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diff --git a/37723.txt b/37723.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e430ba1 --- /dev/null +++ b/37723.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11409 @@ +Project Gutenberg's For Sceptre and Crown, Vol. I (of II), by Gregor Samarow + +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: For Sceptre and Crown, Vol. I (of II) + A Romance of the Present Time + +Author: Gregor Samarow + +Release Date: October 11, 2011 [EBook #37723] +[Last updated: May 30, 2015] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR SCEPTRE AND CROWN *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive. + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + 1. Page scan source: + http://www.archive.org/details/forsceptreandcr00samagoog + + 2. Gregor Samarow is pseudonym of Johann Ferdinand Martin Oskar + Meding. + + 3. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe]. + + + + + FOR SCEPTRE AND CROWN. + + + + + + + NEW NOVELS AT THE LIBRARIES. + + +MALCOLM: a Scottish Story. By George Macdonald, Author of "Robert +Falconer," "Phantastes," &c. 3 vols. cr. 8vo. + + +THE NEGLECTED QUESTION. By B. Markewitch. + +Translated from the Russian, by the Princesses Ouroussoff. 2 vols. +crown 8vo. 14_s_. Dedicated by express permission to Her Imperial and +Royal Highness Marie Alexandrovna Duchess of Edinburgh. + + +RUSSIAN ROMANCE. By Alexander Serguevitch Poushein. Translated from the + +Tales of Belkin. By Mrs. J. Buchan Telfer (nee Mouravief). 1 vol. crown +8vo. + + +CIVIL SERVICE. By J. T. Listado, Author of "Maurice Rhynhart." 2 vols. +crown 8vo. + +"A very charming and amusing story.... The characters are all well +drawn and life-like.... It is with no ordinary skill that Mr. Listado +has drawn the character of Hugh Haughton, full as he is of scheming and +subtleties ... The plot is worked out with great skill and is of no +ordinary kind."--_Civil Service Gazette_. + +"A story of Irish life, free from burlesque and partizanship, +yet amusingly national.... There is plenty of 'go' in the +story."--_Athenaeum_. + +"A short and pleasant story, told in a bright, fresh, readable +style.... The story is a good one from first to last.... Both of the +Irish heroines are very charming."--_Standard_. + +"A brisk and lively novel."--_John Bull_. + + +WAITING FOR TIDINGS. By the Author of "White and Black." 3 vols. + +"An interesting novel."--_Vanity Fair_. + +"A very lively tale, abounding with amusing incidents."--_John Bull_. + +"We like 'Waiting for Tidings' so much, and in so many respects.... It +is well written, the characters are original and natural, and the +story so skilfully managed, that the accomplished novel reader cannot +suspect the denouement, and will be fairly taken by surprise at the +end."--_Examiner_. + + + _Second Edition_. + +JUDITH GWYNNE. By Lisle Carr. 3 vols. crown 8vo. + +"Mr. Carr's novel is certainly amusing.... There is much variety, and +the dialogue and incident never flag to the finish."--_Athenaeum_. + +"Displays much dramatic skill.... It is in the skilful manipulation of +much varied detail, the extensive play of a great number of differing +actors, tending naturally to the conclusion reached, that the chief +charm of this novel lies."--_Edinburgh Courant_. + + * * * * * + + HENRY S. KING AND CO. LONDON. + + + + + + + _FOR SCEPTRE AND CROWN_ + + A ROMANCE OF THE PRESENT TIME. + + TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF + + GREGOR SAMAROW. + + + IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. + + + + + HENRY S. KING AND CO. + 65, Cornhill, and 12, Paternoster Row, London. + 1875. + + + + + + + (_All rights reserved_.) + + + + + TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. + + +The success which "Um Szepter und Kronen" has met with on the Continent +justifies an English translation. The author, who writes under the _nom +de plume_ of Gregor Samarow, is, if report speak truly, himself one of +the characters described in his work as the friend and confidant of the +chivalrous and unfortunate sovereign who is its principal hero. This +explains the ease and familiarity with which the various courts and +cabinets are described, the author's personal acquaintance with the +statesmen and diplomatists he has pourtrayed, and it accounts for the +value of the work as a clever and interesting political sketch. +It is as a political sketch, and not as an ordinary novel, that it is +offered to this country. + +Although the great events of 1870 and 1871 have almost swept from +memory the history of preceding years, yet the struggle of 1866--the +Seven Weeks' War--must ever be memorable; it was the prelude to the +great Franco-German War, and its immediate result was that immense +increase in the power of Prussia which placed her in her present +position of supreme leader in Germany. + + + + + CONTENTS OF VOL. I. + + + Chapter + + I. Bismark and Manteuffel. + + II. Fair Wendland. + + III. Vienna. + + IV. Napoleon. + + V. George V. + + VI. An Erring Meteor. + + VII. The Duel and the Rose. + + VIII. Francis Joseph II. + + IX. Helena. + + X. Berlin. + + XI. The Last Day at Herrenhausen. + + XII. Campaigning begins. + + + + + FOR SCEPTRE AND CROWN. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + BISMARCK AND MANTEUFFEL. + + +About nine o'clock on a dark April evening in the year 1866, a Berlin +cab drove up the Wilhelmsstrasse with the trot peculiar to those +vehicles, and stopped between the two lamps illuminating the door of +No. 76, the house of the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The ground floor +of this long two-storeyed house was well lighted up, and any one who +peeped through the green blinds could see into many office-like rooms, +well-filled with industrious writers, notwithstanding the lateness of +the hour. The windows of the upper storey were only faintly lighted +here and there. + +From the cab which drew up before this house stepped a middle-sized +man, dressed in a dark paletot and black hat; he came close to the +gas-lamp to look in his purse for the right coins with which to pay the +fare, and as soon as he had settled with the numbered Automedon he rang +loudly at the door-bell. + +The door opened almost immediately, and the person demanding admittance +entered a spacious _porte-cochere_, at the end of which, between two +large sleeping stone lions, ascended the flight of steps leading to the +interior of the house. On one side of the doorway a window opened into +the porter's lodge, and at the window appeared the porter's face, +wearing that peculiarly stolid expression common to the door-keepers of +all great houses. + +The porter looked at the new-comer inquisitively through the half-open +window, but he only gave him a hasty glance as he walked on with quiet, +measured tread to the flight of steps. + +As he moved forwards, the light fell brightly on his face, and showed +the features of a man of about sixty years of age, of a rather dark and +healthy complexion. The quick, animated dark eyes looked piercing and +bright, even through gold-rimmed spectacles, though they also expressed +calmness and benevolence. His well-chiselled, regular nose was slightly +bowed over the small, firm, beardless mouth, and an energetic up-turned +chin completed a countenance so characteristic, that when once beheld +it was seldom forgotten. + +No sooner did the look darted through these gold spectacles reach the +window of the porter's lodge, than the porter's face changed as if by +magic. + +The expression of indifference and easy condescension vanished +instantly, the countenance assumed the look befitting a zealous +servant, and its possessor hastened from the door of his lodge leading +to the steps, and at last stood in a precise attitude, proving him to +be an old soldier, before the visitor, who in the meantime had gained +the entrance hall on the ground floor, to which the large stone steps +led. + +"Is the minister at home?" he inquired, with simple politeness, which, +equally unlike the over-strained courtesy of the petitioner and the +haughty _nonchalance_ of the _parvenu_, proved him to be a man +accustomed to move with ease in the highest society. + +"At your command, your Excellency," replied the porter in his official +manner. "The French Ambassador has just gone, and no one is here. The +minister is now alone." + +"And how do you get on? still sound and fit for service?" asked the +visitor, kindly. + +"Most humble thanks for your Excellency's gracious inquiries. I still +get about, although somewhat weaker. Everyone does not wear so well as +your Excellency." + +"Well, well, we all get older, and draw nearer to the end. Keep a brave +heart, and God be with you!" With these kind words, heartily spoken, +the grave-looking man walked up the broad staircase towards the first +storey, while the old door-keeper watched him with respectful pleasure, +and then returned to his lodge. + +In the ante-room on the upper floor "his Excellency" found Herr von +Bismarck's _valet-de-chambre_, Schoenhausen, and was at once conducted +through a large, dimly-lighted apartment to the cabinet of the +minister. The door was thrown open by the servant, who announced for +his master's benefit, "His Excellency von Manteuffel!" + +Herr von Bismarck sat at a large writing-table, piled with acts and +papers. It was placed in the middle of the room, and lighted by a tall +lamp with a dark shade. An arm-chair stood on the other side of the +table, in which the minister usually seated his visitors. +Herr von Bismarck rose at his servant's announcement and walked towards +his visitor, whilst Manteuffel took in the whole room with one glance +from his quick eyes; then, with a slight half-melancholy smile, he +seized the president-minister's outstretched hand. + +It was a picture of the deepest interest. In the half-second during +which these two men stood opposite each other, the present touched the +past and the future--the old, the new Prussia. + +Both the men were sensible of this impression. They stood opposite one +another for a moment in silence. + +Herr von Manteuffel we have already described whilst he was entering +the Foreign Office. It is only needful to add that the removal of his +hat showed hair which was grey and thin, and cut very short. He stood +quite still, his right hand clasped in Bismarck's, whilst the slender +white fingers of his left held his hat. His features maintained perfect +calmness; his mouth was firmly closed, and a guarded reserve appeared +to stamp its seal upon the whole being of the man. + +Herr von Bismarck, almost a head taller, stood towering above him. The +bearing of his powerful form showed he was accustomed to wear uniform; +his massive, strongly-marked countenance spoke in its decided features +of a vehement, passionate soul; the clear, penetrating grey eyes turned +boldly, with a cold gaze, upon the object they wished to watch; and the +broad, high brow, which from being somewhat bald appeared even higher +than it was, showed immense power of forcing, by an iron will, thoughts +and ideas to logical arrangement. + +"I thank you for your kind visit," said Bismarck, after a few moments. + +"You preferred coming to me here, instead of receiving me as I +requested." + +"It is better so," replied Manteuffel. "Your visit to me would have +excited curiosity. Here, too, we are safe from eavesdroppers; and, I +suppose, an important subject is to be discussed." + +"Yes, unhappily, only a grave and extraordinary occasion can procure me +the happiness of hearing the experienced counsels of my old chief. You +know how often I long for your advice, and yet you always avoid every +expression of opinion," said Herr von Bismarck, with a slight accent of +reproach. + +"What good would it do?" returned Herr von Manteuffel, politely but +coldly. "To act for myself, to answer for myself, was my rule when I +occupied the position you now fill. If once a leading statesman begins +to ask advice right and left, he loses the power of advancing +resolutely on the path which his reason and his conscience point out to +him as the right one." + +"Now, truly, it is not my way to listen to every one, and no want of +resolution prevents my choosing my own path," cried Bismarck, warmly; +"and," he added, with a slight smile, "my friends the members of the +Diet cast it daily in my teeth that I do not sufficiently heed their +good advice; yet you will own that there are moments when the strongest +brain may long to hear the views and the advice of a master mind, who +can look back, my honoured friend, upon such actions as yours." + +"And such a moment has now come?" asked Manteuffel, quietly, whilst his +piercing eyes rested on Bismarck's animated face, his own features not +in the least responding to the compliment just paid him. +"If ever there was a time in which the strongest mind must be assailed +by doubt, it is the present moment. You know the position of Germany +and of Europe, and you know that the mighty crisis _must_ come, upon +which the fate of centuries depends," said Herr von Bismarck. + +"I believe it _will_ come, whether it _must_ come or not; but," added +Herr von Manteuffel, after a short pause, "our conference will touch +upon subjects of the highest importance, and you know my profound +dislike of officious meddling in things which do not concern me. May I +then ask, does the king know of this conversation, and of its subject?" + +"His Majesty knows, and desires I should ask your advice," answered +Bismarck. + +"Then it is my duty to express my humble opinion so far as it is formed +in my own mind," said Manteuffel, quietly, as he seated himself in the +arm-chair near the writing-table, while Bismarck took his usual place. + +"Before, however, I can speak on the present situation, I must know +what your intentions are, what is the aim of your policy, and by what +means you intend to attain that end. Permit me," he continued, as with +a slight movement of the hand he politely repressed a remark from Herr +von Bismarck--"permit me to state, from my private and remote +observations, what I believe your intentions to be. You must then +honestly tell me if I am right or mistaken." + +Herr von Bismarck bowed in silence, and fixed his candid eyes with a +look of the greatest attention upon Herr von Manteuffel. + +"Your aim is," continued the latter, quietly, "according to the +conviction I feel from the progress of events, to solve, or rather to +end, the great German question; your aim is to place Prussia at the +head of the political and military power of Germany, and to turn the +edge of the sword against any who shall oppose you. In a word, you wish +to bring that long, chronic sickness, called 'the German Question,' to +an acute crisis, and to cure it for ever by the arcanum of blood and +iron." + +"I do," replied Bismarck, without moving or raising his voice; but it +vibrated so strangely that these two words rang through the room like +the clash of arms, and his eyes, which were still fixed on Herr von +Manteuffel, seemed to emit an electric stream. Thus, when Laocoon's +lance touched the horse of Troy, there rang from within, the low, faint +clang of the Grecian arms, the first note of that terrible harmony, +before which the walls of Pergamus were destroyed, and which, echoing +back from the strings of Homer's lyre, for two thousand years has +thrilled the hearts of men. + +"You do not deceive yourself as to the strong opposition you will +encounter," continued Herr von Manteuffel; "the crisis is come, and the +struggle will take place, and before long, for unless I am quite +deceived, the other side is equally anxious to bring matters to an +issue." + +"I know it," replied Herr von Bismarck. + +"Well," added Manteuffel, "we must then consider the means we can +employ in this struggle. There is, to begin with, the Prussian army--a +thing of great preponderance, which will weigh heavily in the balance, +and the importance of which I do not undervalue for a moment. This army +possesses advantages which I do not understand, but which are very +important in a military point of view: the needle-gun, the artillery, +and the general staff. But in this struggle other powers must be taken +into consideration; our allies, and public opinion. Our allies seem to +me doubtful--France? You must know better than I, your position with +the Man of Silence; England will wait for the success of one side or +the other; Russia is safe. As to public opinion----" + +"Is there such a thing?" interrupted Bismarck. + +Herr von Manteuffel smiled slightly, and continued, "Under ordinary +circumstances, public opinion is the result of an effective bit of +decoration, which makes a lively impression on the crowd, now lighting +up Fiesco's restless sea, now throwing a flood of heavenly glory into +Egmont's dungeon. To those behind the scenes, it is the result of +machinery, and is produced by pulling the right string at the right +moment. I believe _we_ understand both scenes and machinery. But there +is another kind of public opinion that rises like the wind, +incomprehensible, unmanageable, and terrible as the wind when it rouses +itself to a storm. The strife that lies nearest in the lap of Fate is a +strife of German against German, a civil war, and in such a war Public +Opinion claims her right: she is a powerful ally and a terrible foe, +terrible above all to the vanquished, against whom she calls up +relentlessly the _vae victis_. Public opinion, however, is against war, +less perhaps in Germany than in Prussia itself, and honestly +considering the composition of the Prussian army, that is no subject +for indifference." + +Herr von Bismarck exclaimed warmly, "Do you believe it possible +that----" + +"The Prussian army should forget its duty, and refuse to march?" +concluded Herr von Manteuffel. "No, never; certainly not! Single +instances of irregularity might occur in the Landwehr; they would be +unusual, most unusual. The army will do its duty, it is the incarnation +of a perfect sense of duty, but you will not deny there is an immense +difference between duty performed with heartiness and enthusiasm, or +with ill-will and aversion?" + +"Heartiness and enthusiasm will come with success," said Bismarck. + +"But until then?" + +"Until then the spirit of duty must be kept firm, and the management +must be good." + +"Well," said Manteuffel, "I do not doubt it will be so. I only wished +to point out, that in this strife a mighty and important power will be +not _for_, but _against_ you." + +"You are right as to the present moment," replied Herr von Bismarck, +after a short pause; "to-day public opinion, which you so aptly +compared to the wind, is against me; but it changes as easily as the +wind itself. And yet I cannot allow you are altogether right. It is +true the superficial world, composed of the shallow liberalism of the +tea-gardens and the ale-houses, prating of a Germany which exists only +in its own brain, speaks of a civil and fratricidal war against +Austria, but believe me, this does not go down with the Prussian +people. The heart of Prussia goes at the head of her army, and through +the army rings the 'Hohenfriedberg March,'--the Prussian people regards +the country of Maria Theresa as the foe of that Prussian spirit which +old Fritz breathed into the nation. And these orators and speechifiers? +Oh, I fear them not, with their public opinion, which will change like +a weather-cock in the wind, at the first breath of success." + +"I, too, will own that you are partly right, but not quite," said Herr +von Manteuffel; "but success--is it certain? Is it prepared beforehand? +We have touched upon two powers, let us come to the third, perhaps the +most important--allies. What is your position with France and Napoleon +III.?" + +At this direct and sharply-uttered question, which was accompanied by a +look quite as cutting as the tone of voice in which it was asked, Herr +von Bismarck's lips trembled slightly for a moment, and something of +uncertainty, doubt, and mistrust, perhaps a mixture of all three, +appeared in his eyes; but all this quickly vanished, and he answered +calmly, in the same clear, ringing voice as before, + +"Good--at least as good as it can be with this mysterious sphinx." + +"Have you agreements, treaties,--or, far better than these, have you a +personal promise from Napoleon?" inquired Manteuffel. + +"You catechise closely," replied Bismarck, "but I stand before my +master; hear then what has happened in that quarter, and how the +question now stands. + +"More than two years ago, in November, 1864, I spoke to the emperor on +the Danish question. He was eager for the restitution of North +Schleswig to Denmark. I spoke on the sad and critical situation of +Prussia, split into two distinct halves; I stated how great an error it +would be to erect a new small state in the north, and how much more +advantageous it would be to Denmark to have a great and powerful +neighbour, than to have on her borders the little court of a prince who +sets up claims to the Danish crown. The emperor listened to everything, +and from the few words he said seemed to agree with me on the need of +better boundaries for Prussia, though as usual it was impossible to +make him say anything clear and decided; but he was evidently much +displeased with Austria, and complained of the great insincerity of the +Court of Vienna." + +"And did you promise him North Schleswig if he supported your views?" +asked Manteuffel. + +"He may think I did," replied Bismarck, smiling a little; "as he +confined himself to listening and nodding his head, I thought it only +necessary to make vague remarks." + +Herr von Manteuffel bowed his head in silence, and Herr von Bismarck +continued. + +"At the Gastein conference some explanations took place, but I could +not succeed in obtaining any positive declaration, and in November, +1865, I went to Biarritz; but there, too, it was impossible to draw the +Man of Silence from his resolute reserve. I knew that important +negotiations were going on with Austria for the solution of the Italian +question; perhaps this was the cause of the cold reserve shown to me; +perhaps, too----you know Count Goltz?" + +"I know him," said Manteuffel, with a meaning smile. + +"You know, too, that at that time a rumour was circulated that Count +Goltz would take my place. What was going on in Paris was not clear to +me; but things did not go as I wished, and as I thought they should. I +acted for myself. On my return from Biarritz I spoke to Prince +Napoleon." + +"Seriously?" asked Herr von Manteuffel. + +"Quite seriously," answered Bismarck, with a slight smile upon his +lips, "and I saw that Italy was the bait with which the imperial policy +must be caught. Good Prince Napoleon was fire and flame. I got up an +agitation in Florence, and in a short time firm negotiations were +established, the result of which I will lay before you." + +Herr von Manteuffel expressed by a movement, his intense interest in +this communication. + +Herr von Bismarck turned over a small bundle of papers which lay on the +writing-table close to his hand, and went on. + +"Here is the Italian treaty, negotiated with General Govone; it +undertakes to attack Austria on the south, with the sea and land forces +of Italy." + +"And France?" asked Manteuffel. + +"The emperor concedes," replied Bismarck, "our acquisition of Holstein +and Schleswig, without the province of North Schleswig; he acknowledges +the necessity of connecting the two divided portions of Prussia, to do +which part of Hanover and Hesse Cassel must be obtained; neither will +he oppose the Prussian command of the 10th army corps of the +confederacy." + +"And what does _he_ want?" asked Manteuffel. + +"Venetia for Italy." + +"And for himself, for France?" + +"For himself," returned Bismarck, "nothing." + +"Nothing?" said Herr von Manteuffel, "nothing? But have you no clue to +his unspoken thoughts? As far as I remember he _wanted_ nothing, when +he took Savoy and Nice after the Italian war." + +"As to his thoughts," said Bismarck, "I believe I guess correctly when +I say he regards the possession of Luxemburg as highly desirable, and +in the far horizon the acquisition of Belgium by France seems feasible +to him. You know that in Brussels the wind often blows strongly to +Orleans." + +"And what does Napoleon think about you in connection with these +desires?" further inquired Manteuffel. + +"What he pleases," returned Bismarck, indifferently. "If he wanted +nothing, I had no occasion to promise him anything, and as to his +wishes,--well,--it certainly was not my business to point out to him +that they were foolish and unattainable." + +"I understand," said Manteuffel, with a nod. + +"Hanover must receive compensation for what she cedes to us in +Lauenburg and Holstein," added Bismarck. + +"Did the Emperor Napoleon require it?" inquired Herr von Manteuffel, +with some surprise. + +"Certainly not," replied Bismarck; "after the traditions of his family +he loves not the Guelphs, and, as you see, the basis of the whole +arrangement is Prussian supremacy in North Germany; what goes on there +is to him a matter of complete indifference. No, our own gracious +master is most anxious that Hanover should stand by us in the +approaching struggle, and that the old family ties which exist between +the two houses should be continued in the future." + +"And you yourself," inquired Herr von Manteuffel, "what do you think +about the 'Hanoverian question?'" + +"Simply from a political point of view," replied Bismarck, candidly, "I +certainly wish Hanover did not exist, and I regret that at the Congress +of Vienna our diplomacy was not exerted to persuade the royal family of +England to give up this hereditary possession. I think we might have +succeeded. Hanover is a thorn in our flesh, and even with the best +intentions towards us, cripples us greatly. When she bears us ill-will, +as for some time past has been the case, she is really dangerous. If I +were the complete Machiavelli I am accused of being, I should direct my +whole attention to the acquisition of Hanover. Perhaps it would not be +so difficult as it appears," he added, following, though half +unwillingly, the thoughts which arose in his mind; "neither the English +nation, nor the royal family in England, would trouble themselves much +about it, and--but as you know, our gracious king is highly +conservative, and has a deep respect for the connection between Prussia +and Hanover, embodied in Sophia Charlotte and Queen Louise,--and +I--well--I am not less conservative; this connection is not less sacred +to me, and I follow the ideas of the King from my heart and my head, +and I will endeavour to make the future existence of Hanover possible. +But things cannot go on as they are at present--we must have +guarantees; the more our country enlarges and consolidates its +possessions, the more our commerce increases, so much the less can +Prussia permit, in her body, so near to her heart, a foreign element, +which in any crisis may turn into a hostile element. I can then reply +to you with the greatest truth: I will honestly and earnestly strive to +win over Hanover, and if on her side she stands by her old traditions, +and is true to us, I will endeavour to create her a safe and +honourable, nay, a brilliant position in North Germany. But of a truth +she must cease to make us feel she is an encumbrance." + +"And have you any prospect of succeeding in arranging a firm alliance +with Hanover?" asked Herr von Manteuffel. + +"I hope so," replied Bismarck, after a moment's pause. "Count Platen +was here; you know him?" + +Herr von Manteuffel smiled. + +"Well," added Herr von Bismarck, "we spared nothing; we overwhelmed him +with compliments of every kind. He received the Grand Cross of the Red +Eagle." + +"Why not of the Black Eagle?" asked Manteuffel. + +"Bah! Some powder must always be reserved; he was overjoyed as it was. +I propounded to him the family connection which his Majesty himself +earnestly desires, and through which, perhaps, the whole question may +be settled in the most friendly manner." + +"I know of this casually," interrupted Manteuffel; "do you think the +project will succeed?" + +"They seem favourable in Hanover," replied Bismarck; "in Norderney as +well as in Marienburg--time will show; for the present, I place more +reliance on our policy." + +"And what has Count Platen promised us?" + +"Neutrality, as he already promised Count Ysenburg!" + +"And is the treaty concluded?" + +"Count Platen could not, of course, conclude it himself, and he wished +the whole matter to be a profound secret, that the suspicions of France +and Austria might not be prematurely aroused. He made me the most +distinct promises, and spoke so bitterly of Beust, and of the ministry +of Vienna, that I could not but believe him." + +"Forgive me," exclaimed Herr von Manteuffel, "for being on this +Hanoverian question,--I consider it of the greatest importance; in +short, forgive me for being still sceptical. It seems to me +negotiations have been carried on without any definite result, beyond +assurances and promises from Count Platen. Would it not have been +better to take some decided step in Hanover itself? George V. is no +Louis XIII., and Count Platen no Richelieu." + +"I thought of that also," remarked Herr von Bismarck. "You know Herr +von Stockhausen, accredited here by Hanover, is related to the +Baudissins. One of the Baudissins, an author and writer in newspapers, +of whom you may have heard, has, through young von Stockhausen, his +father's secretary, formed a great friendship with Keudell; perhaps +through that channel we may influence the King of Hanover. I must, +however, repeat that I sincerely desire friendly relations with +Hanover, and the maintenance of the throne, and that I will do all in +my power to obtain this result, contrary to the opinion of many +Prussians, as you know. Hanover and Hesse Cassel always hang together; +the Prince of Hesse follows in the footsteps of the King of Hanover. +This question causes me little uneasiness, however; their forces are +small, and in any encounter we must be victorious." + +"And," added Herr von Manteuffel, "will it be possible to engage +Bavaria and Wurtemberg to remain neutral during a war with Austria?" + +"No," replied Herr von Bismarck, "the Austrian party is all-powerful in +Munich; and Prince Reuss writes me word that since a rumour has been +heard of the Italian alliance, all hopes of Bavarian neutrality are +gone. The only thing we may attain is a lukewarm war. The real +difficulty will be with Bohemia. I believe I have now candidly laid +before you the whole of our present position. If you wish any +particular point to be more clearly stated, question me upon it; and +now I beg your opinion _en connaissance de cause_." + +Herr von Manteuffel looked for a moment on the ground in silence; then +he raised his eyes to the animated face opposite to him, and began to +speak in the soft melodious voice, and flowing, impressive language +which always, though he was never a great public orator, produced so +powerful an effect in private intercourse. + +"I see, certainly, that you have considered every point which will +influence the approaching struggle, and in many respects the chances of +success are in your favour; but only one point is fully prepared, +complete, and sure: this point is the Prussian army. Everything else in +the building is tottering and unsafe. The relations with France are +neither clear nor certain; Germany appears to me hostile; then, to +speak candidly, I do not believe in the neutrality of Hanover; the +king's character makes a safe and prudent policy very improbable, and, +I repeat it, Hanover may be very dangerous. Remember the Kalik brigade +is still in Holstein; remember Hanover and Hesse combined, possess a +tolerably large army, and you would have no troops to spare for +operating against them. Italy? Her alliance is certain, you tell me; +well, I will believe she holds to her promises. Do you think an Italian +army can reckon on success? I do not think so. However miserable +Austria's military organization may be, let Italy be the theatre of war +in the district of those square fortresses, and Austria will always +win; the Austrian general-staff know all that district as well as a +chess-board: they have been educated, so to speak, drilled by it. I +foresee only defeat for Italy." + +"But," interrupted Bismarck, with some warmth, "the very fact of +Austria's being compelled to carry on two wars at once will weigh +heavily against her. How many troops will be opposed to us? Austria, I +have been informed, hopes to obtain from the different German States +800,000 men; I know for certain there will not be half that number." + +"Well," said Manteuffel, "let us leave off calculating the chances; I +acknowledge they are in your favour, chiefly through the excellence of +the army. But another grave question arises; Is war necessary? Is the +position such, that all the horrors, all the great dangers of a mighty +struggle must be encountered? You know I too desire to see Prussia at +the head of Germany; I desire it as a Prussian, I wish for it from +conviction as a German, and as a minister I laboured for it to the best +of my ability. I believed, however, it would be the result of organic +growth, developed by time, and I dreaded, as the greatest foe to +Prussian leadership, the mistrust of Germany. This mistrust, the +fear of the princes for their sovereignty and the future of their +dynasties--the fear of the different races lest their individuality +should be stamped out by Prussia, has been skilfully used by Austria, +who is secured from this mistrust by her greater complexity. I held it +should be the endeavour of Prussia (for which I worked myself) to +obtain the confidence of the princes and people of Germany. That +gained, the leadership is ours, and Austria's part played out; for were +it not for this mistrust, the German spirit--the spirit of creation and +enlightenment--the spirit of progressive national life, would turn to +us. I have besides my own views about a Prussian war. Our power is +great, but it is peculiar and especial; for when it is fully used it +sends the whole nation to the field of battle, and with one unfortunate +defeat we should be nearer an extreme catastrophe than any other +nation. So long as our power threatens, it is strong; it diminishes +when action commences. Whilst we stand 'on guard,' the world must dread +us. I think," added Herr von Manteuffel, with a shade of satisfaction +in his voice, "the Peace of Paris speaks in favour of my maxim. Where +is the need of destroying this feeling, greatly endangered by the +events with which the century commenced? where is the need of risking +Prussia's powerful position of reserve in the uncertain game of war? +You will perhaps think me a cowardly, narrow-minded pedant; but you +asked my opinion, and I am justified in giving it to you fully." + +While Manteuffel spoke, Bismarck's face expressed lively emotion. +Increasing impatience trembled over his features, but he did not +interrupt by word or movement. As Manteuffel ended, he stood up, +approached his guest, and seized his hand, exclaiming: + +"Oh, my honoured friend! I know your opinions; I know the noble ideas +which guided you while you held the rudder of the Prussian state; I +know your conscientiousness and wisdom, and believe me, I too am far +from wishing to risk the safety of the Prussian state, which it has +required a century of genius and industry to create. Believe me, it is +not I that provoke this war; I find myself forced to it by necessity, +and if I have not the king's pious horror of measuring myself against +perfidious Austria, yet I would never, unless obliged, drive matters to +extremity. But I know they have resolved on war in Vienna; they will +not allow us to take our rightful position. Yes, they have determined +to entangle and destroy us in the machinery of the Confederation, as +you know from the trouble and anxiety you yourself have experienced. +That Saxon Beust, and his friends in Vienna--the sanguine Meysenbug, +the ambitious pedant Biegeleben, and the fine gentleman Max Gagern, +dream of a new German empire, and of a parliament of their own making, +which is to place the Emperor Francis Joseph upon the imperial throne +of Germany; and the emperor himself lives and moves in these dreams; +they really turned his brain with that comedy at Frankfort. The fools +did not remember," he cried energetically, as he paced the room with +large strides, "that in Frankfort he was not emperor who roasted whole +the _b[oe]uf historique_, to the immense joy of the crowd, and who +roused the unhappy German princes from their beds in the early dawn," +he added, with a bitter smile, "to listen, at a _matinee politique_, to +Beust's lukewarm-water eloquence. No, truly he was not the emperor. +Another rather, before whose cold refusal and quiet absence the whole +apparition vanished into thin air! And I am to wait quietly until they +perhaps find a more favourable moment for effecting their grand +designs? But, my revered friend," he continued, as he again approached +Herr von Manteuffel, who listened to him with the same calmness as +before, "but are there not moments in which bold resolution, rash +action, is needful to obtain great success and avert impending danger? +Does not the history of Prussia record more than one such moment? +What would have