beheld her dressed completely in bridal attire. She had put on a
+wreath of white roses, diamond earrings hung from her ears, and the
+costliest of necklaces surrounded her neck. Her fingers were loaded with
+valuable rings. Her arm from which the blood had been drawn to perform
+the miracle of resurrection was covered with bracelets. A magnificent
+lace shawl was thrown over her shoulders and covered a satin gown
+fastened with knots of pearls.
+
+"You see, my friend," she said to Benedict, "that I have tried to fulfil
+his wishes completely. I am dressed not as his betrothed but as his
+wife."
+
+Benedict looked at her sadly--the rather that she did not weep--on the
+contrary, she smiled. It seemed as though she had given all her tears to
+the living Karl and had none left for the dead. Benedict saw with
+profound surprise that she went to and fro in the room, busied with a
+number of little matters relating to Karl's burial and every moment
+showed him some fresh article.
+
+"Look!" she would say, "he liked this; he noticed that; we will put it
+beside him in his coffin. By the way," she added suddenly, "I was just
+forgetting my hair which he liked so much."
+
+She unfastened her wreath, took hold of her hair, which hung below her
+knees, cut it off, and made a plait which she knotted round Karl's bare
+neck.
+
+Evening came. She talked at length with Benedict of the hour at which
+the funeral should take place on the morrow. As it was now but six in
+the evening, she begged him to see to all the details that would be so
+painful to the family, and indeed, almost as painful to him who had
+loved Frederic and Karl like two brothers. He was to order a wide oak
+coffin, himself:
+
+"Why a wide one?" Benedict asked.
+
+Helen only answered:
+
+"Do as I ask you, dear friend, and blessings will be upon you."
+
+She gave orders herself for the body of her husband to be placed in its
+shroud at six the next morning.
+
+Benedict obeyed her in everything. He spent his whole evening over these
+funeral preparations and did not return to the house until eleven
+o'clock. He found Helen's room transformed, a double row of candles
+burning around the bed. Helen was sitting on the bed and looking at
+Karl.
+
+Even as she no longer wept she now no longer prayed. What had she left
+to ask of Heaven now that Karl was dead? Towards midnight her mother and
+sister, who had been praying, and who understood her calmness no more
+than Benedict did, went to their own rooms. Helen embraced them sadly
+but without tears and asked that the little child might be brought, so
+that she might kiss him too. She held him some time in her arms and then
+gave him back to his mother. When she was left alone with Benedict she
+said to him:
+
+"Pray take some hours' rest, either here or at home; do not be uneasy
+about me. I will be down, dressed, and sleep beside him."
+
+"Sleep!" said Benedict, more and more amazed.
+
+"Yes," said Helen simply, "I feel tired. While he was alive, I could not
+sleep. Now--" She did not finish the sentence.
+
+"When shall I come back?" asked Benedict.
+
+"When you please," said Helen. "Let it be about eight in the morning."
+
+Then, looking through the open casement towards the sky, she said:
+
+"I think there will be a storm to-night."
+
+Benedict pressed her hand and was going, but she called him back.
+
+"Excuse me, dear friend," said she, "have you been told that they are
+coming at six in the morning to wrap him in his shroud?"
+
+"Yes," said Benedict, his voice choked with tears.
+
+Helen guessed at his feelings.
+
+"You do not mean to kiss me then, my friend?" she observed.
+
+Benedict pressed her to his heart and broke into sobs.
+
+"How weak you are!" said she. "Look how calm _he_ is; so calm that one
+would think he was happy." And as Benedict was about to answer, she
+added: "Go, go; to-morrow at eight."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As Helen had foretold, the night was stormy; with morning a terrible
+tempest broke out; rain fell in torrents, accompanied by such flashes of
+lightning as are only seen in storms that announce or cause great
+misfortunes.
+
+At six o'clock the women who were to perform the last offices for Karl
+arrived. Helen had looked out the finest sheets she could find, and had
+spent a part of the night in embroidering them with Karl's monogram and
+her own. Then, when her pious task was completed she did as she had
+said, lay down beside Karl on his bed and encircled by the double row of
+lighted candles, slept with as sound a sleep as though she were already
+in her grave. The two women, knocking at the door, awoke her. Seeing
+them come in, the material aspect of death was forcibly presented to
+her, and she could not abstain from shedding tears. Stolid as these
+poor creatures who live by the services that they render to the dead
+generally are, when they saw the young girl so beautiful, so adorned, so
+pale, they could not help feeling an emotion unknown to them until then.
+They trembled as they took the sheets from Helen's hands and asked her
+to withdraw while they fulfilled their funeral office.
+
+Helen uncovered Karl's face, over which the two Ministers of Fate had
+already thrown the shroud, kissed his lips, murmured into his ear some
+words that the women did not hear, then, addressing one of them, said:
+
+"I am going to pray for my husband in the Church of Notre Dame de la
+Croix. If between now and eight o'clock a young man named Benedict comes
+here, please give him this note."