become of Prussia if Frederick the Great had waited +until the plans of Austria and Saxony--greatly resembling those of +to-day--had had time to ripen, if he had not, with the quick bold gripe +of his strong hand, destroyed the web of envy and wickedness they were +spinning around him? Where would Prussia have been without York's bold +decision? Oh! my honoured friend," exclaimed Bismarck, with emotion, +while his form seemed to expand, "my heart tells me, and my reason does +not contradict the feeling, that the spirit of the great Frederick, and +the spirit of 1813, is the breath of life which inspires Prussian +history; that the hand of the world's great time-piece points to an +hour in which this spirit must live again, and again urge Prussia +onwards: not to go onwards now is to turn back--back into unknown +paths. With this conviction in my heart, shall I sit still and let +misfortune come; wait," he added, in a lower voice, "until a hand +perhaps less strong than mine, a heart less courageous than my own, is +called upon to face the danger?" + +Herr von Manteuffel, his arm resting on the writing-table, and his eyes +cast on the ground, had until now listened without moving. He rose and +looked straight into the prime minister's eyes, who waited for him to +speak with great excitement and anxiety. + +"Herr von Bismarck," he said in his calm voice, in which a warmer tone +was heard than before, "you touch a string which vibrates through every +Prussian's heart. Who can deny that there are moments in which bold +action leads to safety? who can deny that by seizing such moments with +firm resolution, Prussia has become what she is? Whether the present is +such a moment no mortal can say with certainty, and I will not argue +the question with you. To act according to their judgment and their +conscience is the duty of those who stand upon the steps of the throne. +You stand there now, and I thank God that I do not; for what occurs you +must answer to history, your country, and your king. You must decide on +what you ought to do, and for nothing in the world would I throw a +doubt on your decision. Yet one more question; be patient, it shall be +the last, perhaps it is the most important." + +Manteuffel came a step nearer to Herr von Bismarck, and in a low tone, +which made even a greater impression on his hearer, said:-- + +"What if the game of war goes against you? what if the chances are +wrongly reckoned? We are all liable to error; if the victorious foe +gains the power of carrying out the plans so long prepared, embittered +by the strife, and haughty with success, what scheme have you framed, +what preparation have you made to shield Prussia from danger, even from +destruction? You know I have always held the maxim, that a good general +must be prepared for a retreat, you will therefore think my question +natural, and know how important I deem it." + +Herr von Bismarck's face, hitherto so animated, assumed an expression +of calm pride; his lips were firmly compressed, and his eyes flashed +like rays of light from naked swords. With the metallic vibration which +at certain moments rang through his voice, he replied, + +"If I deemed it possible, or could believe that a Prussian army would +be beaten by Austria, I would not be the Prussian minister." + +He uttered these words in a tone of inmost conviction, and Manteuffel +slowly stepped backwards, and gazed with amazement at the prime +minister's enthusiastic face, as though he scarcely understood him. +Then he turned leisurely away, seized his hat, and bowing politely to +Bismarck, he said quite in his ordinary manner: + +"I believe our conversation is concluded; we have exhausted the +subject, and I must no longer waste your valuable time." + +The excitement faded from Bismarck's countenance, and melancholy took +its place, as he answered, sadly: + +"The subject is not exhausted,--say rather, you will discuss it no +longer, since, as I plainly perceive, we move in eccentric circles +which have not a single point in common." + +"If such be the case," said Manteuffel, "any further revolutions on our +separate orbits would be useless, but I think," he added, smiling +slightly, "on one point we shall agree; time is too precious to be lost +in useless words." + +"Then farewell," said Bismarck gravely, as he pressed Manteuffel's +hand; "you leave me by one hope poorer, by one support weaker." + +"You need no support," returned Manteuffel, "and if your convictions +prove true, my most earnest wishes for the increase and development of +Prussia's greatness will be fulfilled." + +He bowed slightly, and left the room. + +Bismarck accompanied him to the ante-room, and then seated himself at +his writing-table; for some moments he was lost in thought. + +"They all, yes, all!" he suddenly cried at last, as he sprang from his +chair and paced the room with hasty stops, "they all sing the same +song; they all talk of the responsibility, of the danger, of the +horrors of war. But do I not feel the responsibility? do I not see the +danger? does not my heart grow cold at the thought of the horrors of +war? But while I see the danger, I cannot withdraw from the necessity, +and while I am convinced of the necessity, I must undertake the +responsibility. I understand why most of them would withhold me from +bold action, the Liberals in the parliament fear the clash of arms; +yes, they dread even victory, and all those weak-minded creatures who +prefer to cling in cowardly submission to the present rather than face +the future, they are always the same through all the centuries of +history: but he--he is a man of courage and action, he knows danger and +does not fear it, yet he warns me back. This is serious; in comparison +to a word from this man, all the privy councillors, diplomatists, and +bureaucratists in the whole world are but a feather weight in the +scale: and he desires me to prepare for a retreat!" + +He stood still for a moment and looked thoughtfully on the ground. + +"And is he not right?" he said, sadly and gloomily. "If success fails +me, if the enemy is powerful enough to bow down, to break Prussia, what +could I do? walk away, like a careless gambler, judged by all, handed +down in all future history as a jest to the common herd; but then," he +cried, casting a glowing look upwards, "there is the other side, to +draw back, with a conviction of victory in my heart, to lose the +opportunity, perhaps for ever, of accomplishing for Prussia the great +and glorious future, which I see so brilliantly before me-- + + + 'The moment comes, but if it is not seized, + Not all eternity will bring it back.'"[1] + + +Again he stood still and gazed before him in deep thought. + +"Oh, for light in this darkness!" he cried, "I must have the sky above +me, and the fresh air must cool my blood." He seized his hat and left +the room, descended the stair which led from his house to the +courtyard, walked through the courtyard with long strides and plunged +into the dark walks of a large garden, where trees of ancient growth +shaded the back of the hotel and Office for Foreign Affairs. + + * * * * * + +The same evening, in the same building, in an elegant and cheerfully +lighted drawing-room sat an elderly and a young lady, busied with +some light feminine work. On one side stood the tea-table, and the +tea-kettle sang that peculiar song, which is thought by the English, +when joined by the chirping of the cricket, to be the music of the +hearth, a greeting from home. + +The two ladies were the wife and daughter of the president minister, +and von Keudell the minister of legation, the most intimate friend of +his chief, sat with them. + +They spoke of several events in Berlin society, of the theatres, and +various other subjects of interest, but Madame von Bismarck frequently +looked with an expression of uneasiness and anxiety towards the door. +"Do you know if my husband has a visitor?" she asked, turning to von +Keudell; "I am always uneasy lest his excessive work should seriously +injure his health, and I feel quite bitter towards any visitor who +shortens the few moments he spends with us in the evening, to rest his +brain and refresh his nerves." + +"I believe," replied Herr von Keudell, "no one is with him, but he has +a few things to conclude." + +The door opened, and Bismarck entered. He greeted his wife and daughter +affectionately, shook hands with von Keudell, and seated himself in the +small family circle. + +The minister's daughter poured out tea, whilst a servant handed him a +cut-glass of Bavarian beer, which he half emptied at one draught. + +"Field Marshal Wrangel came to see me," said Madame von Bismarck; "he +wished to pay you a visit, but I prevented him, I told him you were +extremely busy." + +"I thank you," replied her husband, "I certainly had no time to-day for +friendly visits. Affairs become more and more involved, and I need +solitude to arrange my thoughts,--and concentrate my will," he added, +as the preoccupied look, perceptible when he entered the room, +increased. + +"The field marshal brought me something very delightful," continued +Madame von Bismarck, as she took up an envelope which lay on a little +table before her; "I had a good laugh with him at this very original +idea." + +So saying, she drew out a little card and presented it to her husband. + +"Ah!" he cried, "my likeness, with little Lucca--have they published it +already? Well, with all my heart; we are both in excellent company!" He +laughed as he examined the little picture, and added: "I met her lately +Unter den Linden, and walked with her a little way, she complained +bitterly of ennui. + + + "'I know not what there is to do, + Unless I'm photographed; do you?' + + +she cried, impatiently. I offered to join her in this singular +amusement, and the result is this comical little carte--which they will +talk about, no doubt. _Tant mieux_, a case of the dog of Alcibiades." +Madame von Bismarck looked at the funny little picture, and laughed +merrily, but her husband was again lost in gloomy thought. + +After a few minutes, during which conversation languished, he raised +his head, turned to Herr von Keudell, and said:-- + +"Will you give us a little music, dear Keudell?" + +Keudell seated himself directly at the open piano, which stood on the +other side of the drawing-room. + +He struck a few chords, and then began to play a kind of prelude, with +his wonderfully clear and powerful touch; it progressed irregularly, +sometimes by unexpected dissonances, which seemed to accord with the +minister's feelings. + +Bismarck rose and walked slowly up and down the room, stepping lightly +that he might not interrupt the music, nor disturb the impression it +made upon him. + +Keudell played on and on, sinking ever deeper into the world of sound. +Suddenly some powerful chords shook themselves free from all +dissonance, and after an easy transition he began to play softly +Beethoven's "Sonata in A major." + +He had scarcely began the simple yet affecting air, when Bismarck +paused, and the expression of his eyes and the smile on his lips showed +that Herr von Keudell's choice consoled and solaced him. + +He again paced the room during the glorious variations evoked from this +simple air by the immense genius of the poet of sound; as their +wonderful sound pictures were unrolled, the minister's face expressed a +mighty inward struggle. Now he paused for a moment as if undecided, +whispering half-spoken words, then again he walked on rapidly, his eyes +gazing into an unseen distance, oblivious of everything around him. + +Madame von Bismarck watched her husband with uneasy sympathy; she saw +his restless, agitated expression, but she did not disturb von +Keudell's playing by a word. + +He had now come to that wonderfully beautiful part of the sonata called +by Beethoven, "Marcia funebre sulla morte d'un eroe," and his masterly +execution made the grand chords of the march resound through the room. + +Bismarck stood still. His powerful hand grasped the back of a chair, +his eyes were directed upwards, and he looked as if an inspiration +passed through his mind as he listened to the impressive tones. + +Then followed a representation of the muffled drums, the blast of the +trumpets resounded, and von Keudell, carried away by the beauty of the +composition, rendered it so as to surpass himself. + +Madame von Bismarck had laid down her work and was listening +thoughtfully. + +The president minister stood motionless. His chest heaved higher, the +powerful muscles of his arm grew stiffer, his eyes seemed to shoot out +light, as their upward gaze sought in imagination the dark sky bestrewn +with stars. + +Once more the trumpet blast arose, then the clear sounds died away, and +after a short pause Herr von Keudell went on to the finale of the +sonata. + +Bismarck looked around as if waking from a dream. He stood still for a +moment, and then half unconsciously whispered these words: + +"And when I go to rest, upon such sounds my soul shall rise. Would a +poet ever have felt at a hero's grave all that those sounds reveal, if +there were not men who dared to banish the doubts that assail the +heart? _Jacta est alea!_" + +And without noticing anyone he quietly left the room. Keudell played to +the end of the sonata. Madame von Bismarck put down her work and looked +anxiously after her husband. + +When the music had ceased she turned to Keudell, who had left the piano +and had again approached her, and said: + +"I am convinced my poor husband is ill, try to find an opportunity of +persuading him to take more care of his health." + +"I will do what I can, dear lady," he returned; "but you know he is +difficult to persuade on this point. Besides, I do not believe he is +unwell; thoughts often come to him when he hears music, probably +something has occurred to him now, and he has gone to write it down at +once." + +Herr von Bismarck had returned to his cabinet with a firm step, and had +seated himself at his writing table. All trace of indecision and +emotion had left his face, the cold calm of his features was now +lighted up by the clear expression of a firm unbending will. + +He seized a pen and wrote, without pause or hesitation, a number of +notes on some foolscap which lay ready on his table. + +After writing for about half an hour he rang the hand bell beside him. + +The groom of the chambers appeared. + +"Is Herr von Keudell still in the house?" + +"At your excellency's command." + +"Request him to come to me for a moment." + +A few minutes later the minister of legation entered. + +"Dear Keudell," said Bismarck, "here are some notes of instruction to +the ambassadors in Vienna, Frankfort, and Paris, will you have the +goodness to attend to their immediate transmission? Abeken, with his +usual talent, will complete the composition quite in my style. Usedom +must receive the same instructions, with the additions I have written +on the margin." + +"I will take care everything is done immediately," said Keudell, +bowing, "and to-morrow they shall be sent off." + +He glanced at the paper he held in his hand. + +"Your excellency," he said with horror, "this is war!" + +"It is," said Bismarck. "And now good night. Adieu, dear Keudell, until +to-morrow; we must sleep, I am really tired, and my nerves require +rest." + +Herr von Keudell withdrew. + +Half an hour later, perfect silence prevailed throughout the Foreign +Office; it was as completely shrouded in the darkness of night as the +fate of the future was veiled by the hand of Providence. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + FAIR WENDLAND. + + +Around the town of Luechow, in Hanover, lies the fertile and peculiar +country, called, without regard to official subdivisions, by the +general name of "Wendland." It is one of the portions of Germany where +the old Wend race have preserved themselves tenaciously from any +admixture of blood, and where their own especial manners and customs +still survive. + +This Wendland is a beautiful, rich, and luxuriant country, not +beautiful from picturesque views, where hills and valleys unexpectedly +arrest the eye, but delightful from the peaceful abundance which +clothes its broad plains. Groups of tall and beautiful trees alone vary +the even surface of the fields and pastures, but the trees here are +remarkable for their grand and stately growth, and from amongst them, +gilded by the golden sunlight, here peeps the church of some quiet +village, there the old roof of some nobleman's seat; in the distance +the outline of a little town appears; and the traveller feels how +peaceful it must be to live there, far from the noisy world, the faint +echo of whose turbulent waves can scarcely reach the quiet dwellings of +the peace-loving inhabitants. Sometimes large sandy plains stretch out +with their enormous pine woods; monotonous in colour, and solitary, +they have somewhat of the beauty of the sea; a broad sandy road leads +through them; the wild animals approach with little shyness, an +inquisitive daw accompanies the carriage; the strong horses go on +slowly, but easily; nothing is to be seen but the sky, fir trees, and +sand, unless another carriage appears going in the opposite direction; +it is seen a long way off, the travellers greet one another, exchange a +few words, and are glad of the incident. When the end of the pine +forest is reached, and the shadow of the luxuriant deciduous trees +falls on the head of the traveller wearied with the sun; when the rich +abundance of the cultivated land greets his eye, and he breathes the +mild but invigorating air, he feels the refreshing influences, the +horses shake their heads and begin to trot of their own accord, and the +coachman with the skilful cracks of his whip, brings out all the dogs +from the village inns. + +In short, it is a country where travelling still has its troubles and +difficulties, and where its old poetry still exists; in the small towns +the old manners and curious customs survive, and the door of the +nobleman's house is still hospitably opened to the traveller, who seems +to bring with him a breath from the great world, the doings, of which, +with all its pursuits, sound only like sagas to the inhabitants of +these quiet homes. + +Such is old Wendland, simple, beautiful, and true. The inhabitants are +like the country--healthy and strong as the nature around them, simple +as the land in which they live; rich, because they have what they want, +and make no wants they cannot satisfy; strong in their affections, +clear in their simple faith, full of natural unexpressed poetry, with +hearts full of warm pure blood. + +Through one of these large solitary pine woods, as the sun was setting +on one of the first evenings in April, 1866, there rode along the sandy +way a young officer in the uniform of the Hanoverian Cambridge +dragoons. He left his beautiful thorough-bred horse to find its own +way, which it appeared to know perfectly, whilst he sat carelessly and +dreamily in the saddle. A fair moustache covered the young man's upper +lip, his blue eyes gazed thoughtfully into the distance, as if he +sought in the golden evening clouds surrounding the setting sun, the +pictures which filled and occupied his mind. His light hair, though cut +very short, contrived to curl coquettishly beneath the small military +cap, and his face was rather pale, and though perfectly healthy, showed +the peculiar delicacy which young people who have grown very fast +frequently retain for a few years after they have reached manhood. + +For a quarter of an hour the young officer rode on slowly and dreamily +through the pine wood, the shadow of his horse, as it fell behind him, +growing longer and longer, and the voices of the birds telling they +were fluttering to their nests. + +Then the road turned, the wood suddenly opened and a venerable castle +appeared at some little distance, surrounded by tall old trees, the +last rays of the sun making its large windows appear to stream with +light. + +At the end of the wood the village began; it was built sideways from +the castle, in the form of a semicircle, as is usual in Wendland +villages. + +The dogs barked. The young officer awoke from his reverie, and +straightened himself in the saddle. The horse felt the movement and +wanted no other urging; he quitted his walk, and trotted with pointed +ears through the village on the road to the castle. + +The houses stood open on the warm beautiful spring evening. On their +gables were seen the characteristic horses' heads, which in all Low +Saxon countries play so important a part; their worship was formerly +accepted by the Wends here, and the figures are still carefully +retained. + +Peasant women, both old and young, sat before their doors, occupied +with their needles; inside the open houses the women were seen +finishing their work at the loom, and as they worked, they sang the +strange, melancholy, monotonous songs which are peculiar to the Wend +race. + +At every house the young officer was greeted, and he returned the +salutations in a friendly way, speaking to most of the peasants by +name, in a manner that showed he was well known, and near home. + +On one side of the semicircular village, not far from the road leading +to the castle, stood a plain old church, and near to it, in a pretty, +well-kept garden, the quiet, cheerful-looking vicarage. + +There was a foot-path from the garden to the broad road leading to the +castle, and on this path two persons walked towards the highway. + +One was an old gentleman of nearly sixty years of age; his black coat +buttoned up to his throat, his dazzlingly white cravat of fine folded +cambric, as also that remarkable tall square biretta of black velvet, +made on the exact pattern of those handed down to us in portraits of +Luther and Melanchthon, and still preferred by the Hanoverian clergy, +showed at a glance that he was the village pastor. + +His full, strongly-marked face, with its healthy colour, expressed, +besides benevolent cheerfulness, a great deal of energetic character, +and a decided, cultivated mind, which, separated from the great stream +of life, had developed wonderfully in seclusion, framing a world of its +own, where it found both peace and happiness. + +It was Pastor Berger, who for more than twenty years had lived here +amongst his flock. + +Beside him walked his only daughter; for the last ten years, ever since +her mother's death, she alone had shared her father's quiet life, and +he had bestowed upon her education great and loving care; avoiding the +common taste for amusements only to be found in the great world so far +off, and teaching her to enjoy the quiet happiness which so completely +satisfied himself. + +The young girl's dark dress had a certain elegance, notwithstanding its +country simplicity. She was not tall, but slender and graceful; her +glossy chestnut hair appeared beneath the black velvet hat which shaded +her delicate oval face, the slightly parted fresh lips smiled as if +they breathed in happiness, whilst the brilliant though soft and +thoughtful eyes, showed depths of intense poetic feeling. + +The young officer perceived them, reined in his horse, and raising his +hand to his cap for a military salute, exclaimed, "Good evening, Herr +Pastor; good evening, Miss Helena!" + +The clergyman called out "Good evening" loudly and cheerfully, and he +too saluted with his hand; his daughter only slightly bowed her head +without uttering a word, but the smile trembling on her lips, the +joyful look beaming in her eyes, proved her greeting to be as hearty as +her father's. + +They both hastened on, and in a few moments they overtook the young man +who awaited them on the high road; he sprang from his horse as the +pastor and his daughter approached, and held out his hand. + +"You were expected yesterday, Herr von Wendenstein," said the pastor; +"your brother arrived the day before, and your father began to fear +your leave had been refused." + +"I could not come sooner--I was on duty yesterday," replied the young +officer; "but that will enable me to stay two days longer. I can have +some more lessons in natural history from my little mistress," he +added, turning to the girl with a smile; she meanwhile was patting and +caressing the horse's neck and head. + +"If you are not more attentive and diligent than you were last time, +you will make very little progress," said the pastor's daughter; "but +give me Roland's bridle, he likes me to lead him best, and make haste +to the castle; we were going there, and we shall be much more welcome +if we bring you with us." + +She took the horse's bridle, stepped aside, and followed the two +gentlemen to the castle, leading the horse and speaking a coaxing word +to him from time to time. + +The approach to the castle was through a massive gateway leading into a +paved court-yard, surrounded by low walls, which evidently had replaced +the ancient bulwarks. + +In the midst of this large enclosure stood a single linden-tree of +great age; to the right and left were stables and domestic offices, +apparently modern, in two large low buildings. On the further side of +the court-yard was the dwelling-house itself, the remains of an edifice +evidently once of immense extent. Without any architectural beauty, +without even belonging to any particular period, the castle made the +impression which a large and ancient mass of stone-work of vast +dimensions, placed in the open country and surrounded with trees, +always produces. + +The enormous oaken door of the house stood open; it led into a large +stone hall lighted by two great windows on the right and left of the +doorway. Against the walls of this hall stood many of those immense oak +chests, black with age, in which our forefathers from generation to +generation stored their household treasures of linen, silver plate, +their family papers, and whatever else they considered valuable and +worthy of preservation. + +These old coffers tell us almost as much as a family chronicle, or as +some old Saga; they disappear in these modern times--there is no room +for them in our modern tiny drawing-rooms, or in the boudoirs crowded +with knick-knacks of the housewives of the present day. They are no +longer needed; who would now dream of beginning a collection of fine +linen for a daughter's trousseau as soon as she was born? it can be +bought good, cheap, and above all, in the newest style at the shops. +What need is there now for such deep, broad shrines to contain the +silver plate of the house, when electro-plate is so beautiful, and can +be changed with the fashion? However, these venerable old coffers still +stood in the place of honour, and cared nothing about the generation of +console-tables and tiny brackets which had taken the world by storm; +above them hung dark old oil-paintings, hunting pieces with wonderfully +stiff gentlemen riding equally stiff steeds, then came shepherdesses +leading their flocks through very flowery meadows to the shade of +woods, with long straight alleys strongly resembling Versailles; there +were family portraits of old gentlemen in enormous wigs and velvet +coats, in long-forgotten uniforms, and in black robes; there were +smiling ladies with ruffs, fontanges, or sacks. And the old times +seemed to live and breathe here quite naturally, as if it would always +be the same to-day as it was yesterday, and the same to-morrow as it +was to-day. + +Right and left of this lofty and spacious hall, old oaken doors led to +the principal sitting-rooms; opposite to the entrance was a large +apartment, which in a modern house would be called the drawing-room, +but here its simple and massive furniture corresponded with the rest of +the castle. The only modern thing in the room was a beautiful piano; it +stood open, and the music lying about it showed it was constantly used. + +A large high-backed sofa stood against the wall, behind an enormous +table of dark mahogany supported on column-like legs; a lamp with a +large ground-glass globe and a tall, slender green lacquered stand, was +already lighted, and struggled against the mild twilight which entered +the room through two large windows and an open glass door. Beyond the +glass door was a broad terrace, which extended along the whole length +of the house on the garden side, and ended at the right corner in a +round platform resting on stone foundations, evidently the spot on +which in former times a large round tower must have stood. + +High trees enclosed the terrace, but there were well-arranged vistas +allowing the light to enter the windows freely, and opening out distant +glimpses of the rich country extending on every side. Flower-beds edged +with box adorned the well-kept lawn, already gay with variegated +crocuses and snowdrops. + +Such was the old castle of Blechow, where for the last eighteen years +the worthy President von Wendenstein had administered the law after the +patriarchal fashion of Hanover, where formerly the large landowners +were also the chief magistrates, and the golden fruit of the tree was +more highly prized than the grey theory of administrative form. + +Herr von Wendenstein was not the autocrat his forefathers had been; a +more severe standard had been raised, and the government of the country +was different--more unbending, more bureaucratic; but the old office +had devolved upon him with the castle of Blechow, and a considerable +fortune permitted him to live in the style of former Hanoverian _high +sheriffs_[2] and chief magistrates; his clear understanding and +knowledge of the law enabled him to satisfy the new authorities, while +he maintained the old order of things as much as possible, the personal +respect and esteem he inspired greatly strengthening his authority. + +In the large family sitting-room, on the big sofa, before the table, +now brightly lighted by the lamp as the twilight decreased, sat the +mistress of the house, Madame von Wendenstein, the worthy mistress of +this great old echoing castle, with its enormous doors, bewitching +coffers, and venerable portraits. A snow-white tulle cap, with +carefully-plaited frills and silver grey ribbons, surrounded the old +lady's delicate-featured, somewhat pale face, which, although she was +only a few years younger than her husband, still bore traces of great +beauty in the well-formed mouth and the large almond-shaped blue eyes. +The hair, still abundant, though almost white, was smoothly parted, and +hung in carefully-curled locks on either side her face; these the old +lady frequently stroked back with her slender white fingers, and +arranged beneath the borders of her cap. Her features expressed unusual +mildness and gentleness, and at the same time such extreme repose +and unassuming dignity, that no stranger could have seen her, as she +sat in her simple black silk dress, made in no French fashion, either +old or modern, with its exquisitely white collar and cuffs, her hands +resting in her lap with the white embroidery on which they had been +occupied, her eyes fixed upon the evening sky with a look of thankful +happiness,--no stranger could have seen her without feeling that a +spirit of order, gentleness, and hospitality would greet all who +entered the house. No speck of dust, no ill-cooked dish, no deviation +from the regular times and hours would be permitted; but no trouble +could assail a member of the family, no body or heart could suffer +without the quick, true eyes of the mother and wife perceiving it, +without a kind, good word from her mouth endeavouring to alleviate and +console. + +Such was the mistress of the old castle of Blechow. Her daughters, two +young girls, sat beside her, pretty, blooming creatures of fifteen and +eighteen, the latter possessing the beauty of the grown-up maiden, the +former the charm of childhood. Their toilettes were very simple, but +their beautifully-embroidered _lingerie_ and tastefully arranged hair, +gave them an appearance of great refinement. + +With the ladies sat the auditor von Bergfeld, the assistant granted to +the president, who, according to old-fashioned custom, was received as +a guest in the family. + +President von Wendenstein walked up and down the terrace with his +eldest son, who was employed by the Ministry of the Interior in Hanover +as a government assessor and reporter. He had come to Blechow to keep +his father's birthday, which had for some years past always been +observed by the family. + +President von Wendenstein had a pleasing and dignified appearance. His +thick close-cut grey hair surrounded a broad forehead, with thick, +arched eyebrows, beneath which were dark grey eyes, so clear, sharp and +severe, yet with such an expression of jovial cheerfulness, such sparks +of fiery animation, it was impossible not to imagine him twenty years +younger than he really was. His long, well-shaped nose, his broad +mouth, with full red lips and excellent teeth, his fresh complexion, +formed altogether a picture of mental power and physical enjoyment of +life commanding sympathy and respect. + +He had, according to the old fashion, no beard, and he wore clothes of +a light grey woolens material, with a light cap. His strong right hand +grasped an ivory-handled stick, with which he supported his steps, for +he suffered from gout, the only weakness that appeared in the healthy, +energetic old gentleman. + +His eldest son walked by him, in features unmistakeably resembling his +father, in every other respect totally unlike him. + +His dress, even to his hat, was that of a dweller in cities--glossy, +simple, and faultless; his face, paler than his father's, expressed +both polite civility and official reserve. His hair was smooth and +carefully parted, his whiskers cut after the newest fashion, and his +movements were quiet, gentle, and studied. + +Such had his father never been in his youth--that could be seen at a +glance, but he had grown up in very different times: the father was a +character, the son a type. + +"And you may say what you like," cried Herr von Wendenstein with +animation, as he stood still and planted his stick firmly on the +ground, "this new method of administration which is continually +progressing, will not answer, and will lead to nothing good. These +everlasting inquiries compel us to make reports, which take up an +endless time, and seldom give a clear account of the matter; these +orders on every possible subject (they often just miss knocking the +nail on the head) take from the immediate governors of the country all +self-reliance, all responsibility, and turn organization into +machinery. The people and the country, however, continue living flesh +and blood, and will not fit into the machine, hence the government is +estranged from those governed, the magistrates become mere scribes, and +stand helplessly by when an occasion arises requiring decision and +judgment. Ever since the most humble reports to every inquiry and the +most exact compliance with every order emanating from the boards of +green cloth have become essential, human beings, who cannot be shut up +and put away with law acts, have got on as they could, and," he added +with a jovial laugh, "that is the least evil, for folks often get on +best alone. The good old times--well, they had their faults, but in +this they were better. The magistrates knew the people, and lived +amongst them; they acted according to the law and their own +consciences, and the government supported them. The minister travelled +through the country once a year, and knew much better what went on, and +on whom he could depend, than they will ever discover now from the most +lengthy reports. But," he said laughingly, after a moment's pause, "I +have no right to complain. If they require reports they give me an +auditor to write them, and the orders I receive with due respect, but I +give judgment after the old laws, and my subjects are quite contented. +I think they will find everything in my jurisdiction in perfect order, +more so than in many others where the modern method is more fully +established." + +His son listened with the respect always shown to his father in this +family, but he could not prevent a half impatient, half compassionate +smile from curling his lip. As his father ceased, he replied in the +measured, half pathetic, half monotonous voice peculiar to the +eloquence of the green board, and known throughout the world wherever +tables covered with green cloth, reports, and acts of parliament exist. + +"It is only natural, my dear father, that you should love and defend +old times; but you will agree with me, when I say the developments of +time require alterations in government. The power of the landowners, +the basis of the national economy of former generations, made them +despotic, and divided the country and the people into isolated groups; +individuals and acquaintances composed these almost domestic societies; +they lived their own separate lives, and it was then right and suitable +that the government should be equally individual. Now the national +economy struggles for concentration; the great means of locomotion in +our day, always rapidly increasing, destroys the boundaries of time and +space, those powers which separated different societies. The individual +group now forms part of the comprehensive whole, and it is needful for +the government to follow out this development of life in the people and +the country, by quick changes and rapid concentration; a strong +principle, a pervading system, is required throughout the +administration, or the machine will stand still. Believe me, dear +father, the government does not force a new element into our life, it +is life itself in its irresistible development which obliges the +government to adopt a quicker and more precise form, of administration. +Besides," he added, "I do not believe our views are so very different; +with all your love for the past, you are quite equal to the present. +The minister told me lately the punctuality, order, and quickness in +your jurisdiction were admirable, and always remarked by the +authorities." + +The old gentleman smiled, visibly flattered by his son's compliment, +and said good-humouredly: + +"Well, I manage to keep pace with the present, but I love the past +best; and notwithstanding all you have said, I think matters might have +been managed with less system, paper, and ink. But we will not argue +about it any more," he said, as he patted his son's shoulder; "I am a +child of my own generation, you live in yours;--men always bear the +stamp of the times in which they live, whether they will or no. It is a +pity the Present takes it so easily, and that all her children are +stamped after the same pattern: they are made at a manufactory, and no +longer bear signs of good home-made work. But let us go in, your mother +is at the door calling us, and my old enemy," pointing to his foot with +his stick, "conspires with the evening air a new attack upon my old +bones." + +He turned slowly to the glass door of the drawing-room where his wife +stood looking as if framed, as she gazed after him anxiously. + +He had reached her side followed by his son, when the barking of the +dogs in the courtyard was heard, and soon afterwards voices sounded in +the hall. + +An old servant in a neat green livery opened the door, and the pastor +Berger with his daughter Helena entered. The president, who had the +greatest esteem for the clergyman, welcomed him warmly, and shook hands +with him most heartily before he had time even to greet the lady of the +house: and his daughters seized on Helena. + +"We come," said the pastor, "according to our custom at the close of +another year of your life, to return thanks to you for all the kindness +you have shown us during that period, and we bring the lieutenant with +us; we fell in with him on the road, and like a true cavalry soldier he +has gone first to the stable to look after his horse." + +"He has come," said Madame von Wendenstein with joy. "I feared he might +not get leave." + +The door opened hastily, and with quick steps and jingling spurs +Lieutenant von Wendenstein hastened to his mother, who embraced him +warmly, whilst he kissed her hand. He then went to his father, who +kissed him on the cheeks and gazed with pride on the handsome young man +as he stood before him with his upright military bearing. + +"I am late," said the lieutenant, "because we have so much to do. My +comrades desire me to say they will all come to congratulate you +to-morrow, dear father, if possible, but we have an immense amount of +work of all kinds. The yearly exercises are to take place earlier, the +order has come quite suddenly, and you can imagine how much extra work +this has given us." + +After the lieutenant had shaken hands affectionately with his brother, +he turned to his sisters and the pastor's daughter, and began a lively +conversation with the three young girls and the auditor von Bergfeld, +which was frequently interrupted by merry laughter, while the pastor +with the president and his eldest son, joined Madame von Wendenstein at +the large table before the sofa. + +"It is very unusual," said the president, "this hastening of the +exercises, of which my son spoke, and which I had before seen in the +newspapers. Foreign affairs are not my province, and I generally +trouble myself little about them, but how this measure can assist in +the present grave crisis I do not understand." + +"It is an exceptional means," replied his son, with the air of one of +the initiated, "used to meet a complicated embarrassment. The quarrel +between Prussia and Austria grows sharper every day, and the German +governments desire a mobilization of the confederacy's contingencies. +Prussia on the other hand requires strict neutrality, and the +man[oe]uvres have been hastened to avoid the mobilization, and yet to +have the troops in readiness should war break out." + +"With all respect for your ministerial wisdom," replied his father, +jokingly, "I cannot see what good it will do. If Prussia requires +neutrality she will be as much hurt and disquieted by this irregularity +as by mobilization itself, though the military preparations for actual +war are much less complete, and Austria and her allies will see in this +a withdrawal from their common interests. My opinion is, a decision +should be made one way or the other. If war does not break out--as I +still hope--nothing is lost, and if it comes, we have at least on one +side a support and a strong position. What troubles me," he added +thoughtfully and gravely, "I do not love the Prussians; we Hanoverians, +from old wounds, feel little sympathy with Prussia. I regret that our +army has been taken out of the old Hanoverian uniform, and put into a +Prussian-like one; I regret still more that Herr von Beningsen and his +national unionists have so completely brought us under Prussian ideas; +but still I should prefer that we remained on a good footing with our +great and dangerous neighbour, and that we joined in no hare-brained +enterprise with Austria, in whom I have no confidence, and who has +never done us or Germany any good; above all things, I would not that +we, in our dangerously-exposed position, should sit upon two stools, +and yet," he said, pausing, "that is what our rulers are doing. Our +foreign minister, Count Platen, I do not know; I met him once in +Hanover, and he appeared to be an affable and agreeable man, but +Bacmeister I do know, and I know his character and his intellect,--what +does he say to this measure?" + +The government assessor cleared his throat and replied, "These things +belong entirely to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the War Office. +I do not know whether the measure has been discussed in a general +council, certainly I have not heard my chief express his opinion, but +he is always careful not to commit himself on any subject. In Hanover +they quite believe hostilities will not really take place." + +"God grant they may be right," cried the pastor with a sigh, "a German +war! what a frightful misfortune, and I know not on which side my +sympathy would lie; however the war ended, one of the two great German +rivals would preponderate. I cannot wish for papist Austria with her +Croatians, Pandurs and Sclaves; my own personal feeling draws me to our +northern brothers, with whom we have so much in common, but that +Prussian influence should be all-powerful in Germany without any +counterpoise, I cannot certainly desire; from Berlin came the +Rationalism now threatening the whole Protestant Church with its +dangerous indifference. May God direct and enlighten our king that he +may choose aright, and preserve the pure Lutheran church in our beloved +Hanover." + +"Yes, God grant us peace! for this I pray daily," said Madame von +Wendenstein, looking anxiously at her youngest son, whose merry laugh +had just been heard from the group of young people established in the +window. "What sorrow, what misery war brings to every family, and what +end is to be gained? Greater weight in the political scale for one or +another power: I think if everyone would strive to make his own +household and his own immediate circle better and happier the world +would be more improved than by struggling after things which can give +no true happiness to a single human being." + +"There we have my true housewife," laughed the president; "what does +not concern her house, her cellar, and her kitchen, is useless and +pernicious, and according to her views statesmen should turn into a +large family circle, and politics be thrown into the lumber room." + +"And is not my honoured friend right?" said the pastor, smiling at +Madame von Wendenstein; "is it not woman's duty to work for peace, and +to cherish the seed we sow in the Lord's temple, that it may flower and +bring forth fruit in the house? God gives to the mighty ones of the +earth the right to draw the sword he has placed in their hand, they +must do their duty and answer for it afterwards; but I believe the +Eternal Father has more joy in the peaceful happiness of a united home +than in the most talented combinations of policy, or the bloody laurels +of the battle-field." + +"Well," said the president, "we cannot alter the course of events, so +let us think of nourishing our own bodies; that will, I am sure, do us +all good." + +The old servant had thrown open two large folding-doors on one side of +the drawing-room, and the spacious dining-room, with a table ready laid +and lighted with massive silver branches, appeared, whilst a most +appetizing odour of cookery invited everyone to enter and partake. + +The president rose. The pastor gave his arm to the lady of the house, +and led her to the dining-room, followed by the rest of the party, who +were soon seated around the table in the plainly-furnished room +ornamented with stags' antlers and deer's heads, enjoying the excellent +dinner provided by the house steward, and the choice specimens of the +treasures in the cellars. There was plenty of cheerful conversation, +but nothing was said about politics. + +In the meantime there was great excitement in one of the principal +houses of the semi-circular village, usually so quiet. The large hall, +the door of which was wide open, was brightly lighted and filled with +different groups of young peasant men and maidens in their best Sunday +costumes; the strongly-built young fellows wore jackets and hats +trimmed with fur, the maidens short, close-fitting dresses and white +handkerchiefs, with bright-coloured ribbons in their thick plaits of +hair. + +Fresh guests continually arrived and joined the young people already +assembled, while the other inhabitants of the village, the older +peasants and children, walked up and down, and looked in at their young +friends. + +Old farmer Deyke, one of the principal farmers of the Blechow estate, +a widower for some years, inhabited the large farm-house with his +only son Fritz. He went from group to group, and his old rigid, +sharply-marked countenance, with its cunning, piercing dark eyes, +beneath bushy eyebrows, showed itself capable of very different +expressions. Now it assumed jocular good nature, as he pressed the hand +of a rich farmer's son and whispered in his ear some tale of his own +youth; now his face expressed benevolent condescension, as he said an +encouraging word to a poorer neighbour; now cold reserve as he returned +the salutation of some young man not quite in good repute in the +neighbourhood, but whom he was too hospitable not to entertain on such +an occasion. + +His son Fritz went about amongst his friends with much less dignity. He +was a slight but strong young man, with kind, true blue eyes, and +flaxen hair cut short in the military fashion. He joked with the girls, +and must have said very merry things, for they put their heads +together, and laughed and tittered, until they got red in the face, +long after the old farmer's merry son had left them and gone on to +another group; and then he went up to the young men, and seizing two of +them under the arms, led them to the table at one end of the hall +covered with a white cloth, and crowded with beer-jugs, hams, bread, +and cold beef. It was evident that Fritz was immensely popular. + +He was very good-looking, beloved by young and old, and as the only son +and heir of the rich Deyke, the holder of the largest farm in the +neighbourhood, all the pretty girls belonging to the best peasant +families looked after him with beating hearts and unspoken hopes, and +there was no father or mother in the village but would have received +him as a son-in-law with the greatest joy. + +But he was unscathed amongst all these pretty peasant girls; he joked +and laughed with them all, danced with them all at country festivities, +gave first one and then another a bouquet from his father's well-kept +garden, or a ribbon or a picture from the store of some travelling +dealer, and these gifts raised the hopes of the pretty Blechow girls; +but he never went any further, or seemed to see the kind looks of the +daughters, or to notice the encouraging hints of the fathers and +mothers. None of the young men felt jealous of him, he was never a +rival, he took every opportunity of treating his young friends, and +spent the thalers, with which his father plentifully supplied him, +quite as much on their pleasures as on his own. + +The young people all made way, and left the centre of the hall free as +the village schoolmaster entered, a simple-looking old man, in a black +coat and a black cocked hat. + +The elder Deyke greeted him in a manner that showed he respected the +position and character of his guest, but felt himself a person of much +greater importance, but his son hastily seized his old master's hand, +and cried: "We are all ready, Herr Niemeyer, and it is time to go to +the castle; the president sat down to dinner half an hour ago, and it +will be another half hour before we are all there and prepared, so +forwards! forwards!" + +He quickly arranged all the young people in couples, first the young +men, then the girls, and to each young man he gave a pine-wood torch +from a large heap which lay ready on one side of the hall, and some +matches for lighting them. He then seized the arm of the schoolmaster, +and with his father they headed the procession, which silently moved +towards the castle, whilst the older villagers looked on with interest, +and then followed, whispering together. + +The president's cheerful dinner had come to an end. The old butler +removed the cover of an enormous Saxony china bowl standing on a side +table, from which came the delightful aroma of Scharzhofberger Moselle, +mingled with the perfume of the pine-apple slices floating in the wine. +He uncorked some bottles of Champagne, poured the contents into the +bowl, put in the large silver ladle, and placed it on the table before +the president, who, after tasting and approving the mixture, filled +large glasses for all his guests. + +The pastor raised his glass, inhaled the delicious fragrance for a +moment with visible respect, admired the light bright yellow colour, +and then spoke in a way happily combining the clergyman with the old +friend of the family: + +"My dear friends! our worthy president, around whose hospitable board +we are now assembled, enters to-morrow upon a new year of his active +and useful life. To-morrow we shall greet the new year; to-day let us +take leave of the past. The cares and troubles it brought our friend +are over, and have only led to good; the happiness he has bestowed on +so many, the cheerful hours he has caused, should be remembered to +strengthen and refresh him in the evil moments the future will bring +even to him, as to all the dwellers on the earth, as long as darkness +and light wrestle together. May the remembrance of the past year urge +us all to continue true to one another in love and friendship. Let us +dedicate this quiet glass to the memory of the past year of our dear +president's life." And putting his glass to his lips, he emptied it to +the dregs. + +They all followed his example, the ladies not excepted, for from the +simple, healthy life they led, they did not fear a glass of generous +wine as the more delicate specimens of the fair sex usually do in large +cities. + +"God grant, my friends, that at the close of the next year, which looks +so threatening, we may all be sitting here as happy and as cheerful as +we are now," said the president, with emotion in his face and voice; +"and now," he added cheerfully, as he felt general conversation could +not be again resumed, "let us rise and smoke the pipe of peace. John, +bring the bowl, we will have another word with that." + +The whole party rose and returned to the drawing-room. They found the +doors leading into the hall set open; the enormous house-door was also +thrown wide open, so that they saw right into the courtyard, with the +old linden-tree in the midst. It was lighted up with dark red flames, +and amidst the masses of smoke which here and there interrupted the +fiery waves, groups of men appeared, their movements looking strangely +fantastic in the reflections of the flames, and from them came the +sound of whispering voices. + +The president was amazed and even alarmed, for his first idea was that +a fire had broken out in his stables; but the old servant stepped up to +him and whispered: "The young people from the village wish to serenade +you, sir, the evening before your birthday." + +The president, who had been about to hasten into the courtyard, paused, +a look of happy emotion shining in his eyes. The pastor, who was +prepared for the surprise, exchanged a smile with the lady of the +house, and the young people gazed inquisitively into the courtyard. + +After the president appeared, there was a moment of deep silence; then +strong, clear voices raised the simple touching chorale, "Oh! God, our +help in ages past." + + + "Wer nun den lieben Gott laeszt walten." + + +The full ringing sounds, and the dark red light of the torches streamed +through the large hall and entered the room where the family stood, +while from the large window on the garden side the full moon shone +brightly in from the dark evening sky, and shed long streams of light +upon the floor. + +The president stood still, surrounded by those he loved in his quiet +home, the calm light of the moon falling upon him, as if it were the +farewell greeting of the past year. Was the uncertain, blood-red light +filling the courtyard the picture of the coming year? Yet from the +fiery light came the old pious hymn which has so often strengthened and +comforted men's hearts. Let the Future come; if she brings strife and +sorrow, she will also bring strength and consolation. + +Such thoughts as these passed through the mind of the president. His +wife, who had placed herself beside him, had folded her hands together +and slightly bowed her head. + + + "O God, our help in ages past, + Our hope in years to come, + Our shelter from the stormy blast, + And our eternal home,"[3] + + +resounded. The old lady gazed at her soldier-son, whose eyes shone with +pleasure at the picturesque effect produced by the torchlight on the +groups of peasants, and on the buildings around the court. Her hands +were more tightly clasped, her lips moved in silent prayer, and a tear +ran slowly down her cheek; then she bent her head lower, and listened +without moving to the end of the chorale. + +When the sounds had quite died away, a general movement commenced. Old +Deyke and the schoolmaster entered; and the former said, in his most +important and dignified manner, the schoolmaster standing meekly behind +him: "Herr President, the young people have had the honour of welcoming +your approaching birthday by a serenade; the schoolmaster has +instructed them"--(he looked round, and the poor man bowed shyly, +trying not to feel as if all eyes were upon him). "They came and +consulted me, and I saw no objection; for, Herr President, you are well +aware the whole village feels interested in your family festival; yes, +and we know you rejoice that we should show how much we have your +happiness and that of your worthy family at heart. My only anxiety was +lest the sudden commotion before the house might"--and he turned to +Madame von Wendenstein--"alarm your honoured lady; but the schoolmaster +said it must be a surprise, or the whole point would be lost." + +"Thank you--thank you all from my whole heart. My good old Deyke!" +exclaimed the president, warmly shaking his hand, "you have given me +the greatest pleasure, and such an alarm as this will never injure my +wife." + +"Certainly not," said Madame von Wendenstein, whose face had recovered +all its quiet cheerfulness. She offered the old peasant her small white +hand, which he took with a certain amount of care, and added: "I thank +you heartily for your affection to my husband." + +"But where is Fritz?" cried the lieutenant. "I have been surprised not +to see him; eh! old Deyke, where is my old playmate?" + +"Here, Herr Lieutenant," cried young Deyke's cheerful voice, as the +handsome young peasant stepped from a dark corner of the hall and +entered the sitting-room. "I am very glad you are here, sir, and that +you remember me." + +Whilst the lieutenant warmly greeted the young peasant, his elder +brother shook hands with old Deyke, with a certain stiff politeness, +and the president cried: + +"Now, every one must eat and drink in the courtyard. It is the young +people's turn to be pleased. It must never be said that my friends, +after giving me so much pleasure, went away with empty mouths." +Madame von Wendenstein gave her eldest daughter a sign, and soon all +the servants in the house were hastily carrying tables, white cloths, +plates, jugs, and bottles into the courtyard. + +The schoolmaster, however, whispered something to old Deyke, who said, +"Herr President, the schoolmaster begs your kind entertainment may be +put off until the other songs are sung, as he fears the voices will not +be in such good order afterwards!" + +"Are you going to sing to us again?" cried the president, with +pleasure. "Pray go on then, Herr Niemeyer. Sit down with us, my dear +Deyke, and let us drink a glass to old times!" + +He had some arm-chairs rolled into the middle of the room, and made the +old peasant sit with the pastor and himself. The lieutenant fetched +some cigars; the eldest son filled the glasses. The old peasant +moistened his cigar with his lips, and smoked it with carefully +screwed-up mouth. He knocked his glass against the president's and the +pastor's, half emptied it, with a satisfied nod at its contents; then +he sat very upright on his chair, with a look which showed he was +sensible what a high honour it was to sit in such company, as well as +the conviction that he was quite the man on whom such honour should +fall. + +The schoolmaster and young Deyke had hastened out again, and soon the +simple but beautiful _volkslied_ of the country commenced. + +Madame von Wendenstein returned to her place on the sofa, and listened +thoughtfully to the melodious sounds; her eldest son stepped, with Herr +von Bergfeld, into a window-niche; the president's youngest daughter +had followed her sister; the lieutenant walked up and down the room, +listening to the singing with some impatience; for he longed to go out +to the young peasants, whom he had known from childhood, and joke and +laugh with them. + +The pastor's daughter, forsaken by her young friends, stepped out on to +the terrace. She leant against the stone balustrade and looked up at +the moon; its silvery rays fell on her thoughtful, beautiful face, and +lighted up her large clear eyes. + +After the lieutenant had paced up and down the room several times, he, +too, went on to the terrace. He breathed in the fresh evening air, +looked at the well-known plain below as it lay in the moonlight, and +then perceived the young girl, whom he hastened to join. + +"Are you indulging in romantic dreams in the moonlight, Miss Helena?" +he cried, jokingly. "May I share them, or is it needful to be quite +alone?" + +"The moon always makes me come out, whether I will or not," said +Helena, "and the singing sounds even better here. But I was dreaming a +little," she said, laughingly, as she raised herself from the stone +balustrade; "my thoughts were far away from here, up in the clouds," +and she pointed with her hand to a black bank of clouds, stretching +from the horizon towards the moon, whose light touched their edges with +silver. They looked like a black mantle with a brilliant hem. + +"I know your thoughts go far and wide, and I like to hear them, for +they take me to a world I love, but to which I cannot go alone. You +remember the old story of the wonderful garden no one could enter +unless they knew the magic word which opened the door in the rock? you +know this word. Even as a child I was never happier than when listening +to your ideas; they took me so far away from every-day life. Tell me +what you and the clouds have been talking about." + +"Do you see," said the young girl, as she looked upwards, "do you see +that black cloud resting so quietly in the moonlight? An image of +peace, you might almost believe it had ever been there, and would ever +remain; yet in a short time the cloud has spread itself far, far over +the country--will it bring blessing and fruitfulness, or will it spread +tempest and destruction over the land, destroying the hopes of the +husbandman? Who can tell? but we know it will move away from the light +now so peacefully shining upon it, though the moon will shine on as it +has ever done. Such is life; such is the fate of man," she added, in a +melancholy tone; "now we are in happy peace; soon we may feel the wild +tempest." + +"Your thoughts are always sad," said the lieutenant, with a slight +smile, whilst a reflection of the young girl's enthusiasm appeared in +his face, "always grave, but always beautiful; but I cannot imagine," +he added, "how such ideas come to you." + +"How can I help it?" she returned, "when they talk so much of war, and +the threatening future; how soon our peaceful happiness may vanish like +the moon if the cloud rises higher!" + +The young officer looked grave, and was silent for a moment. + +"How extraordinary!" he then said. "War is my business, and I have +always wished for a brisk, merry war, instead of our tiresome garrison +life; but what you say makes me sorry. Are we soldiers the black cloud +which is to blot out the moon's peaceful light, to spread tempest and +destruction, and to annihilate so many hopes? And may not the lightning +resting in the cloud's bosom smite even ourselves?" + +"Oh! that it were granted to human power to guide the course of clouds +and the fate of men to light and peace," cried the pastor's daughter; +"but as the moonlight silvers the black cloud, so must our hopes and +prayers accompany those whom the storm of fate drives far away; such +comfort will remain for those at home." + +The lieutenant was silent. His eyes were fixed with dreamy surprise on +the young girl's excited face, which looked almost inspired in the +moonlight. He slowly approached her; but the singing ceased, loud +voices and clanging glasses were heard in the court. The other young +ladies came on to the terrace, and the lieutenant and Helena hastily +joined them. + +The president went into the hall, and again thanked the singers +heartily for the pleasure they had given him, proposing they should now +attack the refreshments. The whole party then mixed with the peasants, +and cheerful talking and merry laughter were heard throughout the +courtyard. + +The lieutenant had gone into the drawing-room, and he remained there +for a time grave and thoughtful, though his sister and Helena had gone +to say a few friendly words to all the village maidens. + +His elder brother went to the young peasants; he knew quite well what +to say to them, for he had been brought up amongst them, and they +talked to him without reserve: but it was somewhat of a ceremonious +conversation which he carried on in a quiet voice, as he moved from +group to group. + +Loud bursts of laughter, however, accompanied the lieutenant, when he +entered the courtyard shortly afterwards. Accompanied by Fritz Deyke, +he spoke to all the young fellows, who, for a joke, arranged themselves +in the stiffest of military attitudes, under the auspices of some old +cavalry soldiers. + +All was life and mirth. At last the lieutenant was surrounded by some +young folks, who made Fritz Deyke their spokesman. The lieutenant +laughed when he heard their request, nodded his head, and went up to +his father. + +"They want to sing our Hanoverian air, father, but they wish for your +consent: they are not sure if it is quite the thing, they say." + +"If it is the thing?" cried the president, cheerfully, "of course it +is; let them begin!" + +Fritz Deyke, who had followed the lieutenant, hurried back to his +friends. They formed a semicircle before the door of the house, and the +curious song began, the words of which are scarcely comprehensible, and +often altered _ad libitum_, but which it is the dear delight of every +Hanoverian peasant and soldier to sing on every opportunity. + +The president was delighted to hear the national song shouted by the +merry young peasants with all the strength of their lungs. He joined in +the chorus himself, as did the lieutenant, and + + + "Our king before us we did see, + Riding straight on so merrilie; + And to his brigadier cried he, + 'Roystering Hanover boys are we,'"[4] + + +was loudly echoed back from the old castle walls to Blechow. +At last the peasants dispersed, and with loud laughter and cheerful +conversation returned to the village. The pastor and his daughter also +took leave, and went back to the quiet vicarage. Soon the whole castle +was hushed in peace and darkness. + +Madame von Wendenstein kissed her youngest son affectionately, as she +bid him good-night, and her lips softly murmured, + + + "O God, our help in ages past, + Our hope in years to come, + Our shelter from the stormy blast, + And our eternal home." + + +The lieutenant sat thinking in silence for a long time in an ancient +arm-chair in his room; and when at last he went to bed and to sleep, he +dreamt he was on a black cloud, whirled along by a tempest; the +lightning flashed about him, the thunder groaned, and he was borne +farther and farther from the mild rays of the moon, though she still +pursued him with her peaceful light. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + VIENNA. + + +A number of carriages rolled rapidly along the Ballhofsplatz behind the +royal castle of Hofburg in Vienna, and drew up one after another before +the brilliantly lighted portal of the Office of State. Fashionable +equipages, with servants in various liveries, arrived; the porter, in +his light blue coat embroidered with gold and with his long staff, +hurried to receive the ladies who alighted in rich evening dress, well +wrapped up in their warm mantles and hoods; they hastened through the +large doorway, mounted the broad staircase to the right and entered +the upper apartments of the splendid palace in which Kaunitz and +Metternich had striven to prove the words true, _Austria est imperatura +orbi universo_. It was now occupied by Lieutenant Field Marshal +Mensdorff-Pouilly, minister of the empire and of foreign affairs. + +Amongst the carriages there were a number of _fesche_ (cabs); they are +always used by the gentlemen of Vienna to go about in, in the town, +however extensive their own stables, and the porter received them with +the same alacrity that he bestowed on the occupants of the more +fashionable carriages. + +A young officer got out of one of these cabs dressed in the brilliant +variegated Uhlan uniform of green and scarlet glittering with gold. He +threw off his large white cloak, left it in the carriage, and desired +the coachman to wait for him near the Burgplatz. + +He gave a last look at his faultless costume, drew his small black +moustache through his fingers, and then mounted the stairs happy and +confident of success, as a young Uhlan officer always is, whether on +the parquet or on horseback, and which this especial young officer had +every reason to expect. + +Lieutenant von Stielow, a native of Mecklenburg, had, like many of his +northern compatriots, entered the Austrian service several years +before; about a twelvemonth ago an uncle had died childless, and he had +inherited from him such a considerable fortune, that his yearly income +had excited astonishment even amongst the Austrian nobility, who are +accustomed to enormous revenues; and the extremely handsome and amiable +young man, who had formerly been treated with cold politeness, was now +welcomed by the highest nobility of Vienna as an intimate friend, +especially in those houses where there were daughters of an age to +marry. + +It was, then, only natural that the young man before whom life was +opening so brilliantly should be full of joyful confidence as he +mounted the steps of the Office of State. This was on one of the +exclusive evenings, when the Countess Mensdorff, in contradistinction +to her large official receptions, entertained her own especial friends. +These evenings, though of a strictly private nature, were much +frequented by the political world; here it was hoped a corner of the +veil might be raised, in which each diplomatic camp had shrouded its +activity, trusting the world might believe nothing was taking place +which could disturb its happy relations with its neighbours. + +Footmen, in the faultlessly elegant Mensdorff livery, opened the doors +leading to the smaller rooms inhabited by the countess, and Lieutenant +von Stielow entered a salon filled with ladies in fresh and varied +toilettes and gentlemen in brilliant uniforms, or in the black civilian +evening dress. + +In a smaller room, opening out of the larger apartment, and filled with +the thousand comfortable trifles found in the everyday drawing-room of +a lady of rank, the minister's wife, by birth a Princess Dietrichstein, +sat on a low divan. Her appearance was highly aristocratic, and she +received her guests with the naturally graceful and friendly manner +peculiar to distinguished society in Vienna. + +Beside the Countess Mensdorff sat a full, luxuriant form in black, but +the brilliancy of the wearer's priceless jewellery excluded all idea of +mourning. + +This lady's pale face, set off by masses of black hair, was of unusual +beauty, though deeply melancholy; her large black eyes, full of fire +and expression, shone with no earthly happiness; their enthusiastic, +thoughtful look recalled rather the old portraits of the high-born +abbesses of some religious order. + +She was the Princess Obrenowitsch, wedded to Prince Michael of Servia, +but being separated from her husband, she lived in Vienna with her +young son. This beautiful lady, by birth a Countess Huniady, was +received with open arms by the highest society in Vienna, +notwithstanding her separation from her husband, who took every +opportunity of expressing his great esteem for her; but though she +inherited the warm Hungarian blood, and possessed genius and health, +she led, without entirely renouncing the world, a life of great +seclusion, and devoted all her talents and care to the education of her +young son, the heir of the princely house of Servia. It was always an +event when the beautiful, proud, and pious princess quitted her +seclusion and appeared in one of the salons of Vienna. + +Before these ladies stood a somewhat short gentleman, of about sixty +years of age. He wore the close-fitting grey uniform of a lieutenant +field marshal, and was decorated with the Maria Theresa Cross, the +Order of Leopold, and the Maltese Cross. His full red face, set on an +unusually short neck, which looked the more remarkable from his +closely-buttoned uniform, had an expression of inexhaustible fun and +mirth; his dark eyes sparkled with life and good-natured satire; both +his short moustache and thick hair were white as snow, the latter shorn +so closely that the red tint showed through the bristly locks, and +caused society in Vienna to maintain that Field Marshal Reischach's +head looked like a very well-sugared strawberry. + +Baron Reischach, one of the bravest officers in the Austrian army, was +now incapable of active service from the many wounds he had received +over his whole body; though they often caused him acute suffering, he +was regarded in Vienna as a most cheerful member of society, to whom it +seemed almost possible to be in two places at once, so completely did +he see all that was to be seen, and know all that was to be known; his +amusing stories and witty observations always banished ennui from every +reunion where he appeared. + +During a round of afternoon visits Baron Reischach was sure to be met +with more than once, for he never neglected the old ladies of his +acquaintance, and frequently called on them to inquire after their +health, relate all the news of the day, and to show them all sorts of +small attentions. In the evening he was to be found at the Burg +Theatre, and between the acts he was always to be seen in the boxes of +the older ladies, yet he managed to find time to slip behind the scenes +and to compliment the _prime donne_ on their toilettes or their acting. +After the theatre he was always in some salon, now hurrying through +some large "at home," bandying a _bon-mot_ here, relating a witty +anecdote there, then for a quarter of an hour he might be found at the +tea-table of some small circle, shaking from his inexhaustible +cornucopia the most amusing stories. Later still, he was to be found in +a corner of the dining-room of the Stadt Frankfurt Hotel, beside a +glass of old Hungarian wine, the life and soul of some merry supper, +the body consisting of Counts Wallis, Fuchs, and Wrbna. + +Such was Lieutenant Field Marshal Reischach, who now stood before the +ladies, holding his green plumed hat in his hand which rested on his +sword. + +He was telling them something very amusing, for Countess Mensdorff +laughed aloud, and a smile passed over even the grave face of the +Servian princess. + +"Now you must tell us, Baron Reischach," said the Countess Mensdorff, +"everything you saw last night at the theatre--not how Wolter acted, we +know in your eyes she is always superb, incomparable; but tell us what +you observed in the house and the boxes. I am sure a great deal went +on, or did not go on, that you can relate. You see you have made the +princess smile already, make her laugh outright." + +The baron replied, with a slight bow to the Princess Obrenowitsch: "I +dare hardly hope the princess will listen much longer to an old +worldling like myself, especially as _nothing_ happened. Our young +Mecklenburg Uhlan passed some time in the Countess Frankenstein's box, +talking with great animation to Countess Clara, and thereby enraging +one of our friends. I need not tell her name, I saw----" + +Here his confidences were interrupted by the arrival of their subject, +the young Uhlan officer, von Stielow, who advanced to pay his respects +to Countess Mensdorff. + +She laughed. "We were speaking of you, Baron Stielow; it was easy to +see, this evening, at the theatre, it was not Wolter who engrossed your +attention, which Herr von Reischach regards as a great mistake." + +The young officer coloured slightly, saluted the field marshal, and +said: "His excellency is a sharp observer. I was only a very short time +at the Burg Theatre, and I visited some friends in their boxes." + +The repartee Herr von Reischach was about to make, was prevented by the +arrival of a tall gentleman in a general's uniform, accompanied by a +slender, graceful lady, and as they came up to speak to the countess, +Herr von Stielow seized the opportunity of escaping further discussion. + +It was Count Clam Gallas, with his wife, Countess Mensdorff's younger +sister. The count's tall form had not the perfect ease in uniform +possessed by the great Austrian nobles, his features were completely of +the Hapsburg type, and he was decorated with the Golden Fleece; he +offered his hand to his sister-in-law with simple cordiality; whilst +his wife, whose figure was unusually elegant, and her beauty +extraordinarily preserved, though she was no longer young, sank into an +arm-chair beside Princess Obrenowitsch. + +"Where is Mensdorff?" asked Count Clam Gallas, "I do not see him; he is +surely not ill again?" + +"He was sent for by the emperor," replied the countess; "and, though he +has come back, he has something to despatch. I have had to offer his +excuses; but we shall not have to wait for him much longer." + +"I have heard wonders of your fete in Prague, countess," said the +baron, turning to the Countess Clam Gallas, "they cannot praise it +enough; Countess Waldstein, whom I met to-day, at Princess Lori +Schwarzenberg's, has been quite enchanted." + +"Yes, it was quite a success," said the countess, "and gave us all much +pleasure. We had the idea," she continued, turning to Princess +Obrenowitsch, "of performing Wallenstein's 'Camp in Prague;' of course, +it has been so often performed before, there is nothing remarkable +about that. The extraordinary thing was that the actors in this play, +in which Schiller brings Wallenstein's army so wonderfully before us, +were really direct descendants of the great leaders in the Thirty +Years' War. This gave an unusual meaning, and an unusual spirit to the +representation. I assure you we were all inspired by a breath from the +past, both performers and audience felt the same vivid emotion. The +ancient mighty spirit of Austria seemed to rise up before us, clashing +its arms, and a blast from the Swedish horns would have made the whole +company cry 'To horse!' and have sent them to ride forth like their +ancestors." + +"Yes," said Count Clam Gallas, "it made a wonderful impression on all +of us--we all felt that the time will come, if it be God's will, when +the Austrian sword must again be drawn, and our emperor restored to his +old position. It looks to me as if the times were stormy, and we should +soon ride forth." + +There was a moment's pause. Herr von Reischach looked grave and was +silent; when foreign policy and warlike action were spoken of, it +grieved his true old soldier's heart, that he, with his hacked and +shattered limbs, could no longer take a part. + +Countess Mensdorff, whose fine tact always prevented political +discussions in her drawing-room, broke the short silence by observing +to von Reischach with a smile: + +"It is a pity you were not there, Baron Reischach, you would have +performed the Capuchin excellently, and preached the moral to the +wicked world." + +"Certainly," said he, and added in a tone of comic pathos: "_Contenti +estote_, be satisfied with your ammunition bread." + +"Yes, but if a _pate de foie gras_ came first, and a bottle of old +Hungarian wine," laughed the count, "he would leave the ammunition +bread alone." + +"_Nullum vinum_," cried Herr von Reischach, stretching out his hand, +and shaking his head, "_nisi Hungaricum!