+
+She drew from her bosom a paper already folded, sealed, and addressed to
+Benedict, and went away. The storm was roaring in all its violence. At
+the door she found Lenhart's carriage and Lenhart himself. He was
+astonished to see her coming out so early, dressed in so elegant a
+costume; but when she had directed him to the church of Notre Dame de la
+Croix, to which he had driven her two or three times before, he
+understood that she was going to pray at her usual shrine.
+
+Helen entered the church. The day was so dark that it would have been
+impossible to find one's way if the flashes of lightning had not shot
+their snakes of fire through the coloured panes.
+
+Helen went straight to her accustomed chapel. The statue of the Virgin
+stood in its place, silent, smiling, decked with gold lace and jewels,
+and crowned with diamonds. At her feet Helen recognized the wreath of
+white roses that she had hung there on the day when she had come with
+Karl and sworn to him to love him always and to die with him. The day
+to keep her vow had come, and she was here to tell the Virgin of her
+readiness to keep her promise, as though that promise were not an
+impiety. Then, as if that were all that she had to do, she made a short
+prayer, kissed the Holy Mother's feet, and went out again to the porch
+of the church.
+
+The weather had cleared a little. For the moment rain had ceased to
+fall, and a gleam of blue shone between two clouds. The air was full of
+electricity. The thunder was roaring in noisy outbursts and the flashes
+threw their blue light almost uninterruptedly upon the pavement and the
+houses. Helen left the church. Lenhart hurried forward with his carriage
+for her to get in.
+
+"I feel stifled," said she, "let me walk a little."
+
+"I will follow you, madam," said Lenhart.
+
+"As you please," she answered.
+
+Eight o'clock was chiming from the cathedral.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the same hour Benedict was just entering Helen's room where Karl lay
+in his shroud. The two women, who had been entrusted with that pious
+duty, were praying by the bed, but Helen was absent. Benedict began by
+looking in every direction, expecting to see her praying in some corner,
+but not perceiving her in any, he enquired where she could be.
+
+One of the women replied:
+
+"She went out an hour ago, saying that she would go to the Church of
+Notre Dame de la Croix."
+
+"How was she dressed?" asked Benedict. "And," he added, with an uneasy
+presentiment, "did she not say anything or leave any message for me?"
+
+"Are you the gentleman called M. Benedict?" returned the woman who had
+answered his previous questions.
+
+"Yes," said he.
+
+"Then here is a letter for you."
+
+She handed him the note that Helen had left. He opened it hastily. It
+contained only these few lines:
+
+     "MY BELOVED BROTHER,
+
+     "I promised Karl, before Notre Dame de la Croix, not to outlive
+     him; Karl is dead, and I am about to die.
+
+     "If my body is recovered, see, my dear Benedict, that it is placed
+     in my husband's coffin; this was the reason why I asked you to have
+     it made wide. I hope that God will permit me to sleep in it by
+     Karl's side throughout eternity.
+
+     "I bequeath a thousand florins to the person who finds my body, if
+     it should be some boatman or fisherman, or poor man with a family.
+     If it should be some person who cannot or will not accept the
+     money, I leave him my last blessing.
+
+     "The morrow of Karl's death is the day of mine.
+
+     "My farewells to all who love me."
+
+                                 "HELEN."
+
+
+
+Benedict was finishing the reading of this letter when Lenhart appeared
+in the doorway, pale and dripping with water, and calling out:
+
+"Oh, how shall I tell you, M. Benedict! Madame Helen has just thrown
+herself into the river. Come, come at once!"
+
+Benedict looked round, seized a handkerchief that was lying on the bier,
+still perfumed and damp with the poor girl's tears, and rushed from the
+room. The carriage was at the door; he sprang into it.
+
+"To your house," he called sharply to Lenhart. The latter, accustomed to
+obey Benedict without asking why, put his horses to the gallop;
+moreover, his house was on the way to the river. The house being
+reached, he leaped from the carriage, took the staircase in three
+strides, and opening the door, called:
+
+"Here! Frisk!"
+
+The dog rushed out after his master and was in the carriage as soon as
+he.
+
+"To the river!" cried Benedict.
+
+Lenhart began to understand; he whipped up his horses and they galloped
+on as quickly as before. As they drove, Benedict divested himself of his
+coat, waistcoat, and shirt, retaining only his trousers. When they
+arrived at the river bank, he saw some sailors with boathooks who were
+raking the water for Helen's body.
+
+"Did you see her throw herself into the water?" he enquired of Lenhart.
+
+"Yes, your honour," he answered.
+
+"Where was it?"
+
+Lenhart showed him the spot.
+
+"Twenty florins for a boat!" shouted Benedict.
+
+A boatman brought one. Benedict, followed by Frisk, sprang into it.
+Then, having steered it into the line along which Helen's body had
+disappeared, he followed the current, holding Frisk by the collar, and
+making him smell the handkerchief that he had taken up from Karl's bed.
+
+They came to a place in the river where the dog gave a melancholy howl.
+Benedict let him loose, he sprang out and disappeared at once. An
+instant later he came to the surface and swam about above the same place
+howling dismally.
+
+"Yes," said Benedict, "yes, she is there."
+
+Then he, in his turn, dived, and soon reappeared bearing Helen's body on
+his shoulder.
+
+As Helen had wished, her body was, by Benedict's care, laid in the same
+coffin as Karl's. Her bridal garments were allowed to dry upon her and
+she had no other shroud.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+"WAIT AND SEE"
+
+
+When Karl and Helen had been laid in their place of eternal rest,
+Benedict considered that the time had now arrived when, having no more
+services to perform for the family to which he had devoted himself, he
+might remind Sturm that he was Frederic von Bulow's executor.
+
+Always obedient to convention he dressed himself with the greatest care,
+hung the Cross of the Legion of Honour and the Guelphic Order to his
+buttonhole by a line gold chain and sent in his name to General Sturm.
+The general was in his study. He ordered Benedict to be shown in at
+once, and as he entered rose from his seat, showed him a chair, and sat
+down again. Benedict indicated that he preferred to stand.
+
+"Sir," said he, "the succession of misfortunes which has befallen the
+Chandroz family leaves me free, earlier than I expected, to come and
+remind you that Frederic, when he was dying, bequeathed to me a sacred
+duty--that of vengeance."
+
+The general bowed and Benedict returned his bow.
+
+"Nothing now keeps me in Frankfort but my wish to fulfil my friend's
+last injunction. You know what that injunction was, for I have told you;
+from this moment I shall have the honour of holding myself at your
+disposal."
+
+"That is to say, sir," said General Sturm, striking his fist upon the
+writing-table before him, "that you come here to challenge me?"
+
+"Yes, sir," answered Benedict. "A dying man's wishes are sacred, and
+Frederic von Bulow's wish was that one of us--either you or I--should
+disappear from this world. I deliver it to you the more readily because
+I know you, sir, to be brave, skilful in all bodily exercises, and a
+first-rate swordsman and shot. I am not an officer in the Prussian army;
+you are in no sense my chief. I am a Frenchman, you are a Prussian; we
+have Jena behind us and you have Leipzig; we are therefore enemies. All
+this makes me hope that you will place no difficulty in my way, and will
+consent to send me two seconds to-morrow, who will find mine at my house
+between seven and eight in the morning, and will do me the pleasure of
+announcing to them the hour, place, and weapons that you have chosen.
+Everything will be acceptable to me; make what conditions you like in
+the best way you can. I hope that you are satisfied."
+
+General Sturm had shown frequent signs of impatience during Benedict's
+speech; but had controlled himself like a well-bred man.
+
+"Sir," said he, "I promise you that you shall hear from me by the hour
+you name, and perhaps earlier."
+
+This was all that Benedict wanted. He bowed and withdrew, delighted that
+everything had passed off so properly. He was already at the door when
+he remembered that he had omitted to give the general his new address,
+at Lenhart's. He went to a table and wrote the street and number below
+his name on his card.
+
+"Excuse me," said he, "I must not fail to let your Excellency know where
+I am to be found."
+
+"Are you not my neighbour?" asked the general.
+
+"No," said Benedict. "I have left this house since the day before
+yesterday."
+
+On the same evening, since he expected to leave Frankfort immediately
+after next day's duel--unless, indeed, some wound should detain
+him--Benedict left cards of farewell at all the houses where he had
+visited, withdrew his money from the bank, and, his banker having
+detained him, remained at his house until eleven o'clock, and then took
+leave to return to Lenhart's. But, as he was crossing the corner of the
+Ross Market an officer accosted him and, saying that he had a
+communication to make on behalf of the officer in command of the town,
+begged Benedict to accompany him. The latter made no difficulty about
+entering the market place where military were quartered, and there, at a
+sign from the officer, soldiers surrounded him.
+
+"Sir," said the officer, "will you kindly read this paper, which
+concerns you."
+
+Benedict took the paper and read it:
+
+     "By order of the colonel in command of the town and as a measure of
+     public safety, M. Benedict Turpin is instructed to leave Frankfort
+     instantly upon receipt of the present order. Should he refuse to
+     obey willingly, force is to be employed. Six privates and an
+     officer will accompany him to the station, enter the same carriage
+     in the Cologne train and only leave him at the frontier of the
+     Prussian territory.
+
+     "This order to be carried out before midnight.
+
+                        "Signed ***."
+
+
+
+Benedict looked round; he had no possible means of resistance.
+
+"Sir," said he, "if I had any way of escaping from the order that I have
+just read, I declare to you that I would do anything in the world to get
+out of your hands. The great man who is your minister, and whom I
+admire although I do not like him, has said 'Might is right.' I am ready
+to yield to force. But I should be greatly obliged if one of you would
+go to 17, Beckenheim Street, to a man who lets out carriages, named
+Lenhart, and kindly ask him to bring me my dog, of which I am very fond.