_" he added in a lower tone, +bowing to the Princess Obrenowitsch, who thanked him by a slight smile +for the compliment paid her in her native tongue. + +Other guests arrived, the circle of ladies increased, and Count Clam +Gallas and Baron Reischach withdrew, still conversing, into the outer +salon. + +Here groups of ladies and gentlemen were talking with much animation; +the younger people busy about their own affairs, the elder ladies +watching the proceedings of their daughters, and the gentlemen casting +searching glances at the different members of the _corps diplomatique_, +who now exchanged a hasty word, now lingered in earnest conversation. + +In the middle of the room, beneath the brilliant chandelier, stood the +French ambassador, the Duke de Gramont, a tall man, with a faultless +figure and military bearing, with the white star of the Legion of +Honour upon his black coat, and the broad red ribbon across his breast. +Short black whiskers framed his long, well-chiselled face, of the type +of the old French aristocracy, combining amiable friendliness with +dignified reserve. His small, beautifully-shaped mouth was slightly +shaded by a moustache, the points of which were turned upwards; his +brow was high and broad, but gently rounded rather than boldly arched; +in his dark eyes shone the careless indifference which is always the +heritage of the old French _noblesse_, and which in so many phases of +their history has caused them to treat the gravest and most important +subjects with a lightness and frivolity difficult to understand. The +arrangement of his abundant dark hair gave him a still greater +resemblance to one of those old grand seigneurs who, in the palmy days +of the monarchy, surrounded by pomp and stiff park alleys, led their +careless, graceful lives so easily. + +The duke was standing for a moment alone, examining those around, when +he was joined by a gentleman of middle age, who, far from possessing +the French ambassador's careless and distinguished repose, was chiefly +remarkable for the rapid changes of expression seen on his thin, +strongly-marked face. He wore whiskers, and his light hair was cut and +arranged in the way peculiar to the North German soldier. He was +shorter than the duke, his movements were animated, his dress of +faultless simplicity, and across his breast he wore the white and +orange ribbon of the Prussian order of the Red Eagle. + +Herr von Werther, the Prussian ambassador, greeted the duke with much +courtesy, but not with the cordiality which expresses personal +friendship. + +"At last, duke," said Herr von Werther, in French, "I am able to wish +you good evening. How is the duchess? I do not see her." + +"She has a bad cold," replied the ambassador. "And Madame von Werther, +she, too, has to remain in the house from this influenza?" + +"She is very unwell, and I should not have come out myself," said Herr +von Werther, with a smile, "if it were not our duty to collect news." + +"And have you succeeded?" asked the duke. + +"Not yet. Count Mensdorff is still with the emperor, the countess tells +me; and I have heard nothing, except a few _cancans_ from the guests. +But," he added gravely, and in a lower voice, "the air seems to me full +of important events. You are well aware that the general feeling grows +stronger and stronger." + +"I regret that it is so," said the Duke de Gramont; "for such sharp +opposition of conflicting views and claims can only lead to war. +Personally, this appears to me very undesirable." + +"You know," replied Herr von Werther, "that we certainly do not wish +for war; but can we avoid it, without sacrificing our dignity and our +position? What would you advise?" + +"We are completely out of the contention, we can only observe what +takes place," said the duke, in a tone of reserve; "and we can only +wish well to both sides: it would not become us to give advice, unless, +indeed, we were asked to mediate. Do you not see," he added, with a +forced smile, "that we are observed? We are rather isolated just here, +and our harmless conversation may give rise----" + +"You are quite right," interrupted Herr von Werther; "let us avoid +these inquisitive eyes." + +With a slight bow to the duke, and whispering to himself, "He knows +nothing," he turned to a tall, strongly-built old gentleman, with a +bald forehead, sharp features, and bright brown eyes, who stood a few +paces off, dressed in the uniform of a Hanoverian general. + +"Good evening, General Knesebeck," he said, whilst the general politely +returned his greeting; "what news do you hear from Hanover?" + +"None at all for some time past," replied the general slowly, with some +reserve. "My brother lives quietly in the country; he writes to me but +seldom, and troubles himself very little about events in Hanover." + +"I rejoice," continued Herr von Werther, "that Count Platen has been to +Berlin, as I hear the visit was of a most friendly nature. God grant +that this may continue, and that all the little misunderstandings may +vanish which have arisen between Prussia and Hanover, two states who +really heartily esteem each other, as history and the traditions of the +Seven Years' War amply prove." + +"From my heart I regret the misunderstandings which have arisen on both +sides," replied General von Knesebeck. "We in Hanover ardently wish to +live in peace with our neighbours; but, before all things, we must +labour to maintain the integrity of all the German states. Our safety, +both from within and from without, depends on the friendship of the two +great German powers, and on the united strength of the German +confederation. God preserve them!" + +A further remark from Herr von Werther was prevented by the approach of +the English ambassador, Lord Bloomfield. He had the regular features +and characteristic countenance of the English aristocracy, with a +healthy complexion and a fresh, genial expression. He was decorated +with the ribbon of the Scotch order of the Thistle; and after he joined +in the conversation, it turned to the every-day events of society in +Vienna. + +Thus the soiree in Countess Mensdorff's salons ran its course with its +usual smoothness, for the elegant and smiling guests betrayed none of +the restless anxiety which possessed the minds of many of those +present. On the other side of the Office of State in the meantime, in +the large ante-room of the minister's cabinet, with its furniture of +blue silk and blue window hangings, sat two men in great arm-chairs, by +the large round table near the wall. A small fire flickered in the +large fireplace in the corner, and an enormous lamp with its globe of +ground glass stood on the table, leaving a large part of the spacious +room in half darkness, but lighting up the two men who were close +to it very distinctly, whilst it shed a faint reflected light on the +life-size portrait of the Emperor Francis Joseph, which in a +magnificent gold frame filled up the middle of the wall, and +represented the emperor in the full uniform of a general, with the +youthful beauty of the early age when he ascended the throne. + +One of these men sat carelessly leaning back in his arm-chair. He was +apparently half-way between fifty and sixty. His face bore the impress +of considerable talent, with a certain mixture of catholic enthusiasm +and repression, sometimes seen in old portraits of cardinals and +prelates. An apparent love of ease, small soft white hands, a +comfortable and elegant dress, completed the resemblance to the +portraits of the spiritual lords of the Italian school. + +Such was the privy councillor and under secretary of state, Baron von +Meysenbug, and beside him sat the ministerial councillor von +Biegeleben, a tall, stiff, dry pedantic looking person, with a very +bilious complexion and bureaucratic manner. He looked half-way between +a professor and the manager of a counting-house, as he sat upright on +his chair with his hat in his hand. + +"The count is long in coming," cried Herr von Meysenbug impatiently, as +he tapped with his slender fingers on the dark table-cover. "I am very +anxious--I fear, I fear he may yet play us a trick and persuade the +emperor to yield!" + +"I cannot think it," observed Herr von Biegeleben in a slow, quiet +voice; "his majesty is too much penetrated with the idea of the former +position of Hapsburg in Germany to dream of falling in with the desires +of Berlin. In Frankfort he saw the glorious recollections of the empire +live again, and he felt deeply and bitterly the checkmate prepared for +him by Prussian resistance; he will be firm." + +"But Count Mensdorff will resign, he will not be answerable for the +consequences of a rupture!" said von Meysenbug, thoughtfully. + +"Well, and if he does?" asked Herr von Biegeleben with a stiff smile; +"the emperor will then perhaps proceed with more quickness and +decision." + +"Perhaps so," said Herr von Meysenbug; "but Count Mensdorff is of a +reliant disposition and requires advice; should we hold the reins so +completely in our hands under his successor?" + +"I do not think we could be dispensed with," said von Biegeleben. "Your +excellency stands so firm on the Roman basis it would be impossible to +set you aside; I, for my unimportant self--well, who have we who knows +and can work all the German embarrassments? Herr von Gagern?" + +Herr von Meysenbug shrugged his shoulders and made a slight movement +with his hand. + +At this moment the door of the ante-room opened and Count Mensdorff +entered. + +There was nothing extraordinary in the appearance of this minister, +whose fate it was to guide Austria to such great disaster. He was a man +of middle height, of regular and pleasing features of the French type, +and of a complexion that showed ill-health; his short hair and small +moustache were black. He wore the uniform of a lieutenant field marshal +and the star of the order of Leopold. In consequence of chronic illness +his manner was feeble and uncertain, and he endeavoured to avoid +standing during a conversation, as it fatigued him. + +Both the gentlemen rose. + +After greeting them Count Mensdorff said: "I regret that I have kept +you waiting, gentlemen; I was detained longer than I expected." He then +walked slowly to his cabinet, inviting von Meysenbug and Biegeleben to +follow him. + +The ministerial cabinet was a large apartment, and like the ante-room +it was lighted only by the lamp standing upon the large writing-table. + +Count Mensdorff sank exhausted into an arm-chair near the table, and +gave a sigh of relief when he had placed himself comfortably and +supported his arms on the sides of the chair. He had first invited the +two gentlemen, by a movement of the hand, to seat themselves near him +at the writing-table. + +The three men sat for a few moments in silence. The faces of the two +privy councillors expressed great anxiety. Mensdorff gazed wearily +before him. + +"Well, gentlemen," he said at last, "it seems that your wishes will be +fulfilled. His majesty the emperor will not draw back--he will by no +means consent to the Prussian project for the reform of the +confederacy; in a word, he has decided to go energetically onwards and +to meet the great German question with decision--though the result +should be a breach, and war;" the last word he pronounced in a low +tone, and with a half repressed sigh. + +Meysenbug and Biegeleben exchanged looks of lively satisfaction, and +awaited with great anxiety the further communications of Count +Mensdorff. + +"I left nothing untried," he proceeded, "to dissuade his majesty from +this dangerous decision and unsafe policy. You know I do not pretend to +understand politics well--I rely upon your superior knowledge; but I am +a soldier, and though I have no right to consider myself a great +general, I know perfectly what is needful for an efficient army. Well, +gentlemen, the policy which we now pursue must lead to war--for +Bismarck is not the man tamely to submit,--but for war an efficient +army is needful, and this our opponents possess, and we have it +not--utterly and entirely we have it not, according to my military +convictions. What then will be our position?" He stopped, exhausted and +sad. + +"But your excellency must not look at the black side of things," said +Herr von Meysenbug, "we have 800,000 men, according to the statements +made by the War Department, and----" + +"The War Department," interrupted Mensdorff energetically, "may state +what it pleases. I am a practical soldier, and care little for the acts +of the War Department; I know the condition of the army, and if the +half of your 800,000 men can march I shall rejoice. And we shall be +forced to operate in two theatres of war at once," he added; "for you +must see that at the first cannon shot Italy will begin--I am convinced +an alliance has already been formed with Prussia." + +Herr von Biegeleben smiled with the air of an experienced picture +dealer who hears a dilettante expressing an opinion, and he remarked in +his measured tone,--"May I remind your excellency that our ambassadors +in Berlin and Florence assure us most positively that there is no +question of an alliance between Prussia and Italy; yes, they even say +that the slight difficulty which has arisen respecting the recognition +of Italy by Prussia still increases. Certainly Italy would not, as the +Duke de Gramont has told me to-day, seek so zealously the French +mediation respecting the ceding of Venetia, if a Prussian alliance +were concluded or likely to be so." + +"Yes, yes," said Count Mensdorff thoughtfully, "the ambassadors +maintain there is no alliance, I know that well, and yet I am certain +of the contrary. I am also certain that the first threads of this +treaty were spun in Paris--I feel quite sure of it--though it may not +yet be a treaty placed in the archives." + +"But," exclaimed Herr von Meysenbug, "the Duke de Gramont would surely +not----" + +"Gramont!" interrupted Count Mensdorff with still greater energy; "and +do you really believe Gramont knows what is going on in Paris? Do you +believe that the Emperor Napoleon has the last word of his labyrinthine +policy written out in an official despatch and sent off to Gramont? +Gramont knows what he is to say, and," he added, speaking more slowly +and in a lower voice, "he is certainly not to say anything which might +prevent war, for this war will be quite for the advantage of France. +Paris has greatly feared lest the Prussian and Austrian arms should be +united in Holstein; rather let Germany clash in a bloody struggle! +Whichever side is defeated in this war, it is Germany which is +defeated, and the conqueror wins for France!" + +"Events look blacker and blacker to your excellency," said von +Meysenbug with a slight smile. "I, on the other hand, hope that the +victory of the Austrian arms will again establish German unity beneath +the banners of the empire,--and if Italy moves we shall soon make an +end of that impious kingdom which threatens Church and State with +annihilation!" + +"Would to God I could share your faith," said Count Mensdorff, +mournfully; "but I do not believe in the success of the Austrian arms, +and if Benedek knows the army and its construction as well as I do, he +will say the same. I have told the emperor all this," he continued, in +a still lower voice, "and I implored him to take from me the office of +prime minister, as it made me responsible for a policy which must lead +to heavy catastrophe." + +"But your excellency!" cried both the gentlemen in alarm. + +"No, no," said Count Mensdorff, with a feeble smile, "I am not going +out. His majesty has commanded me to remain at my post, and as a +soldier I obey--as a soldier," he repeated with emphasis, "for were I a +political minister of the modern school, I should not remain. But so it +is. Well, the order is given, and now we must march on. How must we act +to hasten the decision, to bring on the quarrel; for since we are to +act, I am for acting at once; every day will give our opponent fresh +strength." + +"The means are simple," said Herr von Biegeleben, sitting very upright +in his chair, and raising his hand as if imparting instruction; "the +Holstein states must be urgently called upon to discuss the position of +their country, and to decide upon the succession; let us assemble them; +this will cross all the Prussian plans and oblige the gentlemen in +Berlin to show their hands; at the same time we shall gain a powerful +support in the sympathy of the Grand Duchies, and the great German +party." + +"But our rule is only conjoint in the Grand Duchies." suggested Count +Mensdorff; "by the Treaty of Gastein we only exercise the sovereign +rights in common with Prussia." + +"That is the precise point, permit me, your excellency," interrupted +von Biegeleben, "which will bring on the conflict, and it will come +under the favourable circumstances of being in a national cause." + +"Well, it does not seem quite right," said Mensdorff, "and I care very +little for the sympathy of the beer-shop orators in the Grand Duchies +and in Germany and for all the singers and rhymers. I would rather we +had an army like the Prussians; but be so good as to make me a small +memorial on the subject with an instruction for Gablenz, and I will lay +it before the emperor." + +Herr von Biegeleben bowed, and a slight smile of satisfaction passed +over Herr von Meysenbug's countenance. + +"What is the aspect of Germany?" asked Mensdorff; "how do things +progress in Saxony? Are they ready?" + +"Perfectly," replied von Biegeleben. "Herr von Beust is very impatient, +and has sent me a memorandum in which he points out the necessity for +immediate action. Also he considers the assembling of the Holstein +states as the best means for letting light into the situation. The +disposition of the people in Saxony is excellent. Would your excellency +like to read Count von Beust's note on the subject?" + +He opened the portfolio which lay on the table. + +Count Mensdorff waved his hand. + +"How can Beust ever find time to write all that?" he said, with a +slight smile and a sigh. "With regard to Hanover," he then continued, +"have we any chance there?" + +"A courier has just arrived with a despatch from Count Ingelheim," +replied Herr von Biegeleben, whilst he drew some papers from a case, +and looked hastily through them; "he is satisfied. Count Platen has +returned from Berlin, and assures him that all the efforts made to win +him and Hanover to the side of Prussia have been unavailing. He has +promised nothing, and he told Count Ingelheim to make known his +inclinations in Vienna." + +"Yes, I know him," said Count Mensdorff, slightly shrugging his +shoulders. "And King George?" he asked. + +"The king," replied Herr von Biegeleben, "will not hear of war; he +always maintains that a good understanding between Austria and Prussia +is the salvation of Germany; yet, if it comes to a rupture, the king +must stand on our side." + +"That does not seem to me certain," said Mensdorff. "King George, in my +opinion, is a German and a Guelph, but he is not an Austrian. The +traditions of the Seven Years' War still live in him." + +"It is true," said von Meysenbug, who now took up the conversation, +"that the King of Hanover is not devoted to Austria, and yet I believe +he is safe, notwithstanding the powerful Prussian influence with which +he is surrounded. We must endeavour to offer him something which will +flatter his ideas; the king's hero is the Great Henry the Lion. Count +Ingelheim knows through Doctor Klopp that he has been much engrossed +with the history of his great and unfortunate ancestor." + +"Doctor Klopp? Who is he?" asked Count Mensdorff, repressing a slight +yawn. + +"A schoolmaster formerly, who compromised himself in the year 1848 as a +democrat and advocate of the rights of the people, but he is +converted." + +"To our church?" asked Mensdorff. + +"Why--no," replied Herr von Meysenbug, with some hesitation; "but to +our ideas and interests. He shows great talent in composing historical +plays favourable to our side; he has obtained a certain celebrity, and +is appointed editor of the 'Leibnitziana.' He sees a good deal of Count +Platen, and is very useful to us." + +"Well, well," said Count Mensdorff, smiling, "I suppose he is under +your secret rule, dear Meysenbug?" + +"I interest myself certainly in all rising authors," replied Herr von +Meysenbug, calmly; "but Count Ingelheim especially protects them in +Hanover." + +"Well, and the bait for King George?" asked Mensdorff. + +"My opinion is," said Herr von Meysenbug, "that a treaty should be made +with Hanover guaranteeing them Prussian Westphalia and Holstein at the +favourable termination of the war. We shall thus create a strong and +irresistible position in the north, and Hanover thus strengthened can +make no friendly alliance with Prussia, but will be entirely devoted to +us in future." + +"Dividing the bear's skin whilst he still wears it in the wood," said +Count Mensdorff; "well, make a memorial on the subject; I will lay it +before the emperor. I very much doubt whether for such a bait the King +of Hanover will place his country in grave peril." + +"We must give him the means of meeting the danger. The Kalik Brigade is +up there; let us place it at his disposal, and Lieutenant Field Marshal +Gablenz as its general." + +"Our best soldier!" exclaimed Mensdorff; "yet the post is most +important,--but if King George will accept nothing of all this?" + +"Then events must take their course," said Meysenbug. "The vacillation +of Count Platen in taking no decided step on either side will oblige +Prussia to menace Hanover; this will arouse the pride of the king, and +an important Prussian force will be occupied in the north, without," +added Herr von Meysenbug with a smile, "our owing any duty to Hanover. +They are taking immense trouble about Hanover in Berlin," he continued, +"and they proposed, when Count Platen was in Berlin, a family union." + +"So?" asked Count Mensdorff, attentively; "what then?" + +Herr von Meysenbug took a letter from his portfolio, and handed it to +the minister, pointing out the particular passage with his finger. + +"Count Platen assured Ingelheim the affair should come to nothing," he +said, rubbing his hands, whilst the minister read; "and in Berlin there +is Stockhausen quite devoted to us, and determined to prevent any +understanding being arrived at." + +"Well, gentlemen," said Count Mensdorff, rising and returning von +Meysenbug his paper, "you now know his majesty's intentions, so apply +yourselves to the work. I shall see you when you visit the countess." + +Both the gentlemen bowed, and left the cabinet. + +Count Mensdorff sat for some time leaning back in his arm-chair. His +features expressed gloomy thought, and his eyes saw nothing that was +around him, but gazed into space. + +He raised his head slowly, and looked round the large dimly-lighted +room. + +"Oh! ye great men who have watched in this spot over Austria's +greatness, would that ye were in my place! My hand is ready to draw the +sword for my country, but it is unable to guide the vessel of state +through this dangerous sea so full of sunken rocks. I see the abyss on +the brink of which Austria, my beloved Austria, stands. I cannot +restrain her,--I cannot even resign the place which burdens me with the +whole responsibility. I must tarry at my post since I am a soldier, and +yet I cannot serve as a soldier." + +Again he sank into deep thought. + +A low knock was heard at the inner door of the cabinet, and almost +immediately two boys entered, of the ages of five and eight; they +advanced shyly and cautiously at first, but when they saw the count was +alone, they ran up to him, and climbed on to his chair. + +Count Mensdorff awoke from his reverie; his face cleared, and he smiled +as he put his arms around the two boys. + +"We have not seen you before to-day, papa," said the youngest, "and we +waited to say good night. Good night, dear papa, we were to go to bed +directly, and we are very tired." + +Count Mensdorff gently stroked their hair as he drew the two children +nearer to him, and pressed a kiss on their pure white brows. + +"Good night, my children," he said, affectionately; "thank you for +staying up to see me. I hope you have been industrious and good all +day." + +"Of course we have, papa," cried both the children with proud +certainty, "or they would not have let us stay up to see you!" + +The minister's eyes, before so sad, shone with affection; no one could +have imagined that this man, with his mild face and smiling look,--his +two children in his arms,--that this was the man who was to guide a +great empire through its most dangerous crisis, and to encounter +Germany's mightiest and bloodiest catastrophe. + +"Sleep well, my children," said Count Mensdorff. "God bless you!" He +kissed them once more, and made the sign of the cross over their heads. + +He looked happy until they left the room, then his eyes grew sad again. +"They are happy," he whispered; "care has not yet robbed them of +sleep." + +He rose and rang a bell. + +The attendant entered. + +"Does the countess entertain a large party?" + +"It is a small reception day, but the guests are very numerous." + +Count Mensdorff sighed, glanced for a moment at the mirror, and then +left his cabinet, to repair to his wife's drawing-room. + +There the crowd had become even larger, and the greatest animation +prevailed. The politicians had extracted all the news, or convinced +themselves there was none to hear, and the whole company was passing +the time in light conversation in various groups, until the minister's +return; the younger gentlemen fluttered round the young ladies, and +Lieutenant von Stielow was seen in animated conversation with a young +beauty of most pleasing and distinguished appearance. + +This young lady, the only daughter of the widowed Countess +Frankenstein, was the same who had so occupied him in the theatre when +he had been observed by Baron von Reischach, and now the young officer +seemed extremely absorbed in the apparently light drawing-room +conversation, for he looked down on the young lady with great interest, +and she leant on the arm of her chair and raised her large brown eyes +to his face, whilst her hand played with her white feather fan, which +matched her dress in simplicity; it was entirely white, and only +ornamented with small bouquets of violets. + +"Then it is arranged, countess," said Herr von Stielow, "if you go into +Switzerland with your mother you accept me as your travelling +companion. I know all the most beautiful parts, and I will make you an +excellent guide." + +"I have not the selection of our travelling companions, Herr von +Stielow," replied the young lady; "but I am sure it will be agreeable +to my mother if we meet you in Switzerland, and if you are kind enough +to show us some of its beauties." + +"That is an excessively courteous reply, fair lady," said the +lieutenant, with some displeasure, "but to me it is rather too +courteous. I am quite sure that the countess will welcome me if she +meets me, and that she will not refuse her consent to my joining your +tour among the mountains, but----" + +"Well," said the young lady, with a saucy little laugh, "then our +travelling plans are made, and everything is arranged; or did you wish +for an uncourteous answer? You could hardly expect one from me." + +"You are unkind, countess," replied von Stielow, biting his lips in the +vain endeavour to gnaw his short moustache; "you know well I am not +making idle conversation, but that I ask an important question. I do +not at all wish to be intrusive, and to owe it to your mother's +politeness that I am not sent away. You see," he added, more warmly, +and with less constraint, "I expect such pleasure from our trip,--I +love the free pure mountain air,--and I am sure that you, too, will +find immense enjoyment in the lovely valleys and high peaks; you will +appreciate their beauty, you must be happier there than here, 'in the +breath of the tomb,' as the poet says." + +The young lady listened to him with her upturned eyes glowing brighter +and warmer, but she suddenly cast them down, and said in a mocking +tone, which was, however, softened by the smile on her lips, "And how +do you know that I am not quite in my element in the tomblike breath of +the town?" + +"I know it, Countess Clara," said the young officer, with animation; +"and because I know it I wish to guide you to the great poem of +glorious nature, and to read it with you,--but only if you honestly +wish it, and will be really glad to have me with you." + +"We make plans for the summer, and the whole world speaks of war. Who +knows," she added, as her brows clouded, "whether all our plans will +not be thrown to the winds, or consumed in the flames?" + +"Good heavens!" cried Herr von Stielow, "if war breaks out of course +all will be changed; but that need not prevent our making plans in case +all should keep quiet. So----" + +"Here comes Count Mensdorff," said the young lady, rising. "Perhaps we +shall now hear something. Mamma signs to me; forgive me for leaving +you, Herr von Stielow; we shall see you in a day or two; you will tell +me then if we are to have peace or war, and if our imaginary trip has +any chance." + +"Then you will take me?" he asked, earnestly; "but I want no courteous +reply, give me a kind and honest answer." + +She looked firmly at him for a moment, and then said, as a slight blush +heightened the tender colour in her cheeks, "Yes--if you will find us +piquant enough, and if you can forget Vienna." + +And with a light elastic step she glided over the parquet, and joined +her mother and a circle of ladies on the other side of the room. + +Herr von Stielow looked after her for a moment with emotion, and then +joined various other groups. + +Count Mensdorff, on entering the room, first joined the circle +immediately around the countess, and remained in conversation there +some little time. + +The diplomatists all grew uneasy, and broke off with more or less +politeness the indifferent conversations in which they were engaged. + +At last the minister entered the second drawing-room alone. The Duke de +Gramont immediately approached him with easy grace, and was warmly +welcomed. + +The two personages became the centre of general observation, but no one +ventured near to disturb their earnest conversation, which lasted about +ten minutes. + +When Count Mensdorff turned away from the duke he found himself just +opposite Herr von Werther. + +He spoke to him with perfect politeness, and immediately all the +anxious side glances were employed in watching their interview. + +It lasted only two minutes. + +Count Mensdorff turned from the Prussian ambassador with a low bow, and +walked hastily through the room to General von Knesebeck, took his arm, +led him aside, and commenced a most cordial and animated conversation. + +The Duke de Gramont had again joined the other guests. Von Meysenbug +and von Biegeleben had appeared, and were surrounded by diplomatists of +the second rank. + +In about a quarter of an hour Baron Werther was surrounded by an icy +atmosphere; every attempt he made at conversation fell to the ground, +after the few phrases which politeness demanded; and it required all +his talent to conceal his isolation, until the happy moment came which +permitted him to retreat. + +At last the time of departure arrived, and the salons of the palace +grew empty. + +Lieutenant von Stielow went down the broad steps and found his cab in +the appointed place. + +He gave the coachman an address, got in, and wrapped himself in his +white cloak. + +"What did she mean about forgetting Vienna,--can she know? Well, all +Vienna knows it; I make no secret of my life. If _she_ wished it, I +would cast aside every folly, but does she wish it?" + +He grew very thoughtful. + +"She will wish it," he cried, "and then my life shall follow its true +star,--away with every erring meteor; but how charming they are!" he +whispered to himself. + +The carriage stopped before a large house in the Ringe. + +Herr von Stielow dismissed the coachman, nodded to the porter as if he +knew him well, and ascended a couple of steps. A pretty lady's-maid +opened the glass door of the entrance hall. + +The young officer threw off his mantle, and entered a room elegantly +furnished with dark blue satin; before the fire-place stood a tea-table +lighted by a large Carcel lamp. + +Upon a _chaise longue_, on one side of the fire-place, reposed the +slender form of a young and beautiful woman clothed in white. + +Her pale features of the noblest Grecian type were partly illumined by +the lamp, partly by the red glow of the fire, and her eyes, of deeper +black than even the smooth ebon tresses of her hair, now shone in soft, +sweet reverie, now sparkled with quick, brilliant rays. + +Her slender white arms half concealed by her large open sleeves, lay in +her lap, and her slight fingers played with the clasp of her girdle. + +Her whole appearance was of wonderful beauty, with a demoniacal look +heightened by the changing lights which played over her face and the +whole of her figure. + +As the young man entered, she sprang up, and her eyes flashed; it were +hard to say whether with love, pride, or triumph. + +Such must have been Cleopatra, when Antony approached her. + +She flew to meet him, and threw her arms around him, whilst her glowing +looks were fixed upon his eyes. + +"At last you come, sweet friend!" she whispered; "I have waited long!" + +When the young man entered the room there had been a certain coldness +on his face, and now there was more politeness than tenderness in the +movement with which he placed his arm around her shoulder. + +Did she feel this? + +Her eyes dilated and became more glowing, her arms were pressed closer +round his neck, and through her slender form passed a slight shiver. + +A magnetic stream seemed to pass from her to her lover. He led her +gently to her seat, knelt down before her, and kissed her left hand as +it hung by her side, whilst with the right she stroked the hair upon +his brow. + +The star was veiled with clouds, the baleful meteor glowed in vivid +brightness. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + NAPOLEON. + + +The crowd flowing along the Quai Voltaire in Paris, on the shores of +the Seine, changed its varied pictures so quickly that it resembled a +kaleidoscope. + +One bright morning about ten o'clock, a man was to be seen pursuing his +way with hasty steps from the Rue Bonaparte across the bridge towards +the Tuileries. + +Although he was scarcely of the middle height, and rather shabby +in dress, yet he caused many passengers to look at him for a +moment--certainly only for a moment, but a Parisian seldom looks at +anything much longer--from the unusual swiftness of his step, and the +thoughtfulness with which he hastened on without looking to right or +left, pursuing his way in a manner which proved him to be usually a +dweller in large capitals. + +The man thus hurrying to the royal and imperial palace was even meanly +clad; from his dress, and his bent form, he might have been supposed a +master in some elementary school, or a lawyer's clerk; but the changing +expression of his sharply-cut features, his red and white northern +complexion, and the penetrating glances of his light grey eyes, gave to +his appearance a character which belied the impression first formed. + +The man gained the other side of the Seine and entered the courtyard +leading to the portal of the Tuileries. + +He showed the sentry a paper, and on glancing at it the _voltigeur de +la garde_ stepped back, and with a short "_Bien, Monsieur_," admitted +him into that inner court of the imperial residence, where no profane +foot was permitted to enter, and into which only the court equipages +and the carriages of the grandees of the empire were allowed to drive. + +Without slackening his pace the little man hastened on. He passed by +the great imperial entrance--before which, under a wide canopy, +supported by golden lances, stood a group of officers of the household, +and _laquais de palais_, conversing in whispers--to a smaller one, +where he entered with the assurance of one who well knows the locality. +He went up a step and into an anteroom, where in a large arm-chair sat +a _huissier de palais_, performing his duty with quiet dignity. + +"M. Pietri?" said the visitor. + +"M. Pietri is in his cabinet," replied the huissier, half raising +himself from his chair. + +"Ask if he will receive M. Hansen, he has an appointment with me." + +The huissier rose at once and entered the cabinet of the emperor's +private secretary; after a moment he opened the door, saying, in a low +tone, "Enter, sir!" + +The former Danish advocate, that unwearied agitator on behalf of the +rights of Denmark, entered the cabinet of Napoleon III.'s private +secretary. + +This cabinet was a large, light room, full of tables and repositories +for papers, deeds, and maps. At the farther end was a spiral staircase +which led into the apartment above, the entrance to which was closed by +the silken folds of a dark _portiere_. + +Pietri sat before a large writing-table. He was still a young man, and +slightly made. His rather long face had a bright, peaceful, spiritual +expression, which gave a charm to any ordinary employment undertaken by +him. + +He bowed as Hansen entered, pushed back a packet of letters with which +he was occupied, and politely pointed to an arm-chair which stood at a +little distance from the writing-table. + +"Well," said Pietri, commencing the conversation, as he fixed his +bright eyes in expectation upon his visitor, "you have come from +Germany, what have you seen and heard? Are matters ripe? In what mind +are the people? Tell me everything--we must know every detail of what +is occurring there, in order to take up our own position." + +"Let me begin with the central point of the position," replied Hansen. +"I was lately in Berlin, and I discovered nothing there, with regard to +the views of statesmen or the national feeling, to make me doubt the +correctness of my impressions." + +At this moment a noise was heard at the top of the stairs at the +further end of the cabinet, the heavy folds of the _portiere_ slowly +opened, and a man appeared standing on the top step. + +It was Napoleon III. who thus descended into his private secretary's +cabinet. + +Pietri rose as soon as he heard the _portiere_ withdrawn and the foot +on the stairs, and remained standing before the writing-table. + +Hansen followed his example. + +The emperor slowly descended the steps. It was not the form represented +in the life-size portrait; the hand placed commandingly upon the crown +and sceptre of France, proudly draped in the imperial mantle, which +well became the graceful, slender figure. + +It was an old man who descended the stairs; _embonpoint_ had destroyed +the elegance of his figure, illness and pain made his carriage feeble +and uncertain, his grey hair no longer thickly surrounded his brow, but +fell in thin locks over his temples, and his eyes, in former times +often veiled though capable of stormy flashes, now looked dull and +wearied. + +The emperor, dressed in a plain black morning coat, and smoking a +cigarette, the strong and excellent aroma of which preceded him in a +light blue cloud, carefully descended the stairs, and entered the +cabinet. + +He walked slowly, with the heaviness of later years. + +He stopped before his secretary, gave him a peculiar look from the +veiled shadows of his eyes, and bowed low to Hansen. He seemed to scan +him completely in a quick momentary examination, and he then turned his +head to Pietri, with a slight expression of inquiry. + +"Sire," said Pietri, "Monsieur Hansen, a Dane who is completely devoted +to his country, and who has also done us good service, for as a Dane he +loves France; he has travelled through Germany, seen many personages, +and was about to tell me the result of his observations." + +The emperor again bowed to Hansen; the amiable and charming kindness +with which he could at will exercise a magic influence, shed a glow +like sunshine over the weary indifference of his face. + +"I know," he said, in his low but clear and penetrating voice, which +expressed in a masterly way the finest shades of feeling, "I know that +all Danes love their country, and for that reason they have warm hearts +for France, their country's friend. Your name is known to me, sir, as +that of a man distinguished for his burning and active patriotism, even +in so patriotic a country as Denmark." + +Hansen bowed low, whilst the pleasurable emotion he felt at the +emperor's words caused him to blush. + +"Sire," he said, "so gracious a recognition from your majesty's lips +almost makes me forget that my zealous efforts in my country's behalf +have been fruitless. If my humble name is known to your majesty, you +must know, too, how much I love France and revere her emperor, upon +whose mighty will it depends whether Denmark shall win back and +maintain her rightful position amongst the nations of Europe." + +The emperor bowed his head slightly. A sudden deeply penetrating glance +shot from his half closed eyes towards the Danish agitator, whose +upturned face expressed only deep veneration. + +"My dear Pietri," said Napoleon III., turning to his secretary, "I came +down to look through the morning's correspondence. Is it ready for me?" + +"Here it is, sire," said Pietri, taking some papers from the table and +handing them to the emperor. + +Napoleon took them, and with a movement recalling his youthful agility, +he rolled a chair close to the window, seated himself, and took from +his _etui_ another cigarette, which he lighted at the end of the one he +had just smoked. + +"I will not disturb your conversation," he said with an engaging smile. +"Go on as if no one were here, I will quietly read my letters." + +Pietri again seated himself before the writing-table, and signed to +Hansen to do the same. + +The emperor looked at the first of the papers he held in his hand very +attentively; it was marked with a blue pencil at the most important +passages. + +"So you were lately in Berlin?" asked Pietri, again looking at Hansen +expectantly. + +"I was there," he replied, "and I brought away with me the conviction +that a great German conflict is unavoidable." + +"Do they desire it?" + +"They do not desire the conflict; but they desire what cannot be +obtained without a conflict." + +"And that is----?" + +"The perfect reform of the German Confederation, the military +ascendency of Prussia to the Main; the complete setting aside of the +traditions of Metternich's Germany. Count Bismarck is recklessly +determined to reach his aim, and I believe he, too is convinced that +this aim cannot be reached without war." + +Pietri was silent for a few moments, and his eyes glanced at the +emperor still immersed in his papers, then he looked full at Hansen and +said: + +"And would they not be pacified by the sole possession of Holstein and +Schleswig? Provided Austria cedes her conjoint authority in the +Duchies, I thought they intended to settle the boundaries of Silesia to +your advantage." + +A slight glow passed over Hansen's face, but he replied with unmoved +voice:-- + +"No, the conflict cannot thus be avoided. I believe they were inclined +to make great concessions in exchange for the entire possession of the +Duchies; and if France heartily demanded it, Danish North Schleswig +might be restored; but no palliative will prevent the conflict. + +"Believe me, sir!" he continued, with animation, "this conflict is no +quarrel about the German Grand Duchies; they know well enough in Berlin +that they must in time fall to Prussia, and they do not fear the +resolutions of the Grand Duke of Augustenburg. The strife arises from +the historical development of Prussia and Germany. Prussia is really +not the second German state, but the first, and the German +Confederation grants her only the second place, and represses her +natural powers of development by a machinery the springs of which are +set in motion in Vienna. + +"This is the true cause of the quarrel: Prussia desires the place which +naturally belongs to her, and which Austria held formerly. The quarrel +has lasted years and years, and would perhaps have continued many years +longer in its latent form--for the exercise of the wits of European +diplomatists--if Bismarck had not been at the head of the marvellously +expansive Prussian state. This statesman is an incarnation of the +Prussian spirit, strengthened by an extraordinary and genial +originality. He knows how to develop in the highest degree the rich and +well-knit strength of the country, and he has determined to put an end +to Prussia's present position. He can be led to no second Olmuetz; he +will gain for Prussia her place in Germany, or perish." + +The emperor's hand with the papers it held slowly sank into his lap, +and his eyes, suddenly opened widely, and burning with excitement, were +fixed on Hansen's face. His master's attention did not escape Pietri; +he said, with a slight smile:-- + +"It is indeed wonderful to hear a Dane speak so enthusiastically of the +Prussian minister, here in Paris." + +"Why not?" asked Hansen, quietly. "This man who knows what he wants, +and exerts all his powers to gain what he wills, who loves his country +and determines to increase its greatness and power, compels my +respect,--he deserves esteem for his efforts--admiration if he +succeeds. Between Bismarck and myself stands my country, Denmark. The +German part of the Duchies we do not desire and could not make use +of,--but we want what is Danish, and what is necessary to protect the +Danish frontier. If this is yielded we shall have no cause to be the +foe of Prussia or Germany. If this is withheld Prussia may for ever +reckon little Denmark amongst her enemies, for exactly the same reasons +which influence Herr von Bismarck's policy." + +Napoleon III. listened attentively. + +Pietri said:-- + +"Have you gained the impression that there is an inclination on the +part of Prussia to meet the wishes of Denmark?" + +"I do not think this impossible," replied Hansen, firmly, "especially," +he continued with great distinctness, "if Prussia, in her difficult +position, might by such an arrangement, gain the support of one of the +great powers. It would then only be necessary to arrange the frontier +line, so as to maintain the interests of both Denmark and Germany." + +As he slowly uttered these words he looked at the emperor. Napoleon had +raised the letter in his hand near to his eyes, which were fixed +without any especial expression upon the paper. + +Pietri enquired further:-- + +"Supposing that Bismarck desires war, or more properly, desires objects +only to be obtained by war, will the king proceed to extremities, +rather than dismiss his minister? I speak to you without reserve," he +added, apparently with reckless candour; "you live in the political +world, and know as well as I do what is said in the circles surrounding +the Prussian ambassador. Did you receive the impression in Berlin that +Count Goltz might possibly succeed Bismarck?" + +"No," replied Hanson, decidedly. "The King of Prussia shrinks +excessively from war,--that is to say, not from war itself, but from a +war with Austria--a German war. The king dreads such a war and +earnestly wishes to avoid it. If Vienna would meet him in the principal +points, he would probably make many more concessions than Bismarck +would approve. But when once the question is asked the king will not +yield the principle. He has created a new army organization. According +to all judges it is exemplary, and he carried it out in spite of the +opposition of parliament; he will not draw back when the first +opportunity comes of vindicating and enlarging Prussia's powerful +position in Germany. The king will strike with a heavy heart, but he +will strike, and after the first cannon has fired he will be only a +general. I have not conversed with King William myself," continued +Hansen, "but what I have said is the _resume_ of conversations I have +had with those who know intimately both the situation and the +personages concerned. As to Herr von Bismarck's position," he +continued, "it is perfectly firm. Bismarck will never forfeit the +king's confidence." + +"Why not?" asked Pietri, with animation. + +"Because he is a soldier." + +"That is to say, he wears the Landwehr uniform." + +"That is only the exterior, but in this case it is not an idle +appearance. Bismarck is a soldier: he is a man of action, of quick and +clear decision; his diplomatic pen does not tremble at the roar of +cannon or the clash of arms; he would be as calm riding over a +battle-field as sitting by a green table. The king feels this; he is +himself a soldier, and he trusts him. I know Count Goltz has many +friends, but these friends deceive themselves, and I can assure them, +that if they have chosen him in Paris, they have not in Berlin." + +There was a short silence. + +After Pietri had glanced at the emperor, he further enquired:-- + +"But what is the national feeling? Judging from the press, war is not +popular?" + +"Indeed it is not," replied Hansen; "the people dread a defeat, and the +parliamentary opposition believe in their short-sightedness that +Bismarck is commencing a war to get himself out of the blind alley into +which they think they have forced him. They little know the man with +whom they have to do!" + +"But," objected Pietri, "will not the Prussian government place itself +in a very dangerous position if it begins a war against Austria and +Germany, whilst its own subjects oppose this war and regard it +unfavourably?" + +"I think this danger is apparent, but not real," replied Hansen. "The +army--and this is the main point--will do its duty, and in spite of all +opposition will be ready in full strength; and all who speak and write +against Bismarck now, will fall at his feet after the first victory. +Interior strife will be extinguished when the first battle is won: each +addition to Prussia, each step towards the unity of Germany, will tend +to make the war which procured them more popular." + +"Victory!" exclaimed Pietri; "but will Prussia be victorious?" + +"It must be so," said Hansen, calmly. "Austria deceives herself both as +to the forces she can, with the help of Germany, place in the field, +and those at the command of Prussia. The strength of the Prussian army +is immense; it is quickly concentrated and homogeneous. The Austrian +army is weak, and cannot be properly bound together, or placed under a +united command. The South German soldiers with whom I have spoken, and +who know the condition of Austria, have no doubt of the success of +Prussia. The conduct of the war on the South German side must be a very +lame affair, for they have not yet even begun their military +preparations. Hanover and Hesse desire to remain neutral, but they have +concluded no treaty, and after all their hesitation they will be +surprised. Austria will find her only energetic support in Saxony, +where Beust, the life and soul of the anti-Prussian movement, has +succeeded in getting the army ready to take the field." + +"You believe entirely in victory for Prussia?" asked Pietri, in a tone +that showed he was not inclined to share the belief without demur. + +"I do," replied Hansen, "and I think all prudent policy must reckon on +it almost as a certainty." + +"You spoke just now," said Pietri, after a short pause, "of additions +to Prussia. What do you think she will demand, or take, if victory is +on her side?" + +"All that she needs, and can keep." + +"That is, expressed in names and numbers?" + +"The whole of North Germany unconditionally." + +Pietri made a movement of incredulity. + +"Be assured I am not deceived," said Hansen; "the people themselves +will desire conquests when Prussian blood has once flowed: what is to +be gained from Prussia must be gained before the war; after one victory +they will not listen to argument in Berlin." + +The emperor stood up. + +Pietri and Hansen also rose. + +Napoleon placed the packet of papers which his secretary had given him +again on the table. + +He bowed his head slightly to Hansen, and said-- + +"I am very glad, sir, to have made your acquaintance, and I shall +always be happy to be useful to a nation whose every member is so +inspired with patriotism." + +Hansen bowed low, and left the room. + +As the door closed behind him the emperor rose quickly, his eyes shone, +and he said, as he stepped hastily towards Pietri:-- + +"Pietri, do you believe that man observes sharply, and is well +informed?" + +"I know him to be a sharp observer. As to his information, I know that +Bismarck has received him; that he has had intercourse with various +political personages in Germany, and that he has a talent for +discovering the direction of popular opinion. Nevertheless I think he +over-estimates the power of Prussia. Bismarck impressed him greatly, +and the impression made is mirrored in his report. We have seen the +same before; this Prussian minister well knows how to gain those whom +he wishes to win." + +The emperor gazed thoughtfully before him. "I fear," he said, in +a low voice, "that the man is right, and that we have a great and +difficult historical problem before us. Can we support Austria without +wounding Italy, already too strong to be ignored? Can Prussia prevail, +and Germany be reconstituted, without danger to the prestige of +France--yes, even to our frontier! Alsace and Lorraine once were +German." + +Pietri smiled. + +"Your majesty loves to jest!" + +"Ah! Pietri," said the emperor, placing his hand on his secretary's +shoulder, partly to impress his words, partly as if seeking a support, +"you do not know the Germans; I know and understand them, for I have +lived amongst them. The German nation is a lion, which knows not his +own power; a child might lead him with a chain of flowers,--yet in his +claws there is strength to destroy the whole European world, when he +knows his own nature and when he once tastes blood. And in this war he +will taste blood--the old jest, '_l'appetit vient en mangeant_' will +turn to frightful earnest; let this Prussian lion once break his chain, +and he will be a frightfully dangerous neighbour." + +The emperor said this half aloud in short broken sentences, while his +eyes, as if following a vision, stared into space. + +A quiet smile played round Pietri's lips. + +"Your majesty has a dark hour," said he, in the calm encouraging tone +used to one ill and excited; "I believe the strongest element in the +German lion is sleep--should he awake and play the dangerous pranks +your majesty describes, he will find on our frontier our large armies +and the imperial eagle. The impertinent lion will soon be taught his +place." + +The emperor let his head sink down on the arm still resting on Pietri's +shoulder; his whole figure seemed to collapse, his eyes glowed wildly +beneath their veil of eyelashes, his breath came with difficulty +through his parted lips, as if it struggled to form words which might +express his gloomy thoughts. The mighty emperor seemed oppressed by the +darkest forebodings; at last, without the least movement in his lips, +he said, in a low tone which filled the quiet room with a trembling +shudder, + +"I am not the Great Napoleon!" + +The voice was so sad, so chilling, so deeply melancholy that Pietri's +face, before calm and smiling, turned pale as if touched by deadly +cold. + +He sought for a reply; but a noise was heard, the _portiere_ was +withdrawn, and on the upper step of the staircase appeared the +emperor's groom of the chambers, who announced: + +"M. Drouyn de Lhuys requests an audience." + +At the first sound the emperor had withdrawn his arm from Pietri's +shoulder, and his countenance had regained its usual calm, cold +expression. He received the announcement with his ordinary manner, and +replied: + +"I will come." + +The groom of the chambers withdrew. + +"I know what he wants," said Napoleon, "he wishes me to put a spoke in +the rolling wheel, to prevent hostilities. I often wish to do so--but +is it possible? Shall I risk at this moment the great question? for if +I speak and my word is not obeyed, the firebrand is kindled which will +endanger the existence of France and of myself. If I permit things to +go on, time at any rate is gained, and time brings favourable chances, +and the possibility of strengthening the power and influence of France +without a war. Well, let us hear what he wishes." + +And he walked slowly towards the stairs. At the first step he paused, +and returned several paces into the cabinet. + +"Pietri," said he in a low tone, "what do you think of Drouyn de +Lhuys?" + +"Sire," he replied, "I admire his deep and extended information, and I +have a great respect for his character." + +The emperor was silent for a moment. + +"He is very near the House of Orleans," he said with some hesitation. + +"Sire," replied Pietri firmly, "he has given your majesty his oath, and +I know M. Drouyn de Lhuys too well to doubt that his oath is sacred." + +The emperor was again silent for a moment, then he made a slight sign +of adieu to Pietri with his hand, and mounted the stairs to the +apartment above. + +Pietri returned to his writing-table, and looked through the remainder +of the correspondence. + +Napoleon III. entered his plainly furnished cabinet, walked up to the +writing-table and touched a bell. The groom of the chambers appeared. + +"M. Drouyn de Lhuys!" said the emperor. + +A few moments afterwards the Minister for Foreign Affairs entered his +sovereign's cabinet. + +Drouyn de Lhuys at this time was about sixty years of age, tall and +strongly made. His thin grey hair and equally grey whiskers, arranged +in the English fashion, surrounded a healthy looking, fresh-coloured +face, lighted up by an expression of kindliness and affability. + +The appearance of this well-known man resembled a well-to-do English +landlord, rather than an experienced statesman who had thrice already, +under circumstances of great difficulty, filled the position of +Minister of Foreign Affairs. + +The eyes alone, sharp, clear, and observing, beneath the broad brow, +gave an idea of the talent of this strong, excellent, and distinguished +man, accustomed to unravel and knit together the tangled threads of +European policy. + +The minister wore a black morning coat, with the large rosette of the +Legion of Honour in the button-hole. + +The emperor advanced to meet him and held out his hand. + +"I am delighted to see you, my dear minister," he said, with an +engaging smile, "what have you to tell me? how does Europe get on?" + +"Sire," replied Drouyn de Lhuys with his peculiarly slow, and +pedantic-sounding sharpness of pronunciation, "Europe is sick, and will +soon have a dangerous paroxysm if your Majesty does not employ soothing +measures." + +"Do you not over-estimate my power," said the emperor, smiling, "by +thinking that I can? But," he added seriously, "speaking without +metaphor, you wish to tell me that hostilities in Germany are about to +break out--is it not so?" and sinking into an easy chair, he signed to +his minister also to seat himself. + +"It is true, sire," said Drouyn de Lhuys, as he seated himself, opened +his portfolio and drew from it some papers, "that this is what I wished +to say to your Majesty. Here is a despatch from Vienna stating, +that--in incredible blindness--they have determined to commence +hostilities and to urge matters to an immediate rupture. They are about +to summon the States in the duchies without the consent of Prussia, and +Count Mensdorff has forwarded a despatch to Berlin, which is really an +ultimatum, as it requires in a high tone the immediate suspension of +all military preparations." + +The minister handed the emperor the despatch; he looked through it +hastily, and placed it on the table. + +"Here," added Drouyn de Lhuys, "is a despatch from Benedetti, stating +most positively that Herr von Bismarck is determined to take the most +decided measures to obtain for Prussia her proper position in Germany. +The project of reform which he brought before the assembly of the +German Confederacy in Frankfort, was a moral declaration of war against +the preponderance of Austria, and the position bestowed on her by the +treaty of Vienna. Count Mensdorff's despatch, which I have had the +honour of naming to your Majesty, has already arrived in Berlin, and +been presented by Count Karolyi. It has given great offence. Benedetti +describes it as one of those compositions which in former times the +German Emperor addressed to the Margrave of Brandenburg, and it has +served greatly to diminish the King of Prussia's repugnance to war. +Thus on both sides matters are hastening towards war, and, in a few +weeks perhaps, the armies will be opposed to each other, and the whole +of Europe will take part in the quarrel, if your Majesty does not +command a halt." + +The minister stopped, and looked at the emperor inquiringly. Napoleon +leant dreamily on the arm of his chair. + +"And what do you advise me to do, my dear minister?" he asked after a +short pause, as he raised himself a little and looked anxiously at +Drouyn de Lhuys' calm and open countenance. + +"Your Majesty knows my opinion on this subject," he replied, "though I +fear you do not share it. A German war must be prevented for the sake +of France, for the sake of the peace of Europe. I think I do not +deceive myself," he continued, "when I express my conviction that +Prussia will emerge from such a war more powerful and more to be +dreaded, for I cannot believe in the military success of weak and +decaying Austria; and as to the remainder of Germany, it is not worth +speaking of, with its isolated little armies without military or +political connexion. To permit Prussia to become more powerful--to +become the supreme leader in Germany--is completely against the +interest of France. Your Majesty must allow me to say that the +France of to-day--the France of Napoleon," he added, slightly +bowing,--"should, according to my views, pursue the same course of +policy towards Prussia and the House of Hohenzollern as Bourbon France +formerly pursued towards Austria and the House of Hapsburg. Then +Austria's endeavour was the union of the military and political +strength of the German nation, and France, wherever she turned, found +herself opposed by the House of Hapsburg. Prussia now holds the same +place, and continually thwarts our lawful ambition, and if in this war +she succeeds in uniting in her own hands the military power of Germany, +our plans will all be crossed, and the influence which we justly +exercise on the affairs of Europe greatly diminished." + +"But if Prussia is beaten?" asked the emperor. + +"I do not believe in such a result," replied Drouyn de Lhuys, "but +grant it is so, what do we gain? Austria, with unbounded power, would +place herself at the head of Germany, and the old enmity of the House +of Hapsburg, strengthened by the Italian war, would be exercised with +new energy to our disadvantage. There is but one policy for France, +that is, to uphold the present position in Germany--to nourish, to +sharpen the antagonism between Prussia and Austria, but never let it +come to a war, to a decision; and to make use of the fear felt for both +these powerful rivals in the smaller courts of Germany to extend our +own influence. Thus, in an imperceptible way, we shall easily obtain +what the Emperor Napoleon I. obtained from the confederacy of the +Rhine--the power of using federal Germany against the two great states. +I cannot believe there is any other policy for France to pursue with +regard to Germany. Prussian or even Austrian Germany must always be our +foe, and a very dangerous foe: let us oppose the two great powers, and +drive in between them the wedge of the German kingdoms and dukedoms +jealous of their sovereignty; then, if we act prudently and carefully, +and require nothing to hurt the national feeling, Germany will be +completely subservient to our will." + +"You think then--?" said the emperor inquiringly. + +"That your Majesty must prevent the outbreak of war in Germany with all +your energy, or the position of France in Europe will be much +imperilled." + +The emperor was silent for a time, and tapped with his fingers upon the +arm of his chair, then he said: + +"Do you believe that I can prevent war; do you believe I am strong +enough to force back the half-drawn sword into the scabbard? Yes, if +Palmerston still lived," he said, thoughtfully; "with him it would have +been possible; but with the England of to-day, who has great words, but +deeds no longer!----Do you believe my single voice will be heard? And +if I am not heard? Must I not fear that, as in the story of Jason, the +two foes about to fall on each other will quickly unite against him who +would have thrust himself between them? Bismarck would soon see such a +game. Oh! I have let this man become too great!" + +Drouyn de Lhuys calmly replied-- + +"I do not share the fears and difficulties your Majesty has so +graciously pointed out. A single word from you would prevent the war. I +must impart to your Majesty a conversation I had with Bismarck, the +last time I saw him. He explained to me with the greatest openness and +freedom from all reserve, the position he desired Prussia should hold +in Germany. A war with Austria he declared was an absolute necessity +for the historical development of Germany, since Austria would never +freely allow Prussia to take the place due to her. 'But though this war +is necessary,' said the Prussian minister, 'and though I, and every +Prussian government, must regard it as a certain logical event, yet the +exact moment in which it must commence depends upon the will and +statesmanship of the government. I should certainly not be so foolish +as to undertake two great wars at once, and to strike France and +Austria at the same time. If you are in earnest in desiring the delay +of the outbreak required by the chronic German question, say so plainly +and openly. I can wait.' So said Herr von Bismarck. I implore your +Majesty," continued Drouyn de Lhuys, "to authorise me to make the +declaration he thus invited, and to say plainly that France will not +permit a German war, and that in case hostilities commence, her armies +will at once start for the frontier." + +The minister looked anxiously into the emperor's face. He still gazed +thoughtfully before him. + +After a few moments Napoleon spoke: + +"I cannot entirely share your views, my dear minister. Like yourself I +see the danger that may accrue to France from a German war; I also +acknowledge the truth of your opinion that the relations of the old +confederacy enabled us to exert considerable influence in Germany in a +comfortable and easy manner. But," he added thoughtfully, "could such +relations continue? A movement is passing through the world, urging +national union, and I think it highly dangerous to endeavour to oppose +the spirit of the times. I know you are dissatisfied with what I have +done in Italy, with what I must perhaps still do; and yet I think I am +right. The pulses in the life of the people now beat so strongly, that +the balance of the world can no longer be maintained by those little +weights which old politicians threw now into one, now into the other +scale. National agglomerations must take place, and we must endeavour +to place such a weight in the balance as shall prevent its kicking the +beam. Besides, Germany will not be so dangerous as you fear. The German +races have no craving for foreign conquest; they are not offensive, and +only struggle for a federal formation. I regard, too, the result of the +war differently. I do not think that either of the two opponents will +be completely and absolutely victorious; they will weaken each other: +we will, to a certain extent, harass the victor, and I believe in the +end Germany will be divided into three parts: Prussia with North +Germany, Austria, and South Germany. Then," he continued with a smile, +"you will have an excellent opportunity, my dear minister, of proving +your favourite proverb--_Divide et impera_, and your work will be less +in detail than heretofore." + +"Then your majesty will not forbid the German war?" asked Drouyn de +Lhuys. + +"I believe I neither can, nor ought," replied the emperor; "Italy too, +presses me to fulfil my promise. Free to the Adriatic!" + +"A promise your majesty ought never to have given," said the minister, +firmly. + +"Perhaps," said Napoleon; "but it is given, and I cannot leave every +question open. Mexico weighs heavily upon me." + +Napoleon sighed deeply. After a pause he added:-- + +"I will make an effort to reconcile your views with my own. Let us ask +in Vienna if they are willing to yield me Venice to restore to Italy. +It would form the basis of a possible alliance with Austria, which +would enable us to interfere with real power and a prospect of success +in the complicated German question. Then, even if the negotiation were +successful, it would leave us free." + +"I do not believe the measure would be successful," said Drouyn de +Lhuys; "the House of Hapsburg prizes Venice highly, although it has +always been a burden and a drawback; but I do wish to obtain this apple +of discord, for without it an alliance may one day be formed against us +between Austria and Italy. I doubt, too, whether a free choice will +hereafter be left to us. The roles are distributed before a performance +is begun, and those who dally may be set aside. Nevertheless, I can say +nothing against the principle of the step your Majesty proposes, and if +you wish it, it shall be carried out immediately." + +The emperor seized a letter which lay on his writing-table, and said, +as he looked through it hastily, "I am urgently requested by Saxony to +grant no support to the Prussian claims. I cannot give any distinct +response; but will you instruct the ambassador in Dresden, +confidentially, that he may discreetly insinuate, that it depends upon +the cabinet in Vienna whether the wishes here expressed are fully +complied with, and that they completely meet my own views." + +Drouyn de Lhuys bowed. + +"It will also be needful," continued the emperor, "to talk +confidentially in Berlin of the guarantees which Bismarck might be +inclined to give us, provided his plans in Germany succeed. You know +how evasive and dilatory they are in Berlin on this point. They wish to +hear my demands, and I cannot and will not express them definitely." + +Drouyn de Lhuys again bowed in silence. + +The emperor stood up. His minister also rose. + +Napoleon stepped up to him and said with the fascinating smile which +lighted up his face with an irresistible charm: + +"You are not satisfied, my dear minister; but believe me this policy is +the best. We shall gain time, and in political life time is a power +which gives everything to those who use it aright." + +"I know the value of time," replied the minister, "but perhaps in +gaining time we may lose the right moment." + +"True," said the emperor, drawing himself up with a movement recalling +his earlier years, "yet trust in my star, and in that of France." + +"These stars are too bright not to inspire confidence," replied Drouyn +de Lhuys, but without any enthusiasm. He took up his portfolio, and +said: + +"Has your majesty any further commands?" + +"I will not detain you," said Napoleon, and shaking his minister +heartily by the hand, he dismissed him. + +After he had left the room the emperor remained for some time lost in +thought. + +"I cannot directly force events," he said half to himself, "I must +allow them to take their course. If my veto were not heard, I should be +obliged to undertake a frightful war, and then? I must endeavour by the +careful and prudent study of events to turn them to our advantage." + +He placed himself before a marble bust of Caesar which stood on a black +pedestal in his cabinet, and he gazed for some time on the beautifully +chiselled features of the Roman conqueror of the world. + +"Thou great antetype of my house," he said, while an electric +brightness beamed from his upturned eyes. "At this moment I too must +say, _Jacta est alea!_ But," he added gloomily, "thy dice were thrown +by thyself, and forced by thy mighty hand to fall according to thy +will. The pitiless iron hand of fate throws my dice, and I must take +them as they fall!" + +An attendant entered and announced:--"The emperor's breakfast is +served." + +Napoleon left the cabinet. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + GEORGE V. + + +One morning, when the trees on either side of the long avenue leading +from Hanover to the royal residence were still clad in their brightest, +freshest green, a carriage rolled rapidly along, and approached the +gilded iron gate which shuts off the outer entrance to the castle. + +The carriage drew up before the entrance to the inner courtyard. + +A slight man, somewhat under the middle height, alighted; he was about +thirty-six years of age, very fair, with a long drooping moustache upon +the upper lip, and he was dressed in black with a grey overcoat. + +This man walked in at the side gateway in the corner of the principal +building of the old electoral and royal palace, built by the renowned +Le Notre, and resembling a miniature of Versailles; he passed through a +long passage which led directly to King George V.'s Cabinet. + +Before the door of this cabinet, which was on the ground floor, with a +small entrance from the park and garden, sat the king's groom of the +chambers. Close to the entrance of the royal apartments was the waiting +room for the gentlemen summoned by the king, chiefly adorned by the +portraits of celebrated Prussians. There were represented in life-size +Bluecher and Ziethen, and there was an exquisite painting of Prince +Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, who fell at Saalfeld. + +The gentleman who had left the carriage, and reached the entrance to +the royal apartments, asked the groom of the chambers: + +"Is his majesty alone?" + +He had risen and taken the visitor's overcoat, and he replied in broken +German with a strong English accent: + +"Privy Councillor Lex is with his Majesty." + +"Will you announce me!" + +The groom of the chambers knocked loudly at the king's door, and the +clear voice of George V. was heard. He cried--"Come in!" in English. + +The attendant returned after a few minutes. + +"The king begs M. Meding to wait a moment." + +And he opened the door of the waiting-room, which Meding the councillor +of state entered. + +The room was empty. Meding took up a position on a large sofa. + +After about five minutes the door opened, and a gentleman, somewhat +bent with age, entered. His hair and moustache were as white as snow, +and he wore the uniform of a Hanoverian lieutenant-general, with the +golden epaulettes of an adjutant-general. His breast was decorated with +the Grand Cross of the Guelphic Order, and with the medals of 1813, and +Waterloo. It was General Tschirschnitz, the king's right hand in +military affairs, the medium of every appointment in the army. + +Meding rose with the words, "Good morning, your excellency." + +"Good morning!" replied the general, in a curt military tone, whilst he +laid a large closed portfolio on the table. "Are you here so early? +Shall we have long to wait? I hope you have not much to do." + +"The king is working with his cabinet councillor, and apparently +writing letters; how long that will last, it is difficult to tell. As +far as I am concerned I have only a little to do, and my audience will +not take long." + +The general threw himself back in his chair with a loud groan. + +"Do you know, my dear Meding," he said after a pause, "how long I have +waited already, during the course of my life?" and he raised himself a +little and looked inquiringly at his friend. + +Meding by slightly shrugging his shoulders implied that it was +impossible to reply to the question. + +"Eight years, seven months, three weeks, and four days!" cried the +general in a loud voice, and with great disgust. + +Meding could not help laughing aloud. + +"Your excellency has certainly suffered to the utmost, and your +patience has stood the proof!" + +"I have a book," said the general dismally, with a sort of grim humour, +"in which I have written down every day since I first received my +commission from my late lamented master, the length of time I have +passed in this waiting room. It now amounts to eight years, seven +months, three weeks, and four days. What do you say to that? They say," +he continued, "that I am sixty-eight years old. It is not true; I have +_lived_ but fifty-nine years, five months, one week, and three days. +The rest of the time I have _waited!_" + +And the general threw himself back in the arm-chair with a look of +resignation. + +"I must say, your excellency," said Meding, "it would never have +occurred to me to make a statement of the hours fruitlessly passed in +the ante-chamber. I should prefer for them to remain uncertain, and to +allow the dark moments passed in this _salle des pas perdus_, to fall +into oblivion." + +"You are still young, and inclined to dawdle away your time," replied +the general, "but I----" + +"Your excellency's time is much more valuable than mine," said Meding, +politely. + +At this moment a bell was heard. + +A few minutes afterwards the groom of the chambers appeared, and +called--"M. Meding." + +He bowed to the general and walked to the royal apartments. He passed +through the ante-room, the doors of which were set wide open, and +entered the king's cabinet. + +In this cabinet, filled with many different flowering plants, and +with windows wide open to the garden, sat the king at a square +writing-table. George V. was at this time forty-six years of age, a +handsome man in perfect health. The regular and classic features of his +race were seen in their purest lines in a face beaming with +cheerfulness and amiability; but which also expressed much royal +dignity. A slightly upturned fair moustache covered the upper lip, and +few of those who for the first time saw the king's free movements, and +the rapid changes of his expressive face, discovered the fact that he +was totally blind. The king wore the uniform of the Jaeger guard +regiment, comfortably unbuttoned. Across his breast, beneath his +uniform, ran the dark blue ribbon of the Order of the Garter. He also +wore the small crosses of the Orders of Guelph and Ernest Augustus. +Near the king, stood the privy councillor, Dr. Lex, a small, dried-up +looking man with thick grey hair, sharp, intelligent features, and a +modest, almost bashful manner. He was in the act of arranging his +papers. + +A small King Charles spaniel lay at the king's feet. + +"Good morning! my dear Meding!" cried the king in his clear voice, "I +am delighted to see you. Seat yourself and tell me the news. What says +public opinion in my kingdom?" + +"Good morning, your majesty," replied Meding with a low bow, as he took +a chair opposite the king. + +The privy councillor had arranged his papers and slowly withdrew. + +"I must impart to your majesty," said Meding, "that public opinion is +much excited, and is making every effort to urge on a war; it desires +your majesty to unite with Austria, and at once take a decided step +against Prussia." + +"Why so?" asked the king, "the amiable newspapers of the opposition +often sigh for a Prussian head." + +"Why, your majesty," replied Meding, "it is difficult to say why--so +many and such different influences are at work; but the fact +remains--all public opinion in the kingdom of Hanover craves to unite +in common cause with Austria." + +"Extraordinary," said George V.; "Count Decken spoke just in the same +tone when he was here yesterday; he was furiously Austrian!" + +"Count Decken, your majesty, speaks from the heart of the German union +he created. He is also a violent admirer of Herr von Beust----" + +"I know! I know!" exclaimed the king, "but is he quite right in +saying that the whole world--the army, especially the younger +officers,--predict a war with Prussia?" + +"He is right, your majesty," replied Meding. + +The king thought for a moment. + +"And what do you do to stem this flood?" he then asked. + +"I seek to calm, to guide, and to enlighten as far as my influence +extends by means of the press, for I consider this flood pernicious; it +tends to war, the greatest misfortune which could fall upon Germany, +and such a war would place Hanover in a most dangerous position." + +"Right! quite right!" cried the king, with animation, "every thing must +be done to allay this warlike and anti-Prussian excitement. You know +how strong is my conviction that a good understanding between the two +first powers of the confederacy is the only sure foundation for the +welfare of Germany, and what efforts I have made to maintain this. You +know, too, how highly I prize the friendship of Prussia. They call me," +added the king, "the enemy of Prussia, but indeed I am not. I defend my +right of perfect independence and sovereignty, but I most ardently +desire to live in peace and unity with Prussia. Those who would +interrupt this peace are ignorant of the true interests of both states. +They talk in Berlin of the policy of Frederick the Great; how little +they understand his policy! How highly did Frederick II. esteem the +alliance of Hanover, from whence he obtained the Duke of Brunswick, his +best general! And how great and beneficial were the results of this +alliance, though it was directed against Austria. Oh! that it were +possible to unite the two powers in a real and lasting friendship, and +that it might be granted me to be the dot over the _i_ in this +alliance! But should a rupture--which God forbid!--actually occur, I +will take no part in so deplorable a war on either side." + +The king said all this with the clearness and decision with which he +always spoke to those completely in his confidence, for he loved to +express his views to them on every question with great distinctness, +that they might be able fully to carry out his plans and wishes. + +"You are very right," he added, "in doing all you can to oppose this +warlike and anti-Prussian propaganda." + +"I am rejoiced," exclaimed Meding, "to hear your Majesty's views so +plainly stated. My position, from being by birth a Prussian, is in this +crisis extremely painful. What I regard as most desirable for the +interest of Hanover and your majesty, purely from my own conviction, +may easily be imputed to other motives, and will by some be so imputed. +It is therefore doubly necessary that I should always be completely +informed what your majesty's views really are, that I may act +accordingly." + +"Do not trouble yourself to fight against foolish notions," said the +king, with his peculiarly engaging and gracious smile. "I am sure, my +dear Meding, you will always have my interests and the interests of +Hanover at heart. You know I regard public opinion as the sixth great +power of Europe--perhaps as the first--and the press, the organ of this +great power, I wish to use as a mainspring of royalty. I desire to hear +what the people say and think, and, in the organs of the government +alone, to see my wishes and intentions expressed. I wish to know the +real thoughts and opinions of the people, whether they are right or +wrong, and I wish the people to know my views and desires. Thus perfect +openness exists between my subjects and myself, and the interests of +the crown are furthered. You know so well how to express my thoughts, +and have created for me what I long ardently desired and held to be +necessary--do not fear any mistrust or misconception." + +And the king offered his hand to Meding. He rose and pressed his lips +on the royal hand. + +"Your majesty has always permitted me," he then said, "to express my +views and opinions freely and without reserve on all questions of +state, whether foreign or domestic, and this right is an unspeakable +assistance in the fulfilment of the difficult task which your majesty +has given me. I humbly beg your permission in this grave moment freely +to express my opinion." + +"Speak, speak, my dear Meding, I listen anxiously," said the king, as +he leant back in his arm-chair, and supported his head with his hand. + +"Your majesty knows that it is a kind of _mot d'ordre_ of German, yes, +even of European diplomacy, _not_ to believe in a war between Prussia +and Austria. This seems to me like the conduct of the ostrich, who hid +his head, hoping to escape danger by not seeing it." + +"You believe in war, then?" asked the king, without changing his place. + +"I believe in it, your majesty, from the present state of affairs. The +disputed questions are on a steep incline, and have rolled down too far +to return. The despatches from Berlin and Vienna confirm my views that +war is inevitable, as well as the Austrian and Prussian official and +unofficial press." + +"They speak most peaceably, you told me so yesterday," interrupted the +king. + +"Exactly for that reason I believe both sides are determined on +hostilities. If they only wished to threaten, and to use their +armaments as a weight in the balance, by which they might obtain a +diplomatic compromise, all the government newspapers would be +clattering the sword. These assurances of peace disquiet me. Each side +seeks the best _casus belli_, and desires to throw the blame of a +rupture on the opponent. I am convinced we shall soon be in the midst +of war unless a miracle occurs. Count Platen will not believe it." + +"The ostrich," said the king. + +Meding smiled, and proceeded:-- + +"This situation is more dangerous for your majesty and for Hanover than +for any other state. In the moment of action Prussia will respect +nothing." + +"I have already declared that under any circumstance I shall remain +neutral," said the king. + +"Certainly, your majesty; but no treaty is concluded. Count Platen has +only expressed your majesty's intention to remain neutral generally to +Count Ysenberg; but, from fear of giving offence in Frankfort and +Vienna, no negotiations are proceeding and no treaty is concluded." + +"Do you regard a formal treaty as needful?" asked the king. + +"I regard it as indispensable. Prussia will willingly conclude such a +treaty now, and once concluded she will respect it. In the moment of +action she will ask more, and after victory, I think a treaty of +neutrality will be the guarantee of the independence--yes, even of the +existence--of Hanover." + +The king sat upright. + +"Do you hold it possible that Prussia could think of attacking the +existence of Hanover?" + +"I would neglect no guarantee to the contrary," replied Meding; "the +war about to break out is a war for existence: old Germany will fall in +ruins; under such circumstances we must not expect to be particularly +respected. A veritable treaty of neutrality, concluded now, not only +secures our existence, but perhaps our full independence in a new +Germany, for, I must repeat it, I believe if Prussia once signed such a +treaty it would under any circumstances be respected." + +"But," objected the king, "they are daily telling me how prejudicial a +treaty with Prussia will be, supposing Austria is victorious." +"I have heard this remarkable logic," replied Meding, "and I cannot +understand it. If Austria is the conqueror, will she give Hanover to +Prussia? Besides, your Majesty knows I do not believe in Austria's +success." + +The king was silent. + +"It is a difficult position," he said, at last. "Sir Charles Wyke was +here yesterday, conjuring me to be firm to Austria and the confederacy. +He brought me a letter from Lord Clarendon to the same purport." + +The king took a small key and opened a sliding panel in his writing +table, and, after feeling in the recess for a minute, he handed Meding +a letter across the table. + +"Read this." + +Meding looked through the paper. + +"I quite understand the policy of England, your majesty," he then said: +"in London they wish to maintain peace at any price, yet they desire to +lecture Prussia on the Danish question. They hope, if your majesty +places yourself decidedly and without reserve on the side of Austria +and the Saxon party in Frankfort, Prussia will withdraw from the +struggle in alarm, and make concessions, perhaps call on England to +mediate; by which means the English cabinet might find an opportunity +of effecting something in favour of Denmark. I think they are quite out +in their reckoning. But be it as it may, your majesty has to guide the +policy of Hanover, and not of England. Lord Clarendon's letter is +useless, unless he promises the English fleet to back it up. If your +majesty should get into danger and difficulty from following the advice +here given, not a single English man-of-war would come to your +assistance. England undertakes the part of that evil demon, who +appeared to Hector under the form of his brother Deiphobus, and who +urged him to the combat with Achilles, but who had vanished when the +Trojan hero looked round for a fresh spear. I wish," continued Meding, +after a short pause, "to tell you of an idea, which if carried out +would greatly remove the objections made to the conclusion of a treaty +of neutrality." + +The king raised himself in his chair, and fixed his eyes with a look of +such interest on the speaker it was almost impossible to believe them +sightless. + +"Your majesty doubtless remembers," said Meding, "the immense advantage +derived from your close alliance with Hesse Cassel during the last +political crisis, and the strong and beneficial influence it had on the +course of events; this alliance alone prevented Herr von Beust's +unheard-of Augustenburg policy from being carried out, and the whole +confederacy broken up. According to my convictions, your majesty in +this dangerous crisis should act entirely in concert with Hesse Cassel, +and gain the Grand Duke of Oldenburg to take part in an alliance of +neutrality. Your majesty would thus be at the head of a group willing +to have you for a leader; you would secure the future safety of +Hanover, do Prussia a service, and divide the displeasure of Austria +amongst several pairs of shoulders. It is my firm conviction that in +concert with Hesse Cassel you should conclude a treaty of neutrality +with Prussia. Should this treaty not be respected hereafter--which I +own I consider impossible--at least a compact body will be ready to +defend it. I believe a firm and energetic step in this direction will +do more to prevent war than Lord Clarendon's advice of entire devotion +to Austria." + +"When Medingceased speaking, the king, who had listened to him with +the greatest interest, struck the table with two of the fingers of his +right hand. + +"You are right," he cried aloud; "you are perfectly right." + +He pressed with his left hand upon a knob attached to his writing +table. The groom of the chambers entered. + +"The privy councillor immediately!" exclaimed the king. + +As the attendant withdrew, the king said:-- + +"Do you think the Prince of Hesse will be inclined to take this step +with me?" + +"I know that the Minister Abee is quite of my mind," replied Meding; +"and I know his Royal Highness the Prince of Hesse has the greatest +satisfaction in acting in concert with your majesty." + +"I must beg you, my dear Meding," said the king, "to go yourself to +Hesse Cassel, and propose this to the prince." + +A knock was heard at the outer door. The groom of the chambers opened +it, announcing--"The Privy Councillor." + +"My dear Lex," said the king, "Meding has given me an idea which I wish +to carry out immediately. He thinks that I ought at once, in common +with the Prince of Hesse, to conclude a solid treaty of neutrality with +Prussia. I will send Meding to Cassel without delay, as I am sure he is +the best ambassador for bringing the matter to a happy conclusion." + +Meding bowed to the king, and said: + +"I must tell your majesty that Count Platen quite approves of this +step, and has authorized me to tell your majesty so." + +"_Tant mieux, tant mieux_," said the king; "what do you think of it, my +dear Lex?" + +"I perfectly approve," he replied, in a clear, somewhat sharp voice; +"if your Majesty had concluded a treaty of neutrality at all with +Prussia, I should be much happier, but if it is done in common with +Hesse Cassel, the guarantees are stronger." + +"Will you kindly draw me up a proposal," said the king to Lex, "with +Meding's assistance, for him to take with him to the Prince of Hesse, +and bring it to me to sign immediately." + +"At your command, your majesty," replied Lex. + +"How does the affair of the trades-law go on?" asked the king. + +"Your majesty," replied Meding, "the guilds are all much excited, and +think the removal of all protection will cause their destruction. I do +all I can to enlighten them, and by means of the press, I point to +England as an example, where the various guilds, without the +intervention of government, exercise so great a municipal influence. I +hope the horror of innovation may give way here before clearer +knowledge; the minister Bacmeister grasps the whole question with so +soothing, so prudent, and so skilful a hand, that I have no fear of its +success." + +"I am sorry," said the king, "that the good people of the guilds should +feel injured; but they will soon find out that the removal of all +constraint benefits them, and the guilds, from hated and stagnant +institutions, will become powerful living organs. Even if otherwise, +the greatest freedom of action is needful, in the sphere of national +economy. How much I rejoice to find in my minister Bacmeister, a mind +so swift and capable in receiving my ideas, and a hand so skilful in +executing them." + +"Indeed, your majesty," replied Meding, "Bacmeister is the most able +and talented man I have ever known; personally, he has great influence +with the opposition, and almost every evening he is at a kind of +parliamentary club, formed by himself, with the assistance of Miguel +and Albrecht. Many things have been discussed there in a friendly +spirit, which would otherwise have caused the greatest bitterness and +strife in the chambers." + +"That is exactly what I have always felt!" exclaimed the king; "they +talk so much in Germany of public life, and yet they understand nothing +of it, since they are not capable of meeting a political foe on neutral +ground, as a gentleman.--Were you at the opera yesterday?" he asked, +changing the subject. + +"No," replied Meding; "but Schladebach told me he was much +dissatisfied, and that he should write a severe criticism." + +"He is right," said the king. "I shall be anxious to read his critique; +Doctor Schladebach has a fine appreciation of art, and much tact in +expressing his opinion. If we could but find an equally good critic for +the theatre!" + +"I am exerting myself to find such a critic," said Meding; "but I must +still beg your Majesty's patience. Talent is not easily found, nor +quickly formed." + +"True, true," said the king, "_chi va piano va sano_; but I hope we may +find a critic of real talent. It is indispensable for any form of art, +if it is really to flourish, and to fulfil its grand mission. And now +adieu, my dear Meding, go with God's help, and with much friendship on +my part, to the Prince of Hesse. Come back soon!" + +"God bless you!" + +Meding and Lex left the cabinet. + +George V. remained alone. + +For a time he sat quietly in his chair, his eyes fixed on the table. + +"It is too true--it is too true," he said at last in a low tone; "the +great conflict draws near. The German confederacy, which has been so +beneficial, and which for fifty years has maintained peace in Germany +and in Europe, cracks in all its parts, and will break up in the mighty +struggle. The only hand that could have calmed this mighty uproar with +a sign rests in the grave. The emperor Nicholas is no longer here to +grasp the rolling wheel of fate with his strong hand. And weight on +weight is heaped upon me, now by one, then by the other side; where +shall I turn? how shall I save the fair, rich, and faithful land which +God has entrusted to me, and which has been bound to my ancestors for a +thousand years in joy and woe?" + +The king remained silent for some time; then he rose, and, supporting +his hand on the back of his chair, he turned to the side of the room +where the portraits were hung of King Ernest Augustus and Queen +Frederica, and he sank slowly on his knees. + +"Oh! Thou almighty, triune God!" he said, in a voice low indeed, but so +fervent that it filled the room; "Thou seest my heart, Thou knowest how +I have wrestled in prayer to Thee in the dark hours of my life; Thou +gavest strength to my soul, to bear my heavy fate, never to look upon +the face of wife or child; Thou gavest me light and strength in those +troublous times when I first governed this land: bless me now, grant me +wisdom, enlighten my understanding, that I may know how to save my +country, and lead me graciously through the storms of this day! Yet not +my will, but Thine be done; and if it is decreed that care and sorrow +must be my lot, give me strength to bear, courage to endure!" + +The king's prayer ceased, and deep silence prevailed. Suddenly a gust +of wind slammed-to the open window, something heavy fell to the ground, +and the sound of shattered glass was heard. + +The small King Charles spaniel barked. + +The king started, rose quickly, and returned to his chair. Then he +pressed the knob of his electric bell. + +The groom of the chambers entered. + +"What fell on the ground near the window?" asked the king quickly. + +The attendant hastened to look. + +"It is the rose, that her majesty the queen had had forced, and that +she placed here." + +"Is the flower hurt?" + +"The flowers are all broken," replied the groom of the chambers, as he +picked up the pieces of the pot, and pushed the scattered earth aside. + +The king shuddered slightly. + +"The flowers are all broken," he repeated half to himself, lifting his +head and raising his enquiring eyes to heaven. + +"Who is in the ante-room?" he asked. + +"General von Tschirschnitz, Count Platen, General von Brandis, and the +minister Bacmeister." + +"Call all these gentlemen," commanded the king. + +The groom of the chambers placed four chairs near the writing table and +withdrew. + +After a few moments the four gentlemen entered the cabinet, the +attendant announcing them by name. + +"Good morning, gentlemen," cried the king as they came in; "seat +yourselves." + +The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Count Platen zu Hallermund, a +descendant of the well-known Count Platen so frequently spoken of in +connexion with the Koenigsmark mystery, took the chair nearest the king. + +He was a man of fifty years of age, with regular and agreeable +features, the glossy black of his thick hair and moustache seemed +hardly to accord with his years, though it did so completely with the +youthful and elastic bearing of his slight and elegant figure. + +On the other side of the king sat the Minister of the Interior, +Bacmeister, a man little older than Count Platen, but who bore far more +the stamp of his age. His thin fair hair was grey, and his features had +an expression of weariness, partly from the fatigue of an overworked +mind, partly from sickness and bodily suffering. Only when his +attention was aroused did his features start into life, his eyes +sparkled with high and unusual intelligence, and an expression of fine +irony played round his intellectual mouth. + +When he spoke, his words were accompanied by the most animated and +expressive action, which implied besides the words he uttered many +unspoken thoughts, his clear and well-toned voice, his excellent choice +of words, combined with this action, and fluent eloquence, greatly +influenced even his political opponents, who could not resist the +impression, and who usually fell _sous le charme_ of this, at first +sight, uninteresting person. + +Both the ministers wore the blue coat of office, with black velvet +collars. + +The Minister of War, General von Brandis, was a man seventy-one years +old; a follower of the iron Duke of Wellington, he had served in Spain +and taken part in the campaigns of 1813 and 1815. Jovial cheerfulness +beamed from his fresh, healthy face, which was surmounted by a short +black wig. His upper lip was concealed by a small black moustache. + +He seated himself at the side of the table, opposite the king, as did +General Tschirschnitz. + +"I have called you together, gentlemen," said the king, "because at +this grave moment I wish again to hear your opinions and to express my +will. I have called for you, General Brandis, and for you, my Adjutant +General, as representatives of the military relations of the kingdom; +for you, Count Platen, as my Minister of Foreign Affairs, to whose +especial department the most important questions belong; and for you, +my dear Bacmeister, because you know so well the interior condition of +the country and the opinions of the people; and," he added with a +gracious smile, "because I place extreme confidence in your views and +advice." + +The Minister of the Interior bowed. + +"You remember, gentlemen, that a short time ago in the large council +which I held here, and at which you were present, the great question +arose of what position Hanover must take in the lamentable quarrel +which, unhappily, grows sharper and more threatening between the two +great powers of Germany. The military gentlemen, especially General von +Jacobi, declared unanimously that the army was not in a state of +preparation for immediate war--which God forbid! a mobilization and +general military preparation is on political grounds highly +undesirable: on the other hand it is necessary, from a military point +of view, to make some arrangement to prevent our being surprised +unprepared. To reconcile these opinions I commanded the yearly +exercises to be held at an earlier time, so that the troops may be more +ready to march in case of need, and also that the people may not be +inconvenienced by having the exercises during the harvest. The +difficulties are constantly increasing, and an outbreak of hostilities +appears unavoidable. Then arises the serious question for Hanover, +whether to take part on one or the other side would be possible or +advisable; or whether the strictest neutrality should be maintained. I +beg you, Count Platen, first to give us your views." + +Count Platen spoke:-- + +"I do not doubt, your majesty, the gravity of the position, but I do +not believe a war will really ensue. We have so often seen great +_echauffements_ in the political world, which yet have all cooled down +again. I then humbly give my opinion that the moment has not yet come +for forming or expressing any decision." + +A slight, almost imperceptible, smile passed over the king's face. +General von Tschirschnitz shook his head. + +"If it were needful to take a definite and positive course," added +Count Platen, "it would certainly not be my advice that we should place +ourselves decidedly on one or the other side. We have interests on both +sides to consider, and we do not know which will be victorious. +Neutrality appears to me our natural course." + +"You would advise me, then, to conclude a treaty of neutrality?" asked +the king. + +"A treaty, your majesty!" replied Count Platen, his slender figure +seeming to contract; "a treaty is the last step I should recommend; it +would give great offence in Vienna, and if a war never broke out we +should scarcely be forgiven." + +"But how are we to maintain neutrality without a treaty?" asked the +king. + +"We can conclude it at any moment," said Platen; "they will be only too +delighted in Berlin to find we shall not act against them." + +"You would then----" asked the king. + +"Gain time, your majesty--gain time," said Count Platen; "we are now in +request on both sides, and we should lose our favourable position if we +decided positively for either. The longer we wait, the more +advantageously we can place ourselves." + +The king covered his face and eyes with his hand, and remained silent +for a moment; then he turned to the other side, and said:-- + +"And what do you think, Bacmeister?" + +He replied in the low voice which always so magically compelled +attention: + +"It is always my principle, your majesty, to be perfectly clear as to +the later consequences of present actions. The position which your +majesty now takes will have very important results. Your majesty can +join either Austria or Prussia. Should you cast in your lot with +Austria,--and should Prussia be as completely beaten as they hope she +will be in Vienna,--and as I do not think she will be, perhaps you +would gain more extended power and greater influence in Germany; but +should the play be adverse, the forfeit is your crown. Such a policy +may be bold and great, but it risks all on the game. Should your +majesty decide on this course, the decision must be your own: no +minister could advise his master to use his crown as the stake in a +dangerous game. Should your majesty join with Prussia, you follow the +course natural to Hanover, and in case of victory your position will +not be so brilliant, neither do you run so great a danger in case of +defeat, for Austria, though victorious, cannot weaken Hanover. But your +majesty still fortunately possesses the power of maintaining +neutrality, which they are willing to accept in Berlin, and in return +you preserve the safety of your country and your crown; perhaps you +will even partake of the advantages of victory without the sacrifices +of war. According to my views the decision cannot be doubtful, and I +pronounce unhesitatingly for neutrality. But," continued the minister +with greater energy, "neutrality must be sealed at once by the most +binding treaty. As events progress, I see with dread the moment +approaching when Prussia will no longer be satisfied with neutrality +alone, but will demand what your majesty cannot and will not grant. +Nothing can be gained by delay and hesitation except mistrust on both +sides, and at last the complete isolation of Hanover in a war in which +we are not strong enough to stand alone and unprotected. I give my +voice therefore for the immediate conclusion of a binding treaty of +neutrality." + +"General von Brandis?" said the king. + +The general replied without the least change in the expression of his +cheerful, smiling face: + +"Your majesty knows I hate Prussia. As a child I remember the +occupation of 1803, and the impression made on me then I never lost. I +tell your majesty openly, my dearest wish would be gratified if I might +draw my old sword on the side of Austria. But I acknowledge that the +Minister of the Interior is perfectly right in his reasoning, and I +fully subscribe to his views." + +"And you, General von Tschirschnitz?" inquired the king. + +"Your majesty," said the general, in his bluff, soldier-like voice, "I +must strongly protest against the statement that the army is unfit for +an active campaign. According to my opinion the army is ready to march +and to do its duty, and