+I will take occasion to give him some orders in your presence that are
+of no particular consequence, but rather important to a man who has been
+living in a town for three months and is leaving when he had no
+expectation of doing so."
+
+The officer ordered a soldier to fulfil Benedict's wish.
+
+"Sir," said he, "I know that you were intimate with a man to whom we
+were all attached, Herr Frederic von Bulow; although I have not the
+honour of your personal acquaintance, I should be sorry that you should
+carry away a bad impression of me. I was ordered to arrest you in the
+manner that I have done. I hope you will pardon an action entirely
+outside my own wishes, and which I have tried to perform with as much
+courtesy as possible."
+
+Benedict held out his hand.
+
+"I have been a soldier, sir; and therefore I am obliged to you for an
+explanation that you might easily have refrained from making."
+
+A minute or so later Lenhart arrived with Frisk.
+
+"My dear Lenhart," said Benedict, "I am leaving Frankfort unexpectedly;
+be so kind as to collect any things belonging to me that you may have
+and send them to me, in two or three days, unless you prefer to bring
+them yourself to Paris, which you do not know and where I would try to
+make you spend a pleasant fortnight. I do not offer any terms; you know
+that you may safely leave such matters in my hands."
+
+"Oh, I will go, sir, I will go," said. Lenhart. "You may be sure of
+that."
+
+"And now," said Benedict, "I think it must be time for the train; no
+doubt you have a carriage waiting; let us go if you have nothing more to
+wait for, and if you have not a travelling companion to give me."
+
+The soldiers lined up and Benedict passed between them to the carriage
+that was waiting. Frisk, always delighted to go from one place to
+another, leapt in first, as if to invite his master to follow. Benedict
+stepped in, the officer followed him; four privates followed the
+officer, a fifth seated himself beside the driver, a sixth jumped up
+behind, and the conveyance set out for the station.
+
+The engine was just ready to start as the prisoner arrived; he had not
+even the trouble of waiting a few minutes. At the carriage door Frisk
+was, as usual, the first to jump in, and although it is not customary,
+especially in Prussia, for dogs to travel first-class, Benedict obtained
+for him the favour of remaining with them. Next morning they were at
+Cologne.
+
+"Sir," said Benedict to the officer, "I am accustomed, every time that I
+pass through this town, to provide myself with Farina's eau-de-Cologne
+for my dressing-table. If you are not pressed for time I would propose
+two things to you: in the first place my word of honour to play fair and
+not give you the slip before reaching the frontier; in the second place,
+a good breakfast for these gentlemen and you, all breakfasting together
+at the same table without any distinction of rank, like brothers. Then
+we will take the midday train, unless you prefer to trust my word that I
+will go straight to Paris."
+
+The officer smiled.
+
+"Sir," said he, "we will do what you please. I should like you to carry
+away the impression that we are only uncivil and tormentors when we are
+ordered to be. You want to stay; then let us stay! You offer me your
+word; I accept it. You wish to have us all breakfast with you; although
+it does not conform either to Prussian habits or Prussian discipline, I
+accept. The only precaution we will take--and that rather to do you
+honour than because we doubt your word--will be to see you off at the
+station. Where do you wish us to meet you again?"
+
+"At the Rhine Hotel, if you please, gentlemen, in an hour's time."
+
+"I need not say," added the officer, speaking in French that the
+soldiers should not understand him, "that after the way I have behaved
+to you I ought to be cashiered."
+
+Benedict bowed with an air that seemed to say "You need be under no
+uneasiness, sir."
+
+Benedict went away to the cathedral square, where Jean Marie Parina's
+shop is situated, and the officer took off his men in another direction.
+
+Benedict supplied himself with eau-de-Cologne, which he could the more
+easily do because, having no other luggage, he could carry his purchase
+with him, and then proceeded to the Rhine Hotel, where he was accustomed
+to stay. He ordered the best breakfast that the proprietor could promise
+him, and awaited his guests, who appeared at the agreed time.
+
+The breakfast was a thoroughly cheerful one; the prosperity of France
+and the prosperity of Prussia were toasted, the Prussians courteously
+setting the example; and after breakfast Benedict was escorted to the
+station, and, by military order, had a carriage to himself, instead of
+sharing one with six private soldiers and an officer.
+
+At the moment of the train's starting the officer put into Benedict's
+hand a letter, which the traveller opened as soon as the train had
+passed out of the station. He gave a glance at the signature. It came,
+as he expected, from General Sturm and contained these words:
+
+     "MY DEAR SIR,
+
+     "You will understand that it does not become a superior officer to
+     set a bad example by accepting a challenge of which the object is
+     to avenge an officer who was punished for disobedience to his
+     chief. If I were to fight you for a reason so contrary to all
+     military discipline I should be setting a fatal example to the
+     army. I refuse, therefore, for the present, to meet you, and in
+     order to avoid a scandal, I employ one of the most courteous
+     measures at my disposal. You, yourself, were so good as to
+     acknowledge that I had a reputation for courage, and you added that
+     you knew me to be a first-rate shot and swordsman. You cannot,
+     therefore, attribute my refusal to any fear of facing you. A
+     proverb, common to all countries, says: 'Mountains do not meet, but
+     men do.' If we meet anywhere else than in Prussia, and if you are
+     still desirous of killing me, we will see about settling this
+     little matter; but I warn you that the result is by no means a
+     foregone conclusion, and that you will have more trouble than you
+     expect in keeping your promise to your friend Frederic."