to gain honour for the name of Hanover, and in +the pages of history. I say this from complete conviction, and I shall +never alter my views. As to political considerations and interests, I +would rather your majesty did not ask me about them. I own the +reasoning of the Minister of the Interior is correct. As a soldier I +lament our neutrality, and I would far rather be marching beside you at +the head of the brave Hanoverian army. If your majesty has decided on +neutrality, I should advise you immediately to make the measure strong +and unalterable. I abhor all half measures and uncertain situations, +and I have never seen any good result from them." + +The king raised himself from the position in which he had been +listening, and said: + +"You all then, gentlemen, advise the neutrality of Hanover in the +deplorable war now, alas! impending between Austria and Prussia. Count +Platen, only, believes we ought to gain time, and to put off the +conclusion of a treaty, whilst Herr Bacmeister and the generals desire +an immediate treaty that we may not lose the favourable moment. For +myself, I incline to the views of the Minister of the Interior for the +reasons he has so plainly stated. I beg you, my dear count, to act +after my views," he said, turning to Count Platen, "and immediately to +commence the necessary negotiations with Count Ysenburg." + +"If you command it, your majesty," replied Count Platen, with evident +reluctance, "yet surely you will wait at least a few days, until the +situation is more declared, and we learn what is really taking place in +Austria, and their wishes in Vienna. Count Ingelheim imparted to me +this morning, that Prince Karl Solms is on his way hither, with an +important charge from the emperor." + +The king raised his head with an expression of astonishment. + +"My brother Karl?" he cried, "what brings him here?" + +"I do not know, your majesty," said Count Platen, "and Count Ingelheim +did not know, or would not disclose, but we must wait to hear this +mission before taking a decided step towards Prussia." + +The king considered. Bacmeister shook his head in silence. + +A knock was heard at the outer door. The groom of the chambers +announced Herr Meding, who entered the cabinet and said: + +"His royal highness Prince Karl Solms has just arrived, and requests an +audience." + +The king rose. + +"Where is the prince?" + +"He is with her majesty the queen, awaiting your majesty's commands." + +The king rang. + +"Beg Prince Karl to come," he said to the attendant who appeared; "you, +gentlemen," he continued, turning to the ministers, "must kindly remain +at Herrenhausen to breakfast, the privy councillor will be your host. +My dear general, I thank you, and will no longer detain you. We cannot +to-day do our regular work. I beg you to return to-morrow." + +The four gentlemen withdrew. Lex walked up to the king's writing-table. + +"The letter to the prince of Hesse, your majesty,--a short explanation, +that your majesty under any circumstances desires to remain neutral, +and confiding the rest to Herr Meding's personal explanation." + +"It is quite right, give it me," said the king. + +Lex placed the letter on the table, dipped a pen in the ink and gave it +to the king, placing his hand on the exact spot on the paper for the +signature. The king wrote in large bold characters: "George Rex." + +"Is it right?" he inquired. + +"Perfectly," replied Lex. He took the paper and withdrew. + +Scarcely had he left the cabinet when the groom of the chambers threw +open the doors with the words: "His royal highness Prince Karl." + +The prince who entered was the king's step-brother, from Queen +Frederica's previous marriage with the prince of Solms-Braunfels. He +was a man of about fifty, tall and slight, with short grey hair; he +resembled the king, though his features were much less regular; his +face had the colouring of health, but an expression that told of +suffering. + +The prince wore the full uniform of an Austrian major general; in his +hand he held his hat with its green plume and a sealed letter. On his +breast he wore the Hanoverian Guelphic Order, and around his neck the +Austrian Order of Leopold. + +He hastened to the king who embraced him warmly. + +"My dear Karl," cried King George, "what procures me the unexpected +happiness of seeing you here? But first tell me how are your people?" + +"Thank you for your kind interest," replied the prince, "we are all +better at home, and my wife has quite recovered." + +"And the Duchess of Ossuna?" + +"I have excellent accounts of her." + +"And you--how is your health?" + +"My nerves plague me at times, otherwise I am well." + +"So!" said the king, "and now sit down and tell me what brought you +here. I heard a rumour through Count Ingelheim." + +The prince seated himself near the king. "I wish I came in less serious +times, on a less serious mission," he said sighing; "the emperor sends +me to you. Here is his letter." + +And he gave the king the note which he held in his hand. The king took +it and passed his fingers lightly over the seal, then he laid it on the +table before him. + +"Do you know the contents; is there anything important in it?" he +asked. + +"Nothing important; only my credentials. My mission is personal." + +"Speak then. I am anxious to hear." + +"The emperor has determined," said the prince, "to commence a war, and +to carry it on with all his power for the future formation of Germany, +since he is convinced that by such a war, and by a decided Austrian +victory alone, can lasting peace be procured, and lasting safety and +independence for the princes of Germany." + +"Then I was not mistaken," said the king, "war is decreed." + +"It is," replied the prince, "and the emperor ardently desires to be +surrounded in this war by the German princes, as he was at the +Fuerstentag at Frankfort." + +"When they tried to catch me," said the king; "but go on." + +"The emperor," added the prince, "prizes the alliance of Hanover above +all things. He commanded me to say that he considered the interests of +the Houses of Guelph and Hapsburg identical in Germany." + +"The Guelphs have always fought against the imperial family," said the +king. + +"The emperor," proceeded the prince, "hopes that the old and intimate +relations between Hanover and Austria may continue during the present +crisis. He considers that at the congress of Vienna, Hanover did not +receive her proper position in Germany, especially in North Germany. +Called upon to be a powerful and independent barrier against Prussia's +hegemonistic struggles, Hanover was yet left too weak through the +diplomacy of the Vienna congress." + +"Because Metternich's efforts were not supported," interrupted the +king, half to himself. + +"The emperor," continued the prince, "is desirous of repairing the +errors of the Vienna congress by a new formation and organization of +Germany, and for this purpose he wishes to conclude an offensive and +defensive treaty with Hanover." + +"On what basis?" asked the king. + +"The most important points of the alliance which the emperor has in his +mind are these," said the prince. "Hanover shall immediately place her +whole army on a war footing, and in common with Austria, and at the +same time, shall declare war against Prussia. In return the emperor +will place the Kalik Brigade now at Holstein at your disposal, and will +offer you General von Gablenz for a time as its commander. He promises +his utmost support to Hanover should the war be unfavourable, and in +case of victory he guarantees that Holstein and Prussian Westphalia +shall be incorporated with your kingdom." + +"In case of victory?" said the king; "do you believe in victory?" + +The prince was silent for a moment. + +"I am an Austrian general," he then said. + +"Lay aside the Austrian general for a moment, and answer me as my +brother." + +"If our forces are properly led, and actively employed," replied the +prince, after a short hesitation; "and if Germany supports us strongly +and energetically, we must be successful. Our artillery is excellent, +and our cavalry very superior to the Prussian." + +"Hum!" said the king; "yet let us put aside these considerations, or +you will believe me to be swayed entirely by interested motives, and I +assure you it is not so. In this crisis there is a higher principle +than success, and by this principle alone will I be guided." + +"I humbly beg you," said the prince, "to consider the future advantage +and greatness to be gained for your country, and not to forget that +Prussia, with her power and her present political tendencies, is a +dangerous and threatening neighbour to Hanover." + +The king remained for some little time silent and thoughtful. + +"My dear Karl," he then said, "be assured that everything that comes +from the emperor shall receive my gravest consideration and hearty +respect, and that, by giving me the happiness of seeing you as his +messenger, he has strengthened still more my feelings of regard. I am +always ready to show my enduring friendship to Austria and to the house +of Hapsburg. But here--I must say it at once--principles enter into the +question, which as the ruler of my country and a member of the German +confederacy stand higher than all. At this moment I will give you no +definite answer. You can remain here a few days?" + +"A few days certainly," replied the prince; "the emperor awaits my +return with anxiety, and I cannot stay long." + +"I will not detain you long, and your proposals shall at once be laid +before my ministers." + +The king rang, and said to the attendant who appeared, + +"If the gentlemen have breakfasted, beg them to come here." + +Shortly afterwards Count Platen, General Brandis, and Bacmeister +entered the room. + +Prince Karl greeted them separately with great heartiness, and they all +seated themselves around the king's writing-table. + +George V. spoke: + +"The situation we have just discussed is somewhat modified. My brother +Karl is the bearer of a proposal from his imperial majesty of Austria +of a distinct treaty of alliance under certain conditions. I beg you, +my dear Karl, to recapitulate the conditions." + +The prince repeated the points which he had previously named to the +king. + +Count Platen rubbed his hands together laughingly. + +"Your majesty perceives," he said, in a low voice to the king, "we are +wooed by both sides. What a favourable position our policy has +secured!" + +Bacmeister shook his head slowly, and twisted the thumbs of his folded +hands, an expression of amused irony playing around his mouth. + +"Your Highness," he said, "speaks of the important acquisitions of +Hanover in case of victory. But what will happen--we must consider +every side of the question--if Prussia should be the conqueror?" + +"Under all circumstances the emperor guarantees to support Hanover," +said the prince. + +"How would his imperial majesty be able, if Austria were vanquished, to +support Hanover against victorious Prussia?" asked Bacmeister. + +"No discussion now, I beg, my dear minister," said the king. + +"Gentlemen," he added, "you have heard the proposal. On this occasion I +will depart from my usual custom, and at once tell you my views. I take +up my position on the standing-point that a war between two members of +the German confederacy is, according to the laws of that confederacy, +impossible. Such a war, alas! can and may come upon us, like a +convulsion of nature, or some scourge of God;--to contemplate it +beforehand, to conclude treaties on the subject, I hold to be +irreconcilable with my duty as a German prince. I should by such a +treaty take part in the guilt of a rupture of the confederacy so +blessed to Germany and the whole of Europe. Never, with my consent, +shall Hanoverian troops fight against German soldiers, except from dire +necessity. + +"But there is another reason why I cannot subscribe to this treaty. I +cannot consent to the eventual enlargement of Hanover; I cannot sign a +treaty by which I stretch out my hand for my neighbour's goods. It is +my joy and my pride that throughout the country I rule, there is not a +foot's breadth of earth that has not descended to me by legitimate +inheritance; shall I now sign a treaty for the acquisition of lands +that do not belong to me? Westphalia belongs to the King of Prussia, +with whom not only do I live in peace, but to whom, as a member of the +confederacy, I regard my obligations as sacred. Holstein belongs by +right I know not to whom--to the Grand Duke of Oldenburg, to the Duke +of Augustenburg, to Prussia,--I cannot enter into the difficult +subject,--certainly it does not belong to me. No, gentlemen, I cannot +part with the happy knowledge that I hold my kingdom entirely from +God's justice, and by God's grace: never," cried the king, striking his +right hand upon the table, "will I stretch out this hand to take what +is not mine. Hence, according to my views, the treaty proposed is +inadmissible. A proposal, however, from his Imperial Majesty of Austria +has an undoubted right to our gravest and most earnest consideration. I +therefore beg each of you conscientiously to think through this +subject, to weigh it deeply, and express all that can be said against +my opinions. Not to-day, but to-morrow I will preside at a council of +my assembled ministers, including your absent colleagues, in order to +decide upon our answer. For to-day I thank you, I will let you know the +hour of council for to-morrow." + +The king rose. + +With grave looks and in silence the ministers left the cabinet. + +Prince Solms gazed sorrowfully before him. + +"Am I right?" asked the king. + +The prince looked at his royal brother with an expression of deep +veneration. + +"You are right," he said in a low tone, "and yet," he added, his eyes +growing sadder and his head sinking down, "yet very, very wrong." + +"Now, my dear Karl," said the king cheerfully, "you shall go out with +me. I wish to go where you must be my guide." + +He pressed on a second knob at the right hand side of his +writing-table. The groom of the chambers of the private apartments +appeared, from a door leading to the king's bed-room. + +"I am going out," said the king, buttoning his uniform. + +The attendant handed him his cap and gloves. + +"Does your majesty wish for a cigar?" + +"No. Inform the equerry on duty that I shall not want him. The prince +will accompany me." + +The king took the prince's arm and walked through the corridor, passing +various bowing lacqueys in their scarlet livery, to the principal +entrance. In the hall leading to the door an animated conversation was +heard. + +"Who is that?" asked the king. + +"Count Alfred Wedell and Devrient." + +The persons mentioned stood close together in the vestibule engaged in +so engrossing a conversation that they did not perceive the king's +approach. + +Count Alfred Wedell, the king's chamberlain, and governor of the +castle, was a tall, strongly-built young man of about thirty years of +age, with a healthy complexion, and handsome, though decidedly marked +features. He was in undress uniform, a blue coat with a red collar, and +he stood opposite the famous Hanoverian actor, Devrient, a man well +past sixty, who had taken part in the German wars for freedom, but who +felt so little the burden of his years that he still played Hamlet with +great success. Neither when off the stage did his animated face, his +sparkling eyes, nor his upright figure, show any sign of age. + +"Good morning, Devrient," said the king in his clear voice, stopping in +the middle of the hall. + +The gentlemen broke off their conversation, and Devrient hastened to +the king. + +"Well, how are you?" said George V. kindly. "Always fresh and active. +Devrient is an example to us all," he said, turning to Prince Solms, +"he has the secret of eternal youth." + +"Your majesty," said Devrient, "the youth you so graciously ascribe to +me has a behind the scenes. I am not always before the lamps, the gout +is a very poor prompter. I came to beg your commands for the next +rehearsal, but I see your majesty is going out." + +"I am busy to-day, dear Devrient," said the king, "and to-morrow. Will +you come to me the day after to-morrow?" + +"At your command, your majesty." + +And, with a friendly nod, the king went through the great entrance, +both doors of which had been opened by the porter. + +As they entered the courtyard of the castle, where the sentries on +guard presented arms, Prince Karl asked:-- + +"Where are you going?" + +"To the mausoleum," said the king. + +Taking his brother's arm, he walked firmly and quickly through the +castle courtyard. + +Devrient turned to Count Wedell after he had watched the king for a +moment. + +"When I see our master walking thus, and when I think of the times in +which we live, I could wish to conjure all the good angels of heaven to +watch over his dear head. It does not please me," he added, gloomily, +"to see him leaning on the arm of an Austrian general. God grant it may +be no evil omen." + +"You are incorrigible!" cried Count Wedell, "will you again rant on +politics, and air your hatred against Austria? All Germany takes the +emperor's side; shall the king sacrifice himself for Prussia?" + +"I do not love the Austrian uniform," said Devrient, moodily. + +"I wish we had thirty thousand of them here," cried Count Wedell; "I +will remind you of to-day, Devrient, when the great victory is won, and +when grateful Austria----" + +"Gratitude from the House of Austria!" cried Devrient, with a +theatrical tone and gesture; and without saying another word he put on +his hat and rushed through the open door, along the broad alley which +led from Herrenhausen to the city. + +Count Wedell laughed, and shook his head as he retreated into the +interior of the castle. + +In a deep wood in the gardens of Herrenhausen is the tomb of King +Ernest Augustus and Queen Frederica, similar to the mausoleum at +Charlottenburg, where Frederick William III. of Prussia and Queen +Louisa rest. + +The king and queen lie chiselled in marble by a master's hand upon a +sarcophagus, in a building resembling a temple, the light from above +falling with wonderful effect upon the beautiful, lifelike figures. The +building in its profound stillness and pious simplicity impresses the +beholder with the full majesty of death, not to be felt without a +shudder, but also with the perfect peace of eternal rest. + +A single sentry stood before the entrance. + +Four persons were leaving the mausoleum in silence, evidently impressed +by the royal tomb. The castellan followed them. + +Three of these persons were old acquaintances from Blechow--the pastor +Berger, his daughter Helena, and the eldest son of Baron von +Wendenstein. Their companion was a young man of about seven or eight +and twenty, who was evidently a clergyman, from his plain black dress +and white neck-tie; his smooth, fair hair hung low on his temples, and +surrounded a round, shiny face, which was neither handsome nor +interesting. His small grey eyes, partly concealed by eyelids +habitually cast down, were quick and rather hard, and on his thin, +firmly closed lips appeared an expression of self-satisfaction and +ascetic assumption, which formed a remarkable contrast to the +amiability and calm cheerfulness of old pastor Berger, who wore his +usual dress--a closely buttoned black coat, and the square _berretta_ +of the Lutheran clergy. + +The whole party advanced slowly up the wide avenue leading from the +mausoleum to the park immediately surrounding the castle. + +They had not gone far from the mausoleum, when they heard the sentinel +present arms, and the castellan said in a low voice:-- + +"His majesty the king!" + +George V. appeared from a side walk, leaning on the arm of Prince +Solms. + +The three gentlemen removed their hats, and they all respectfully stood +still. + +"They are acknowledging you," whispered the prince. + +The king touched his cap. + +"Who is it?" he asked. + +"From his dress, a Lutheran clergyman," replied the prince. + +The king stood still and exclaimed: + +"Herr pastor!" + +Pastor Berger walked up to him and said in a firm, clear voice, + +"I salute most respectfully my royal master and supreme bishop!" + +The king started when he heard his voice. + +"Have I not met you formerly in Wendland?" + +"It is too gracious of your majesty to remember it. I am the pastor +Berger from Blechow." + +"Quite right, quite right," exclaimed the king with satisfaction; "I +remember the great pleasure your loyal reception gave me, and all the +interesting things you told me of the customs of your people. How glad +I am to meet you here! What brings you to Hanover?" + +"Your majesty, my strength is not what it used to be, and I am obliged +to think of procuring some assistance that my flock may not suffer from +my increasing age. The service must not grow old and feeble. I +therefore greatly wish my sister's son, the candidate Behrman, to be +appointed as my adjunct, and, if God wills, my successor in my holy +office. I came hither to make my request to the consistory." + +"It is granted, my dear pastor," cried the king; "the qualifications of +your nephew are doubtless correct, or you would not make the request. +Your nephew is your adjunct. How happy I am to fulfil your wishes here +and at once." + +Touched and surprised, the pastor could only say: "I thank your majesty +from my heart." + +"And now, my dear pastor, I must take care that you are shown +everything worth seeing in Hanover. Make yourself quite at home at the +castle. To-morrow I shall expect you to dinner; come an hour +beforehand. You must tell me much about my dear, faithful Wendland. +Have you seen the park and the hot-houses?" + +"We were on our way, your majesty. I have just left the mausoleum, and +I am still deeply impressed. I lifted up my soul to God there, and +prayed fervently that he would protect your majesty in these difficult +and dangerous times." + +The king looked very grave. + +"Yes," he then said, "the days are dark and difficult, and we need +God's blessing. I will do what you have done. I will pray at the grave +of my parents for strength and wisdom. Farewell; we meet to-morrow." + +And with a soldier's salute he turned away and walked towards the +mausoleum. + +Pastor Berger looked after him with great emotion; he raised his hand +as if impelled by some unseen power, and he said in a clear voice, +which resounded strangely through the wooded solitude: + +"The Lord bless thee and keep thee! The Lord lift up the light of His +countenance and be gracious unto thee! The Lord lift up the light of +His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace! Amen!" + +At the first words of this blessing, King George stood still and +removed his cap. A deep feeling of devotion appeared in his face. + +As the pastor's words ceased, he covered his head, greeted him by a +silent movement of the hand, and slowly entered the quiet, simple +building, which protected the last rest of his parents. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + AN ERRING METEOR. + + +In the boudoir of the house in the Ringstrasse, where Lieutenant von +Stielow had repaired after Count Mensdorff's soiree, the same +wonderfully beautiful woman who had received him with such glowing +passion lay stretched upon a couch. + +She wore a pearl-grey morning dress with light rose-coloured ribbons, +and a white lace handkerchief surrounded the fine oval of her face, and +nearly concealed her glossy hair. + +The morning sun streamed through the window hangings of her very +elegantly furnished room. The reflections that played over her face at +every movement were most becoming to the young lady's extreme +loveliness, and apparently she knew it, for she glanced from time to +time at a round mirror, which was so placed on the opposite wall as to +show nearly the whole of her form, and she was careful not to withdraw +the dark red cushion on which her head lightly rested, from the +softened sunbeams. + +Her features did not wear the enchanting expression of softness and +enthusiasm with which she had received Lieutenant von Stielow; an icy +coldness rested on her face, and a look of scorn played round the +beautiful lips, which were slightly parted and showed her white teeth +to be firmly closed. + +Before her stood a man of about thirty, dressed with a much greater +adherence to fashion than is usual amongst persons of real distinction. +His features were not ugly, but they were common, and his appearance +betokened a dissipated man of the second or perhaps third rank of +society. + +This man, who accorded so ill with the really elegant arrangements of +the boudoir, and still less with the graceful and aesthetic beauty of +the young lady installed there, was her husband, the merchant and +exchange agent, Balzer. + +The conjugal tete-a-tete did not appear to be of an agreeable nature, +for the husband's face bore evident traces of anger and scornful irony. + +"You know me," he said, in a rough voice, which betrayed too great an +indulgence in stimulants, and nightly dissipation, and in the rude +manner only found amongst uneducated persons, destitute of good +breeding. "You know me and you know I will have my wishes attended to. +I must have twelve hundred gulden, and have them by to-morrow," he +cried, stamping with his foot on the ground. + +The young lady played with a bow on her dress; its rosy colour was not +softer nor brighter than her small finger tips, and she replied without +altering her position or looking at her husband, in an almost hissing +voice:-- + +"Then gamble luckily, or cheat some of the people who trust you with +their business on the Bourse." + +"Your sneers are lost upon me," he said, with feigned indifference; "I +believe we may both spare ourselves the trouble of displaying our wit. +I am practical, and above all things a man of business," he added, with +a cruel laugh; "you know our compact, and you know under what +conditions I, your rightful lord and master, shut my eyes to +proceedings to which I might strongly object--if some day it should +please me to do so." + +She did not move a muscle, but the slight blush which passed over her +beautiful white brow, showed some inward emotion. + +Without in the least modifying her tone, she said coldly:-- + +"You also know how easy it would be for me to free myself from the +chains with which you threaten me. You must know me well enough to feel +sure that my conversion to Protestantism would not give me a moment's +uneasiness, if I wished to obtain a separation." + +"I do not think religious compunctions would ever trouble you," he +said, scornfully. + +"Well, then," she said, calmly, without looking up, "I only continue +to endure this heavy chain, because I wish to avoid scandal, and +because I do not wish a creature"--and this she said with unbounded +contempt--"whose name I bear, to fall into the lowest depths of vulgar +crime. These are my only reasons for enduring and maintaining you. Take +care of making the chain heavier than it is. As to what you are pleased +to term our compact, on my side it has been punctually fulfilled. Have +you not regularly received what I promised you?" + +"I am not talking about that," replied Herr Balzer, rudely; "I am +saying what I want, to meet unavoidable debts, and I must have twelve +hundred gulden and you must get them for me,--you _can_ do it easily. +Your little Uhlan lieutenant is an inexhaustible gold-mine," he +continued, with a low laugh. + +"I am sorry," she replied, coldly, "that you require another +gold-mine." + +"You wish to avoid scandal, as you said just now. Eh bien! I will +arrange a fine scandal for you as soon as he comes." + +"Such a scandal," she said, smiling, "would cause you to be kicked +down-stairs, neither would you ever receive another kreutzer from me." + +He was silent for a moment, her simple logic seemed to make some +impression upon him. But after a short time he came a step or two +nearer to her; a horrible smile played round his mouth, and spiteful +satisfaction shone in his eyes. + +"You are right," he said, "such a scandal would be aimless. But since +your dear Herr von Stielow is so ungenerous, I shall take care that you +break with such a sterile friend, and turn to others who bear more of +the golden fruit. Herr von Stielow shall be freed from the sweet chains +in which you hold him captive. I am sorry to give pain, for it seems as +if this little Uhlan had somewhat touched the hitherto icy heart of my +wife. But what must be, must--business first and pleasure afterwards." + +Her slender fingers trembled slightly, but she grasped the ribbons she +held firmly, and for the first time during the conversation she raised +her dark eyes. She flashed a piercing look at her husband; he perceived +it, and smiled triumphantly. + +She cast down her eyes again and said with a slight vibration in her +voice: + +"You are at liberty to do what you like." + +"Of course," he replied, "and I shall act with great prudence and avoid +all scandal. I am sure it will be very interesting to Herr von Stielow +to compare the exercises of style which, he receives from the lady of +his heart, with those she sends at the same time to earlier and absent +friends." + +"What do you mean?" she asked quickly. She raised her head from the +crimson cushion and gazed full at her husband. + +"I mean," he replied brutally, "that I shall send Herr von Stielow one +of Count Rivero's letters to you, and your answer. Though husbands are +sometimes indifferent to these little eccentricities, lovers are apt to +be more punctilious." + +She pressed the rosy nails into her tender hands, and looked +thoughtfully before her for a moment. + +"Where are the letters of which you speak?" she asked coldly. + +"Quite safe," he replied laconically. + +"I do not believe you; how came you by a letter from me to the Count?" + +"You were in the act of answering him. His letter and your reply lay on +the table, when you had hastily to receive your dear Stielow, and you +threw your shawl over them. You forgot them, and when I paid my dear +wife a visit, I took them that they might not fall into improper +hands." He said this with a scornful laugh. + +"In fact, you stole them?" she said contemptuously. + +"We are discussing the seventh commandment, not the eighth," he said +rudely. + +"I must pay for my carelessness," she muttered to herself. Then raising +her eyes, with icy coldness she said:-- + +"You shall have the twelve hundred gulden to-morrow morning in exchange +for the stolen letters." + +"I will be here punctually at the same hour to-morrow," he replied in a +satisfied tone. "Has my charming wife any other commands?" + +She raised a finger and pointed to the door. + +At the same moment a bell was heard. + +"Herr von Stielow!" exclaimed the waiting-maid as she entered. The +clatter of a sword was heard in the ante-room. + +"A good business and much pleasure!" cried Herr Balzer, as he departed +by a side door. + +Scarcely had he left the room, when the young lady's expression changed +as if by magic. All the hard sharp lines, which had caused her face +during her conversation with her husband to look like a beautiful waxen +mask, disappeared, the clenched teeth were parted, and the eyes gained +a magnetic brilliance, which gave them a magical charm. + +She half rose and stretched out her arms. + +Herr von Stielow, fresh, bold, and elegant as ever, hastened to her; he +seemed for a moment dazzled by her beauty, then he bent over her and +pressed his lips upon her mouth. + +She wound her arms around his neck, and breathed rather than said, "My +sweet friend!" + +After a long embrace he drew a low chair towards the couch on which she +lay, so that their heads were on the same level. She altered her +position with a slight graceful movement and placed her head upon his +shoulder, then taking his right hand in both her own she pressed it to +her heart. Whilst her gentle snakelike movements took her nearer and +nearer to him, she closed her eyes and murmured:-- + +"Ah! how happy I am!" + +The two beautiful and graceful young creatures formed an exquisite and +poetic picture; with all their trembling passion there was no sign of +vulgar or ignoble feeling,--it seemed a picture of a pure and happy +love. + +The face of the beautiful woman showed no trace of the scene she had +just taken part in, in that very room, and no one could have thought, +had they looked at the young man as he pressed his lips against the +perfumed hair of the head resting on his shoulder, that notwithstanding +the enchanted mist that surrounded him, a purer star was shining ever +brighter for his heart. + +It was a picture of the present, of a happy fleeting moment, enjoyed +without a thought of what went before, of what must follow. + +A deep sigh heaved her breast and trembled through her form as she +leant against her lover. + +"Why do you sigh? my sweet Tonia. What happiness is wanting to her who +is created to give happiness?" + +"Oh! my beloved," she said, and a second sigh trembled from her lips, +"I am not always so happy as now, when I rest on your breast, and just +before--" she hesitated. + +"What happened just before?" he asked, "to make those lovely lips twice +sigh, though formed only for smiles and kisses?" + +And he slightly raised her head and pressed his lips to hers. + +"My husband was here," she said, sighing the third time. + +"Ah!" he said, "and what did the fellow want who calls such a flower +his own, and knows not how to enjoy its fragrance?" + +"For him it never shall be fragrant," she said with a vibration in her +voice, which recalled the previous scene. "He tormented me," she +continued, "with reproofs--with jealousy." + +She stammered, then she raised the beautiful head from his shoulder, +slipped back a little and replaced it on her crimson cushion, but she +still retained his hand. + +"Before," she said, "when he used to reproach me, and act Othello, +because this or that gentleman looked at me too often, or another had +smiled when he saw me, I was quite indifferent; I despised it all, and +answered without my heart beating faster, or my eyes being cast down, +but now," she added, tears coming to the eyes she rested on him, and +the rosy ribbons on her breast rising and falling quickly from her +emotion, "now I tremble; I wish to hide my eyes with a thick veil; my +heart beats fast, as the blood throbs through my veins, for--" + +Again she threw herself into his arms, leant her head as if exhausted +on his breast and whispered, + +"For now I love!" + +He bent over her and pressed her to himself. + +"And do you repent it?" + +"No," she replied passionately; "but it humbles me when I remember that +he is still my husband, on whom I am dependent--dependent," she +stammered, in a low voice, "in all material things; and he makes me +feel this dependence--feel it bitterly." + +"And why," he interrupted, "should you be dependent upon him? Why +remember such dependence for a moment? Have you not a friend, a slave, +who would be too happy if you would but tell him what you want, all +that you wish?" + +"Ah! I want so little; but he denies me everything!" she said. + +"Poor Tonia!" he cried; "is it possible those lips have ever framed a +wish in vain?" + +He put her hand to his lips. + +"What was it, what did he deny you?" + +"Oh!" she cried sadly, "that I should profane the sweet hours of our +love--leave it--it is already forgotten!" and she sighed again. + +"It cannot be forgotten until you have told me. I beg you, if you love +me, tell me what vexes you, that this melancholy may all be driven +away." + +"He was angry with me," she replied, without raising her eyes, "about +my dressmaker's bill, and positively refused his assistance; and," she +said with animation, "such troubles torment me so, these things suit +neither my head nor my heart--where one thought alone, one feeling +reigns." + +"Only one word more," cried he cheerfully, "the amount of the wretched +bill, that so presumptuously seeks to share with me this lovely head, +this sweetest heart." + +"Two thousand gulden," she whispered. + +"What economy!" he cried; "yet your perfect beauty does not need the +aid of dress. I humbly beg to be allowed to chase this cloud from the +bright eyes I love." + +And he kissed her on both eyes. + +She hastily pressed her lips on his hand. + +"That I must receive, always receive!" she cried. "Oh! that I were a +queen, and you poor and unknown, that I might shed rays of splendour +and happiness over you, and, preferring you among a thousand, might +draw you up the golden steps of my throne!" + +She had risen, and she now sat with a really royal dignity. Her eyes +shone with dark fire, and as she slightly raised her hand, a man had +sworn that at a sign from that fair hand, armies would march and a +thousand courtiers kneel in the dust. Then she cast down her eyes and +said in gentle melting tones,-- + +"I have nothing to give but my love!" + +"And more I do not wish for, from my queen!" he cried, rising from his +low chair and sinking on his knees, whilst looking up at her with +glowing eyes. + +She took his head in both her hands and pressed a long kiss upon his +brow. + +Suddenly the sound of a bell rang through the room. + +A noise was heard in the ante-room. + +The servant entered hastily, and cried, more as if giving an alarm than +making an announcement: "The Count Rivero!" + +The young lady rose hastily. Roughly and vehemently she pushed Herr von +Stielow back into his