+
+Benedict refolded the letter with the utmost care, placed it in his
+pocket-book and slipped his pocket-book into his pocket, arranged
+himself as comfortably as he could in a corner, and closing his eyes for
+sleep, murmured: "Well, well, we will wait and see!"
+
+
+
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+
+The presence of the Prussians in Frankfort and the terror that they
+caused there did not end with the events which have just been related,
+and to which the present narrative ought to confine itself. A few lines
+only must be added that our work may close as it opened, by a page of
+politics.
+
+Towards the end of September 1866 it was announced that the city of
+Frankfort, losing its nationality, its title of a free town, its
+privilege of having the Diet held there, and finally its rights as a
+member of the Confederation, was to be united on October 8th to the
+kingdom of Prussia.
+
+The morrow was gloomy and rainy; no house had hung out the
+black-and-white flag; no citizen, sad or cheerful, was in the streets,
+every window was shuttered, every door closed. It seemed a city of the
+dead. The flag flew only over the barracks, the Exchange, and the post
+office.
+
+But in the Romer Square there was an assemblage of some three or four
+hundred men, all belonging to the suburb of Sachsenhausen. It was a
+curious thing that each of these men had a dog of some description with
+him: a bulldog, mastiff, spaniel, hound, griffon, greyhound, or poodle.
+Amidst these bipeds and quadrupeds, Lenhart went up and down relating
+what fine things he had seen in Paris, and holding everybody's
+attention. He it was who had devised this meeting of his fellow
+inhabitants of Sachsenhausen, and who, by whispered instructions, had
+invited them to bring their dogs. Men and dogs alike gazed towards the
+window from which the proclamation was to be made. They had been waiting
+there since nine in the morning.
+
+At eleven the members of the Senate, the Christian and Jewish clergy,
+the professors, the chief officials, and Major-General Boyer, with the
+officers of the garrison, were gathered together in the Hall of the
+Emperors in the Romer, to witness the taking possession of the formerly
+free town of Frankfort by His Gracious Majesty, the King of Prussia.
+
+The civil governor, Baron Patow, and the civil Commissioner, Herr von
+Madai, came from the Senate Hall (once the hall in which the Emperors of
+Germany were elected) into the great hall. After some little preamble on
+Baron Patow's part he read to the persons present the patent by which
+the former free town of Frankfort was taken into possession, and then
+the royal proclamation which announced that the town had been added to
+the Prussian dominions.
+
+The same documents were now to be read to the people of Frankfort. The
+window was opened to an accompaniment of joyful murmurs and mocking
+acclamation from the men of Sachsenhausen and the yawns of their dogs.
+The square was occupied, we forgot to mention, not only by the men from
+Sachsenhausen but by a company of the 34th regiment of the line and its
+band.
+
+Herr von Madai read aloud the following proclamation:
+
+"The very high and very powerful proclamation of His Majesty the King
+of Prussia to the inhabitants of the former free town of Frankfort."
+
+Either because the voice of Herr von Madai was particularly disagreeable
+to his hearers or because the words "former free town of Frankfort"
+aroused their sensibility, several dogs howled dismally. Herr von Madai
+paused until silence was restored, and continued, still in the king's
+name:
+
+"By the patent that I cause to be published to-day I unite you,
+inhabitants of the city of Frankfort-on-the-Main and its suburbs, to my
+subjects, your German neighbours and brothers."
+
+Five or six howls protested against this union. Herr von Madai seemed to
+give no heed to them and proceeded.
+
+"By the decision of the war and the reorganization of our common German
+Fatherland, you are deprived of the independence which you have hitherto
+enjoyed, and now enter the union of a great country, whose population is
+sympathetic to you by language, customs, and identity of interests."
+
+This news did not appear agreeable to the prejudices of some hearers;
+there were complaints, growls, and a certain number of lamentations.
+Herr von Madai seemed to understand these sad protestations.
+
+"If," said he, "it is not without pain that you resign former
+connections that were dear to you, I respect such feelings and esteem
+them as a guarantee that you and your children will be faithfully
+attached to me and my house."
+
+An enormous bulldog replied by a single bark, which appeared, however,
+to speak the opinion of the two or three hundred companions around him.
+The interruption did not disturb Herr von Madai, and he went on:
+
+"You will recognize the force of accomplished facts; if the fruits of an
+obstinate war and of bloody victories are not to be lost to Germany, the
+duty of self-preservation and care for national interests imperatively
+demand that the town of Frankfort shall be joined to Prussia, solidly
+and for ever."
+
+At this moment a dog broke its chain and despite shouts of "Arrest the
+rebel! Arrest the rebel!" and the pursuit of some five or six
+Sachsenhausen urchins, disappeared into the Jewry.
+
+"And, as my father of blessed memory declared," resumed Herr von Madai,
+"it is solely for the profit of Germany that Prussia has enlarged its
+boundaries. I offer this for your serious reflection, and I confide in
+your upright German good sense to swear allegiance to me with the same
+sincerity as my own people. May God grant it!"
+
+                                  "WILLIAM"
+
+"Given at my castle of Babelsberg, October 3rd, 1866."
+
+
+And raising his voice, Herr von Madai added, by way of peroration:
+
+"Hurrah for King William! Hurrah for the King of Prussia!"
+
+At the same instant the black-and-white flag was hoisted on the topmost
+gable of the Romer. No shout replied to Herr von Madai's, only the
+voice of Lenhart was heard like that of a drill sergeant:
+
+"And now, my little doggies, as you have the honour to be Prussian dogs,
+shout 'Hurrah for the King of Prussia!'"
+
+Then every man pressed his toe upon the tail, the ear, or the paw of his
+dog, and there arose such frightful uproar, including the deepest and
+the shrillest notes, as could only be covered by the band of the 34th
+Prussian Regiment playing "_Heil dir im Siegeskranze_," which means
+"Hail to thee in the crown of victory."
+
+Thus was the former free town of Frankfort united to the kingdom of
+Prussia. But many people say that it is not stitched, but only tacked
+on.
+
+
+
+
+EPILOGUE
+
+
+On June 5th, in the year 1867, a young man of some twenty-five to
+twenty-seven years of age, elegantly dressed, and wearing at his
+buttonhole a ribbon half red and half blue-and-white, had just finished
+his cup of chocolate at the Cafe Prevot, which was at the corner of the
+Boulevard and the Rue Poissoniere. He asked for the "Etandard"
+newspaper.
+
+He had to repeat the name twice to the waiter, who, not having the paper
+on the premises, went out to the Boulevard for a copy and brought it to
+his customer. The latter cast his eyes rapidly over it, looking
+evidently for some article that he knew to be there. His glance settled
+at last upon the following lines:
+
+     "To-day, Wednesday, June 6th, the King of Prussia will enter Paris.
+     We give a complete list of the persons who will accompany His
+     Majesty:
+
+     "M. de Bismarck.
+
+     "General de Moltke.
+
+     "Count Puckler, Lord Marshal.
+
+     "General de Treskow.
+
+     "Count de Goltz, Brigadier-General.
+
+     "Count Lehendorff, Aide-de-Camp to the king.
+
+     "General Achilles Sturm--"
+
+Doubtless the young man had seen all that he wanted to see, for he
+carried no further his investigations into the persons accompanying His
+Majesty.
+
+But he tried, to discover at what hour King William was to arrive, and
+found that he was expected at a quarter-past four at the Gare du Nord.
+
+He immediately took a carriage and placed himself upon the road which
+the king would have to follow in going to the Tuileries.
+
+The king and his escort were some minutes behind their time. Our young
+man was waiting at the corner of the Boulevard de Magenta; he placed
+himself at the end of the procession, and accompanied it to the
+Tuileries, keeping his eyes particularly, as he did so, upon the
+carriage which contained General von Treskow, Count von Goltz, and
+General Achilles Sturm. That carriage entered the courtyard of the
+palace with the King of Prussia's, but came out again, almost
+immediately, with the three generals who occupied it, in order to go to
+the Hotel du Louvre.
+
+There the three generals alighted; they were clearly intending to lodge
+in the neighbourhood of the Tuileries where their sovereign was staying.
+Our young man, who also had alighted, saw a waiter lead them to their
+several rooms. He waited a moment, but none of them came out again. He
+got into his carriage again and disappeared round the corner of the Rue
+des Pyramides. He knew all that he wanted to know.
+
+Next morning, about eleven o'clock, the same young man was walking in
+front of the cafe belonging to the hotel, and smoking a cigarette. At
+the end of ten minutes his expectation was satisfied. General Sturm came
+from the Hotel du Louvre into the restaurant, sat down at one of the
+marble tables arranged just inside the windows and asked for a cup of
+coffee and a glass of brandy. This was just opposite the Zouave
+Barracks.
+
+Benedict entered the barracks and came out a minute later, with two
+officers. He led them in front of the window and showed them General
+Sturm.
+
+"Gentlemen," said he, "that is a Prussian general with whom I have so
+serious a quarrel that one of us must be left upon the field. I have
+applied to you to do me the favour of acting as my seconds, because you
+are officers, because you do not know me, and do not know my adversary,
+and consequently, will not have any of those little delicate
+considerations for us that fashionable people have towards those for
+whom they act as seconds. We will go in and sit down at the same table
+with him. I will reproach him with what I have to reproach him with, and
+you will see whether the matter is serious enough for a duel to the
+death. If you judge it to be so, you will do me the honour of being my
+seconds. I am a soldier like yourselves; I went through the Chinese war
+with the rank of lieutenant, I fought at the battle of Langensalza as
+orderly to Prince Ernest of Hanover, and, finally, I fired one of the
+last shots at the battle of Aschaffenburg. My name is Benedict Turpin,
+and I am a knight of the Legion of Honour and of the Guelphic Order."
+
+The two officers stepped back a pace, exchanged a few words in a low
+voice, and returned to Benedict's side, to tell him that they were at
+his command.
+
+All three then entered the cafe and went to seat themselves at the
+general's table. The latter looked up and found himself face to face
+with Benedict, whom he recognized at the first glance.
+
+"Ah, it is you, sir," said he, growing rather pale.
+
+"Yes, sir," answered Benedict. "And here are these gentlemen who are
+still unacquainted with the explanation that I am about to have with you
+and are here to hear what I say, and will be kind enough to assist me in
+our combat. Will you allow me to explain to these gentlemen, in your
+presence, the cause of our meeting, and afterwards will you give them
+details of our antecedents as we go together to the place decided upon?
+You remember, sir, that, nearly a year ago you did me the honour of
+writing to me that mountains did not meet, but that men did, and that
+whenever I had the honour of meeting you outside the kingdom of His
+Majesty, King William, you would put no difficulty in the way of giving
+me satisfaction."
+
+The general rose.
+
+"It is useless," said he, "to prolong an explanation in a cafe where
+everybody can hear what we say; you can give any explanations to these
+gentlemen of the grounds of complaint which you consider yourself to
+have against me, and which I am not in any degree bound to disclaim to
+you. I wrote to you that I was ready to give you satisfaction; I am.
+Give me time to go into the hotel and fetch two friends. That is all I
+ask of you."
+
+"Do so, sir," said Benedict, bowing.
+
+Sturm left the cafe. Benedict and the two officers followed him. He went
+into the Hotel du Louvre. The three gentlemen waited at the door.
+
+In the ten minutes during which they waited Benedict told them the whole
+story, and was just concluding it as the general reappeared with his
+seconds--two officers of the king's retinue. All three came towards
+Benedict and bowed to him. Benedict introduced his own seconds to those
+of the general by a wave of the hand. All four drew apart a little.
+Presently Benedict's seconds came back to him.
+
+"You have left the choice of weapons to the general?" said he.
+
+"Yes, sir, and he has chosen the sword; we are to go to a sword cutler
+and choose a couple of blades that neither of you will have seen
+before; then we are to go to the nearest convenient spot for the
+meeting. We suggested the fortifications, and these gentlemen have
+agreed; they are to take an open carriage, we are to take another; and,
+as they do not know the way and we do, we shall guide them along the
+boulevard, and at the first sword-cutler's we will buy the swords."
+
+Everything was arranged accordingly. Two waiters were sent for two
+carriages. The seconds suggested that the surgeon-major of the Zouaves
+should accompany the party, and the suggestion being accepted, one of
+the officers went to fetch him. He joined Benedict and the two
+Frenchmen, while General Sturm and his seconds followed at some
+distance.
+
+At the sword-cutler's--which was Claudin's, Benedict said in an aside to
+the shopman, whom he knew:
+
+"The swords are to be charged to me; let the gentlemen who are in the
+second carriage choose them."
+
+Three different swords were shown to General Sturm, who selected the one
+that best suited his hand, and asked its price; he was told that they
+were paid for. The two carriages went as far as the Etoile turnpike by
+way of the Maillot gate. Thence they followed the line of the
+fortifications for a short distance, then, when they had reached a
+tolerably deserted spot, the two Zouave officers alighted from their
+chaise, looked up and down the fosse, and finding it empty beckoned
+their adversaries to join them. In another minute the whole party was
+standing at the base of the walls. The ground was level and offered
+every facility for a combat of the kind that was now to take place.
+
+The general's seconds presented the two swords to Benedict who had not
+previously seen them; he cast a quick glance at them and saw that they
+were _montees en quarte_, a circumstance which suited his designs
+admirably. Apparently it suited General Sturm's, also, since he had
+chosen the swords.
+
+"When is the fight to stop?" asked the seconds.
+
+"When one of us is killed," answered the two antagonists together.
+
+"Coats off, gentlemen!" said the seconds.
+
+Benedict threw aside his jacket and waistcoat, displaying his shirt.
+
+"Are you ready, gentlemen?" asked the seconds.
+
+"Yes," replied both at the same time.
+
+One of the Zouave officers took one sword and put it into Benedict's
+hands; one of the Prussian officers took the other and put it into
+General Sturm's hands.
+
+The seconds crossed the two swords at a distance of three inches from
+the points, and, moving aside to leave the combatants face to face,
+said:
+
+"Now, gentlemen!"
+
+The words were scarcely uttered when the general swiftly made himself
+master of his opponent's sword by a double engagement, making as he did
+so a stride forward with all the usual impetuosity of a man who knows
+himself an adept in fencing.
+
+Benedict leapt back; then, looking at the general's guard:
+
+"Ah, ah!" he murmured, "a quick fellow on his feet. Attention!"
+
+He exchanged a quick glance with his seconds, to tell them not to be
+uneasy.
+
+But at the same moment, and without any interval, the general, while
+entangling the sword by a skilful pressure advanced in a crouching
+attitude, and lunged with so rapid a _degagement_ that it needed all
+Benedict's close handling to parry by a _counter quarte_, which, quick
+though it was, could not save his shoulder from a graze. The shirt tore
+upon the sword's point and became slightly tinged with blood.
+
+The return thrust came so swiftly that the Prussian by luck or by
+instinct had not time to resort to a circular parry and mechanically
+employed the _parade de quarte_ and was now on the defensive. The thrust
+was parried, but it had been given with such energy that General Sturm
+staggered on his legs and could not deliver his counter thrust.
+
+"He is a pretty fencer, after all," thought Benedict. "He gives one
+something to do."
+
+Sturm stepped back and lowered his point.
+
+"You are wounded," said he.
+
+"Come, come," returned the young man, "no nonsense! Here's a fuss about
+a scratch. You know very well, general, that I have got to kill you. One
+must keep one's word, even to a dead man." He put himself in position
+again.
+
+"You? Kill me! Upstart!" exclaimed the general.
+
+"Yes, I, greenhorn as you think me," replied Benedict. "Your blood for
+his, although all yours is not equal to one drop of his."
+
+"Cursed rascal!" swore Sturm, growing crimson. And, rushing upon
+Benedict, he made as he came, two successive _coups de seconde_, so
+hasty and so furious that Benedict had barely time to parry them, by
+twice retiring, and then a _parade de seconde_ delivered with such
+precision and energy that the loose shirt was torn above the waistband,
+and Benedict felt the cold steel. Another stain of blood appeared.
+
+"What! Are you trying to tear off my shirt?" said Benedict, sending his
+enemy a high _thrust de quarte_, which would have run him through, but
+that, feeling himself in danger, he flung himself forward in such a
+manner that the hilts touched, and the two adversaries stood with their
+swords up face to face.
+
+"Here!" cried Benedict, "this will teach you to steal my thrust."
+
+And before the seconds could interpose their swords to separate them,
+Benedict, freeing his arm like a spring, drove the two hilts like the
+blow of a fist in his adversary's face, who staggered back, his face
+lacerated and bruised by the blow.
+
+Then followed a scene which made those who beheld it shudder.
+
+Sturm drew back for an instant, his mouth half-open and foaming, his
+teeth clenched and bleeding, his lips turned back, his eyes gleaming,
+bloodshot and almost starting from their sockets, his whole countenance
+reddish purple.
+
+"Blackguard! Dog!" he yelled, waving his stiff-held sword and crouching
+back for his guard like a jaguar ready to spring.
+
+Benedict stood calm, cold, contemptuous. He extended his sword towards
+him.
+
+"You belong to me, now," he said in a solemn voice. "You are about to
+die."
+
+He fell back to his guard, exaggerating the pose as a sort of challenge.
+He had not to wait long.
+
+Sturm was too good a fencer to throw himself unprotected upon his enemy.
+He advanced sharply one pace, making _un double engagement_, of which
+Benedict turned aside the second by a _degagement fait comme on les
+passe au mur_.
+
+Anger had disturbed Sturm's guard, he was lunging with his head down--an
+attitude which, for this once at least, saved him. The _degagement_
+merely grazed his shoulder by the neck. Blood appeared.
+
+"A sleeve for a sleeve," retorted Benedict, falling back quickly to his
+guard, and leaving a great distance between the general and himself.
+"Now for it!"
+
+The general found himself too far off, took a step forward, gathered all
+his powers, made a frenzied beating with his sword and struck straight,
+lunging at the full stretch of his body. All his soul, that is to say,
+all his hope, was in that blow.
+
+This time Benedict, planted firmly on his feet, did not yield an inch;
+he caught the sword _par un demi cercle_, executed in due form, with his
+nails held upwards as though he were in a fencing school, and standing
+over the point of his sword inclined towards his feet:
+
+"Now then," he said, delivering his thrust.
+
+The sword entered the upper part of the chest and disappeared completely
+in the general's body where Benedict left it, as he sprang back--as a
+bull fighter leaves his dagger in the breast of the bull. Then, folding
+his arms, he waited.
+
+The general remained standing for a second, staggered, tried to speak;
+his mouth became full of blood, he made a movement with his sword and
+the sword fell from his hand; then he, himself, like an uprooted tree,
+fell full length upon the turf.
+
+The surgeon rushed to the body of Sturm; but he was already dead.
+
+The point of the sword had gone in below the right shoulder blade, and
+come out on the left hip, after passing through the heart.
+
+"_Sapristi!_" muttered the surgeon, "that's a man well killed."
+
+Such was Sturm's funeral oration.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Prussian Terror, by Alexandre Dumas
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