chair. + +Her face was very pale. + +Stielow looked at her with amazement. + +"Decline this ill-timed visit," he whispered. + +"It is an old acquaintance, whom I have not seen for a long time," she +said in a constrained voice, "it is--" + +Before she could conclude, the _portiere_ of the anteroom was pushed +aside and a tall distinguished-looking man of about five-and-thirty +entered; his dress was dark in colour, his face was noble, with regular +features and the clear pale complexion of the South, his large dark +eyes were surpassed in depth of colour only by the blackness of his +short hair and moustache. + +Count Rivero approached the young lady of the house with the quiet +self-possession of a perfect man of the world, whilst his dark eyes +shone with a warmer glow. + +She offered him her hand, he took it and pressed it to his lips for a +longer time than politeness alone required. + +This did not escape Herr von Stielow, whose astonishment began to +partake of mistrust. + +"From a sudden change in my affairs, I am able quite suddenly and +unexpectedly to return here much sooner than I expected, and to have +the pleasure of again meeting my friends in Vienna. My first greeting +naturally is to you, fair lady, the loveliest flower in the wreath of +my recollections of Vienna." + +He again pressed to his lips the tender hand he had retained in his +own, and he then seated himself in an arm-chair, whilst, with a slight +bow to Herr von Stielow, he cast a look of enquiry at the lady. + +She had completely recovered from the disquiet and painful surprise +which the count's arrival had caused. Her eyes were bright, her lips +smiled, and a faint rosy tinge was seen on her cheeks. In a light +graceful way she said: + +"Ah! gentlemen, you are strangers. Herr von Stielow--the rest is told +by his uniform--a worthy member of our jeunesse doree, who was just in +the act of telling me the latest news of the fashionable world; Count +Rivero, a traveller, a man of learning, a diplomat--according to his +whim--he has just come from Rome, and will tell me all about the +carnival, or the catacombs, I know not to which scene his heart may +have inclined him." + +The two gentlemen bowed, Count Rivero coldly, but with the perfect +politeness of a man of the world, Herr von Stielow with scarcely +concealed dislike. + +"My heart," said the count, turning with a smile to the young lady, +"has neither the superabundant mirth of the carnival, nor is it yet +ripe for the catacombs, but my fair friend loves always to ascribe to +me extremes." + +"You have not been in Vienna for some time, count?" asked Herr von +Stielow coldly. + +"My affairs have kept me in Rome for a year," replied the count, "and I +thought I should have stayed there still longer, but necessary business +has recalled me here. And I am thankful to necessity," he added, +glancing at the lady, "for leading me back to my friends in beautiful +merry Vienna." + +She threw a rapid glance at Herr von Stielow who sat biting his +moustache, and her lips trembled slightly. Then she said laughingly: + +"And what will you tell me of, count, since neither the carnival nor +the catacombs have interested you?" + +"Of the beautiful antique statues," he replied, "those pictures in +marble a thousand years old, yet offering us the image of living +youth." + +"In Vienna you will find no taste for the antique," said Herr von +Stielow, in a voice which caused the count to look up in surprise, "the +world here does not care for the past, but holds only to the present." + +"The world is wrong," said the count coldly, a proud smile playing +around his mouth, "the past has depth, the present is shallow." + +Herr von Stielow frowned. The lady gave him an imploring look but he +did not perceive it. + +"The past is often tedious," said the officer shortly. + +The count appeared to find his manner disagreeable, he answered curtly, +"And the present often very dull." + +Herr von Stielow's eyes flashed. + +The count rose. + +"My beautiful friend," he said, "I am rejoiced to find you so blooming +and unchanged. I will see you again soon, and I hope I may find a time +when we can talk undisturbed, and I can tell you of Rome and the past +without fearing to be tedious." + +He kissed her hand, bowed almost imperceptibly to Herr von Stielow, and +left the room. + +Herr von Stielow sprang up, seized his cap, and prepared to follow him. + +The young lady caught his hand and cried: "Karl, I implore you to hear +me!" He tore his hand away with an impatient movement, and hurried +after the count. + +She looked after him with staring eyes and outstretched hands. + +She seemed to wish to follow him, but she stood still, her hands sank +slowly, and her head drooped on her breast. So she remained for some +moments, and the only sound was her sobbing breath. + +"That has occurred which I hoped to avoid," she said to herself in a +low voice, "I can do nothing, I cannot interfere, without making the +evil worse. They will fight--and how will it end? Shall I lose them +both? The count is needful---needful for the future of which I +dream--he loves me not; oh! no--but he requires me for his plans, I +feel that, and through him I can reach what I thirst after--power, +influence, rule. And this young officer, what can he be to me, what can +he offer me? he is rich," she whispered, "but what is that? and yet, +and yet," she cried aloud, "would I could tightly grasp him, cling to +his beautiful head, and draw him back from danger." + +"Antonia, Antonia!" she said, suddenly growing cold and hard as she +raised her head, "your heart is not dead, you are about to be a slave!" + +She shook her head as if to dispel a dream. A look of defiance came to +her lips, she drew up her slender form, and her eyes were widely opened +in flaming energy. + +"No!" she cried, "no, I will not be a slave, not even to my own heart. +I will rule--rule--rule," she repeated, her voice growing lower and +lower, but firmer and more determined. + +Suddenly the violent constraint gave way, her limbs failed and she sank +upon her couch, her lovely hands were crossed upon her breast, her head +fell languidly upon the cushion, and whilst her eyes were veiled with +tears, she whispered with trembling lips: + +"Oh, he was so beautiful!" + +And she seemed to sink into dreamy unconsciousness. + +Herr von Stielow overtook the count as he was going down the steps. + +"I did not answer your last remark, count," he said, "because my reply +would not have been seemly in a lady's presence. You appear to wish to +lecture me, and my name as well as the uniform I wear, ought to tell +you, that I will be lectured by no one, at least not by strangers." + +The count stood still. + +"It seems, sir," he said, "that you wish to quarrel with me." + +"And if I do?" cried the young officer boiling over. + +"You are much mistaken," replied the count. + +"I cannot be mistaken in punishing insolence," cried the young officer, +who grew more excited from the count's calmness. + +"Very well, sir," said the latter, "I believe we had better cease +talking, and leave further arrangements to our seconds." + +"I like haste and punctuality in these matters," cried Herr von +Stielow. + +He handed the count a card. + +"I shall wait at home for your second." + +"I have nothing to prevent my settling the affair at once," said the +count. + +And bowing coldly they parted. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + THE DUEL AND THE ROSE. + + +An hour afterwards the seconds had arranged all that was needful. +The next morning, in the earliest dawn, two carriages were seen driving +to a secluded spot at the farther end of the Prater. + +Count Rivero and Herr von Stielow, with the seconds and a surgeon, +walked over the dewy ground of a small grassy opening amongst the +trees. + +The preparations were quickly concluded. + +Two crossed swords marked the barrier. The pistols were loaded, and +each combatant placed himself ten paces from the barrier. Lieutenant +von Stielow was very pale; his face bore traces of a sleepless night, +and there were dark circles below his eyes. Yet his expression was +calm, almost joyful. + +His second, an officer of his regiment, stepped up to him and handed +him the pistols. + +"There is yet time," he said, "for a little word of apology, and all +mischief will be avoided." + +"You know I am always ready to bear the consequences of my words and +actions," replied Herr von Stielow; "to draw back now would be unworthy +and cowardly. But make yourself easy--I, at least, will do no +mischief." + +He took the pistols. The seconds stepped aside. + +The opponents saluted with their weapons. + +The count looked fresh and calm, and showed no trace of emotion. + +He had the first shot, and the right of advancing to the barrier. + +He did not take a step forward, but raised his pistol, lowered it +slightly, and fired. + +Lieutenant von Stielow's kepi flew from his head--the ball had hit the +upper rim. + +The lieutenant raised his arm, took aim for a moment, but, as the +seconds could see, much too high, and the ball flew two feet above his +adversary's head. + +"Count," said the lieutenant, with calm courtesy, "what honour and +custom amongst those of our position required, is now accomplished. I +beg to apologize for my words of yesterday." + +The count came forward hastily, a look of great satisfaction shining in +his eyes, as a master who is well pleased with the conduct of a pupil. +And with dignity, but great kindness, he offered the young lieutenant +his hand. + +"Not a word more," he said, heartily. + +"Yes," said von Stielow, "I must beg for one word more, and that I may +say it to you alone." + +The count bowed, and they walked together into the wood, out of the +hearing of the seconds. + +"Count," said the lieutenant, and his lip trembled slightly, "what I +have to say--what I have to request, will, I fear, seem extraordinary +to you, but I hope you will reply to my question as frankly as I ask +it. Before we had exchanged shots it would have been a new insult; now +I venture to put it as from one man of honour to another." + +The count looked at him inquiringly. + +"How do you stand with--that lady?" asked Herr von Stielow; "you have a +perfect right not to reply, but if you will answer me, you will do me a +favour I shall never forget," he added warmly. + +The count considered for a moment, and fixed his calm gaze on the eyes +of the young man who stood before him anxiously awaiting his reply. + +"I will answer you," he said; and he drew from the pocket of his +over-coat a letter-case, and taking from it a letter, handed it to Herr +von Stielow. + +He looked through it. He smiled, half sorrowfully, half contemptuously. +The count's dark eye rested on him with deep sympathy. + +"One more request," said the young officer, "which can only be +justified by the strange position in which we are placed." + +The count bowed. + +"Will you lend me this letter? I give you my word of honour not to +retain it more than an hour, and that no eyes, save those of a certain +lady, shall see it," said von Stielow. + +"This, too, is granted--a proof of my unbounded confidence." + +"I take it, then, and I thank you from my heart." + +"And now, sir," said the count, in a deep resonant voice, "permit me to +request your friendship. I am older than yourself, and many of life's +circumstances, which are still strange to you, lie before me like an +open book, and the book of life cannot be read without pain and sorrow. +The hand of a friend, of an older and experienced friend, is a great +protection--mine is always at your service." + +And with a frank and noble movement Count Rivero offered the young +officer his hand. Stielow seized it, not without emotion. + +"I have behaved like a foolish child," he cried, with candid +heartiness, "and I have to thank you for much; perhaps, for a happy +change in my life." + +They returned to the seconds, and drove back to town. + +Herr von Stielow went home, seated himself at his writing table, and +placed three bank notes, each for a thousand gulden, in a large +envelope; he added the letter with which Count Rivero had entrusted +him. He sealed and addressed the packet, then he rang. + +"Take this immediately to Madame Balzer in the Ringstrasse. Give it +into her own hands," said he to the servant. + +Then he stretched out his arms with a deep-drawn breath, and threw +himself into an arm chair. + +"The meteor has vanished for ever!" he cried; "now shine kindly upon +me, thou pure, fair star, whose clear light smiles so peacefully." + +His eyes closed; Nature claimed her rights after the wakeful night and +the excitement of the morning. + +Late in the afternoon of the same day, some of the guests whom we met +formerly at Countess Mensdorff's, were assembled in a large and elegant +drawing-room of a beautiful old house in the Herrengasse, in Vienna. + +The small fire burning in the marble fire-place cast glowing +reflections on the polished parquet floor. A hanging lustre, with three +branches, shed an agreeable light over the room, and here and there +sparkled upon the gold frames on the walls containing the family +portraits. Opposite the fire-place stood a large table, upon which +was a beautiful bronze lamp with a large blue glass shade, and the +high-backed chairs and sofas were covered with dark blue silk. + +The mistress of the house, Countess Frankenstein, sat on a sofa near +the table. She was an elderly lady of that type of the Austrian +aristocracy which so strongly recalls the old French _noblesse_ of the +_ancien regime_, but possesses also the Austrian kindliness and +Austrian national feeling, a combination which makes the higher circles +of society in Vienna so peculiarly attractive. + +The lady's partially grey hair was carefully arranged; a high dress of +rich dark silk fell around her in heavy folds, and beautifully-set old +diamonds gleamed in her brooch, her ear-rings and bracelet. + +Beside her sat the Countess Clam Gallas. + +On a low chair at her mother's side sat the young countess, in a +beautiful toilette, which showed she was going out later in the +evening. + +Count Clam stood before her, leaning on the back of a chair. + +They spoke of the great question of the day, and the whole party were +much excited by the ever-increasing certainty of the war about to break +out. + +"I was with Mensdorff this morning," said Count Clam Gallas; "he told +me he could count the days before the declaration of war. After we, as +was only right, summoned the confederation to decide upon the fate of +the Duchies, General von Manteuffel marched into Holstein." + +"But that is war!" cried Countess Frankenstein; "and what has happened? +What has Gablenz done?" + +"Gablenz is here already," replied the count, "and his troops are +returning; we are in too small numbers there, and too much scattered, +to do anything. We are daily expecting orders to join the army in +Bohemia. Count Karolyi will be recalled from Berlin, and in Frankfort +the decree will be published for the mobilization of the whole of the +Army of the Confederation against Prussia." + +"At last then," cried Countess Clam Gallas, "upstart Prussia will +receive due punishment, and all the evil the Hohenzollerns have done to +our Imperial House will be avenged." + +"But how about Hanover?" asked Countess Frankenstein. "Is not Gablenz +to remain there with his troops?" + +"Hanover has not yet decided," said the count. + +"Incredible!" cried Countess Frankenstein and Countess Clam Gallas in +one breath. + +"Has then Count Platen forgotten all his friendship for Austria?" + +The young countess sighed. + +"What is it, countess?" asked Count Clam Gallas; "our ladies must not +sigh when we mount horse, and draw the sword for the honour of old +Austria." + +"I am thinking of the poor things whose blood must flow," said the +young countess, and she looked up as if she saw a picture of some scene +of horror. + +The door was thrown open, and Lieutenant Field Marshal Baron Reischach +announced. + +The Baron entered, smiling and cheerful as ever. He saluted the ladies +in his knightly style, with the familiarity of an old acquaintance. + +"You have grown, Countess Clara," said he jestingly; "this child really +looks over our heads." + +He seated himself, and held out his hand to Count Clam Gallas. + +"You favoured being," he said, "you will soon be in the field!" + +"I expect orders hourly." + +"We old cripples must stay at home," said Reischach, sadly, and a look +of grave melancholy passed over his jovial countenance, but soon +vanished again. "I saw Benedek before he started for Bohemia," he then +said. + +"Has he gone already?" asked Countess Clam Gallas. + +"He has started," said the Baron, "and he is now on the road that leads +to the Capitol or to the Tarpeian rock. He expressed that in a +different way, certainly, but not less excellently." + +"Tell us how he expressed it," cried Countess Clam Gallas; "it was no +doubt one of those strong speeches which no one but himself would ever +think of." + +"'In six weeks,' said he thoughtfully, 'I shall either be on a +pedestal, or not even a dog will snarl at me!'" + +They all laughed aloud. + +"Excellent!" cried Countess Clam Gallas; "and does he believe in the +'pedestal?'" + +"Not very much," replied the baron; "he does not trust the spirit and +the order of the army, and he does not trust himself." + +"He may judge of himself as he will," cried Count Clam Gallas +vehemently; "but the army he has no right to mistrust. The army is +excellent, and its order exemplary; though truly, if General Benedek +continues to treat the officers, and especially the noble officers, as +he has commenced, and always to take the part of the common soldiers +and the sub-officers, order will not last long." + +And the count with an angry movement pushed away the chair on which he +had leant, and paced up and down the room. + +"It is certainly not my place," after a few moments, he said somewhat +more calmly, "to call in question his majesty's choice of commanding +officers, but I cannot feel great confidence in this Benedek and his +method. The feelings that dwell in the hearts of the old Austrian +nobility he cannot understand, and his so-called liberal principles +destroy discipline. It may be very well in an army like the Prussian, +where every one is a soldier--I understand nothing about that; but for +us it will not answer; still less will it answer to attempt novelties +which will place the army in opposition to their officers on the eve of +a great war." + +The count had spoken with much warmth. No one replied, and there was a +momentary silence. Baron von Reischach interrupted it by exclaiming-- + +"But do you know, ladies, the last great excitement in Vienna?" + +"No," replied Countess Clam Gallas, "what is it? a fresh success of +Wolter's, or a new eccentricity of Gallmeyer's?" + +"Something much better than either," replied the baron, "a very piquant +duel." + +"A duel? and between whom? do we any of us know them?" asked Countess +Frankenstein. + +"It was between our little Uhlan von Stielow," said Baron Reischach, +"and that Italian Count Rivero whom you will remember well; he was here +some time back with the Nuncio." + +"How very extraordinary!" exclaimed Countess Frankenstein; "has Count +Rivero been here long?" + +"He came yesterday," replied Herr von Reischach. + +"And in twenty-four hours a rencontre took place with Herr von +Stielow?" asked Countess Clam Gallas. + +"It appears," said the baron, "that a lady is in the case. You have +surely heard of the beautiful Madame Balzer?" + +The young Countess Frankenstein stood up and walked to the darkest part +of the drawing-room to a flower-table. There she bent over the flowers. + +"I have heard the name of this lady in connexion with Herr von +Stielow," said Countess Clam Gallas. + +"The new rights and the old came in collision," remarked the baron. + +"And has any thing serious happened?" asked Count Clam Gallas. + +"Not that I heard," replied von Reischach, "but I fear for our friend +Stielow; Count Rivero is well known as an excellent shot. But where is +our young countess?" he said, breaking off suddenly and turning his +head towards the other end of the drawing-room. + +She was still bending over the flowers. Her mother gave her a quick +anxious look. She came slowly back to the light, with a freshly +gathered rose in her hand. Her face was very pale and her lips tightly +closed. + +"I have plucked a rose," she said, in a voice that trembled slightly, +"to complete my toilette." + +She fastened the rose into her dress, and took her place again +mechanically. + +"Ah! I forgot the Countess Wilezek's soiree," cried Countess Clam +Gallas rising, "you will wish to prepare, and I must go home first." + +"Allow me to accompany you," said Baron von Reischach, and they all +took leave. + +The mother and daughter were alone. There was a silence. + +"Mamma," said Countess Clara at last, "I do not feel well, and I would +rather stay at home." + +Her mother gave her a sympathising look. + +"My child," she said, "remember, I pray, what will be said if you do +not appear to-night, especially as you have already been seen." + +The young lady supported her head with her hand; a sob echoed through +the silence of the room, and her slender figure trembled, tears fell on +the rose in her bosom. + +A servant threw open the door, exclaiming, "Baron von Stielow." + +Countess Frankenstein looked amazed, her daughter rose quickly; a deep +blush glowed on her face, she sank back in her chair, and her eyes +still swimming in tears were fixed on the door. The footman took the +silence of the countess for consent, as it was her custom to receive at +that hour, and disappeared. + +Lieutenant von Stielow entered. + +He was as cheerful as ever; no trace of the emotions of the morning +appeared on his face, only his former expression of good-humoured +carelessness had gone; a grave, an almost solemn earnestness was seen +in his whole bearing, his eyes shone with a calm brilliance. His +unusual earnestness made him look more handsome than before. + +He walked towards the ladies. Countess Clara cast down her eyes and +played with her handkerchief. Her mother received the young officer +with perfect calmness. + +"We have not seen you for some time, Herr von Stielow," she said; +"where have you been disporting yourself?" + +"Our duty is more strict than it was, countess," said von Stielow, "and +leaves us but little time--war seems decided upon, so we ought to get a +little accustomed to some of its inconveniences." + +"Herr von Reischach has just been here, and he spoke of you," said the +countess. + +"What did he say?" cried von Stielow anxiously; "he told, I fear, some +malicious history?" + +And his eyes sought the young countess, who continued to look down, and +who made no movement. + +"He caused us to fear that something had happened to you," said the +countess, glancing at him from head to foot, "but I see he was +mistaken." + +Herr von Stielow smiled, but it was not the merry laugh he would have +given a short time before at the lucky termination of a duel; it was a +serious happy smile. + +"Herr von Reischach takes too great an interest in me," he said, "and +the fears he expressed on my behalf are groundless." + +Countess Frankenstein looked round quickly at her daughter. + +"Are you going this evening to Countess Wilezek's?" she asked. + +"I have never been introduced to her," replied the young officer in a +tone of regret. + +"At least you will accompany us there, will you not?" said the countess +rising; "I have a slight alteration to make in my toilette; my daughter +is quite ready and will entertain you until I return." + +Herr von Stielow rose and said, joy beaming from his eyes: + +"I am quite at your commands, countess." + +Countess Frankenstein left the room without heeding the appealing looks +of her daughter. The two young people were left alone. They were +silent. At last Stielow approached the young lady's chair:-- + +"Countess Clara!" he said in a low voice. + +The young countess raised her eyes and looked at him with surprise, +while an expression of pain appeared on her lips. The light fell on her +face as she lifted her head, and he saw that her eyelids were slightly +red. + +"Good heavens!" he cried, "you have been weeping?" + +"No," said the young lady firmly, "I have a headache. I have begged +mamma to leave me at home this evening." + +"Countess Clara," he said, in the same earnest, gentle voice, "I wish +to give you an answer to a question--an explanation," he stammered, "of +a conversation we had at Countess Mensdorff's. I have never since +spoken to you alone." + +She interrupted him. + +"This is scarcely a time to answer questions," she said, with a half +scornful, half melancholy smile, "which I have already forgotten." + +"But I have not forgotten them, and I must give an answer." + +She made a movement of refusal. Without heeding it, he asked:-- + +"Do you believe my word when I give it you as a nobleman?" + +She raised her eyes to his face, and said, "Yes." + +"I thank you for your trust in me, Countess Clara," he said. "I give +you my word of honour I am free--free as the air and light, from every +chain." + +An expression of joyful surprise passed over her face. + +"I do not understand you," she said in a low voice. + +"Yes, Countess Clara, you understand me," he cried vehemently, "though +I have not told the whole truth. I am free from a fetter which was +unworthy; but I seek a chain to bind me for ever to my happiness--a +chain that I can wear without a blush." + +She was extremely agitated. She looked at him for a moment before she +again cast down her eyes, and in that look he thought he read an answer +to his hopes, for, with a happy smile, he came a step nearer to her. + +"I do not understand all this," she stammered; "explain to me." + +"I cannot explain," he interrupted, "to a strange lady, only to her who +gives me the right to consecrate my life to her, and to have no secret +from her." + +"Good Heavens! Herr von Stielow," she cried, still more embarrassed, "I +ask you seriously to explain." + +"Then you give me the right to explain to you?" + +"I did not say so," she cried, and rose. + +She walked towards the door by which her mother had left the room. He +hastened to her, and seized her hand. + +"Give me an answer, Clara," he cried. + +She stood still, with drooping head. + +"Clara," he cried again, in a low, earnest tone, "you wear a rose on +your breast. In olden days, ladies gave to the knight whose love and +service they accepted for ever, a gift, to be a sacred talisman in +battle, and to be with them in death. We, too, are on the eve of bloody +days. Clara, will you give me that rose?" + +"The rose is a symbol of purity and truth," she said gravely. + +"It is the symbol, then, of her who dwells in my heart, and who will +dwell there for ever," he cried, and added, in an imploring tone, +"Clara, I am worthy of the rose!" + +She fixed her eyes on his, and gazed at him for several moments. Then +she raised her hand slowly, unfastened the rose from her dress, and +held it towards him, blushing and trembling, as she cast down her eyes. + +He walked passionately towards her, seized the rose, and covered the +hand that held it with kisses. + +"Clara," he said, firmly and gravely, "this flower will fade, but the +happiness you have given me will bloom in my heart as long as it +continues to beat. Heaven, I thank thee!" he cried, "I have found my +star!" + +He drew her gently towards him. + +Without speaking a word, she leant her beautiful head on his breast, +and wept gently. + +Countess Frankenstein entered. At the rustle of her dress, her daughter +hastened to her, and threw herself into her arms. Herr von Stielow +approached the old lady. + +"Countess," he said, "I can only repeat to you what I said to your +daughter in my great happiness. I have found my star. May it not light +the heaven of my life for ever?" + +The countess showed surprise, mixed with a certain amount of +satisfaction. + +"I leave the answer to my daughter," said she; "and will abide by her +decision." + +"And what do you say, Countess Clara?" he asked. + +She held out her hand. + +"Then may God bless you!" said the countess, as she gently put her +daughter from her, and held out her hand in her turn to the young man, +who kissed it respectfully. + +"Now," cried the countess, "we must go. We shall see you to-morrow, +Herr von Stielow. To-day you will only afford us your protection to +Countess Wilezek's." + +"Oh, mamma," cried Countess Clara, "can we not stay at home to-day?" + +"No, my child," said her mother, "people would make remarks, and you +know I like everything to be done in the correct manner. It is the +foundation of all true and lasting happiness." + +"Well, then," cried Herr von Stielow, "adieu until to-morrow; my +newly-risen star will light up the night until the dawn!" + +His betrothed gave him a smile. There was a half troubled, half roguish +question in her look. + +He raised the rose he held in his hand, pressed it to his lips, and hid +it beneath his uniform upon his breast. + +The countess rang. A servant brought the ladies' mantles. Herr von +Stielow accompanied them in their carriage to the palace of Countess +Wilezek, in Wallnerstrasse. After he had taken leave of them, he walked +dreamily through the evening streets of the capital. + +Clear merry voices rang through the open windows of the Cafe Daun. The +numerous officers of every branch of the service congregated there +rejoiced at the prospect of war, and many cheerful voices rang out into +the night, destined soon to be mute for ever. + +Von Stielow hesitated for a moment before the entrance of the Cafe +Daun, but the noisy mirth of his comrades did not suit his present +mood. + +He walked on. He thought over all that had occurred, and rejoiced at +the quarrel which had brought him freedom. + +He pursued his way along the Graben, by the rothe Thurmstrasse, and, +sunk in sweet dreams, he followed the banks of the Danube. He was near +the Aspern bridge. A man in a dark cloak came up to him. + +"God bless me! Herr von Stielow," he cried, accosting the young +officer, "you were going along as if you had become a philosopher, and +were seeking the stone of wisdom." + +"Good evening, dear Knaak," replied the lieutenant, holding out his +hand to the well-known and favourite comic actor of the Karl Theatre, +"what brings you here? Is the theatre over already?" + +"I do not act to-night," replied Knaak, "and I am just going to the +Hotel de l'Europe, where all our people are to be. Come too, and laugh +with us a little." + +Herr von Stielow thought for a moment. He felt a repugnance to going +home; he was too excited for serious conversation; how could he better +pass the evening hours than with these cheerful people, who, in their +merry thoughtlessness and happy natures, form an eternal world of youth +in the midst of serious life. + +He placed his arm within the actor's, and said:-- + +"Well, dear Knaak, I will come with you, to see if these warlike times +affect the humour of the Karl Theatre." + +"My dear sir," replied Knaak, "all the Krupp cannons added to all the +needle guns in the world, could not disturb us,--that is to say," he +added, gravely, "if we were all together. I, for my own part, am often +sad enough when alone: for I am a North German by birth, and all my +early recollections lie north; but now I am in heart an Austrian, and +the war which is before us makes me very wretched." + +"It must be so with many of us," replied von Stielow; "my home, too, +lies in the north. It is a melancholy war,--although, as a soldier, I +cannot but rejoice that this sword, which has so long been dragged over +the pavement, is at last to be used in earnest." + +A slight sigh did not quite harmonize with this warlike zeal; perhaps +he thought of the newly risen star of his life, and feared it soon +might set in bloody clouds. + +They had reached the large Hotel de l'Europe, which, with the Crown +Prince Hotel, occupies the whole length of the Asperngasse. They went +into the spacious restaurant through the large doorway, and having +passed through it, they came to a closed door, through which they heard +cheerful voices and merry laughter. + +Knaak opened the door, and with von Stielow entered a somewhat small +square room, adorned with hunting pieces and pastoral scenes, where a +motley company were assembled around a table on which stood a cold +supper, already showing in some of the principal dishes large gaps, +proving the assaults that had been made upon it. On the table stood a +large bowl filled with fragrant punch; and silver wine coolers filled +with ice showed the white heads of champagne bottles peeping from them. + +In the midst of the company sat the whimsical queen of the Karl +Theatre, the spoilt and sometimes naughty favourite of the public, +Josephine Gallmeyer. + +Beside her sat her especial friend old Grois, the last remaining actor +of the times of Nestroy--a strongly made man with coarse features, with +which he was however capable of rendering every shade of expression, +and a voice full of comic modulation. + +On the other side of the table sat alone and thoughtful the young actor +Matras, with his handsome intelligent face, which can represent on the +stage of to-day the true old Viennese fun; and near him, in earnest +conversation, sat Mademoiselle Schwoeder, a dark-eyed young singer, and +Doctor Herzel, editor and critic, a man of middle height with a quick +intelligent face. + +The entrance of Knaak and von Stielow was hailed with joy by the +Gallmeyer; she seized a champagne cork lying near her, threw it at +them, and cried: + +"Thank God for two sensible men. Come here, Knaak, sit by me; and you, +Herr von Stielow, opposite, that I may look at your uniform,--I like +it. I could not have borne these weary folks much longer. Matras sits +there and says nothing, and the Schwoeder and the Doctor are like a pair +of folded gloves, and then there is old Grois,"--she shook the old +actor roughly by the shoulder,--"he has given a moral lecture. You can +think how amusing that was." + +She seized a bottle of champagne and poured out a large glass of the +pearling fluid for Knaak who sat beside her. + +"There, drink it," she cried merrily, "and may it make you witty." + +"My life!" she exclaimed, as she looked at von Stielow, who, following +her directions, had seated himself opposite; "My life! Herr von +Stielow, how handsome you are to-day; whatever has happened to you; you +look really splendid!" + +"Take care, Herr von Stielow," said Knaak, "if Pepi falls in love with +you it is all up with you, 'tis a case of + + + "And seek I e'er + A knight t' ensnare + Resistance nought avails him." + + +She tapped Knaak upon the mouth as she cried: + +"All very well, but when people look as romantic as Stielow there, they +are of no use to me. I wager he has not a bit of room in his heart. +Besides," she added, with the greatest gravity, "I don't fall in love +so easily. I must see the baptismal registry first." + +"What for?" asked von Stielow. + +"She must know if he is of age and free to spend his money," said +Matras. + +"Matras is always thinking of money, poor fellow! he has so little," +she cried, "but no, that's not it. You see I made up my mind, my lover +and I should never have more than fifty years between us, and so the +older I get the younger must be my lover, to make me quite sure that he +has no more years than fall to his share. I have made up my mind, and I +shall always stick to it." + +They all laughed. + +"Then you will soon come to swaddling clothes," remarked old Grois +drily. + +"Papa Grois," cried she, "don't make such bad jokes; I have enough of +them, from 'swaddling clothes' to 'experienced persons.'" + +"And where is the Grobecker?" asked Knaak. + +"She has quarrelled with her duke," said Doctor Herzel. + +"What again, already?" + +"She maintains he is making love to little Pepi, and she will not have +it." + +"What a passion it is!" cried the Gallmeyer. "Soon there will only be +duchesses and princesses acting in the Karl Theatre. Well, for my part +I shall stick to Pepi Gallmeyer." + +And she sang, + + + "My mother is a washerwoman, + And but a ballad girl am I, + And when a sweetheart comes to woo, + Away I to the washtub fly." + + +"Yes, it is true," said Grois; "you would be spoilt as a duchess. Do +you know what she did the other day? The Duke della Rotunda gave us a +great supper at his hotel. It was all quite princely, and footmen in +white stockings handed the most excellent dishes. Pepi did nothing but +gape; at last she said, 'My lord duke, where is the Schwemme? I can't +stand this, 'tis too fine for me.'" + +"What is the Schwemme?" asked von Stielow. + +"It is what they call the second class restaurants in Vienna; they have +them in every hotel here to accommodate traveller's servants." + +"And they are a thousand times more amusing than that tiresome old +duke, with his silver candlesticks and stork-legged lacqueys," laughed +the Gallmeyer. + +The door was opened hastily, and a beautiful young woman holding a +newspaper in her hand entered. It was Madame Friedrich-Materna, an +opera-singer, then engaged at the Karl Theatre. + +"Have you heard it yet?" she cried, "war is declared, or as good as +declared; it is here in the 'Evening Post;' our ambassador is recalled +from Berlin, and the army is ordered to march into Bohemia." + +"Then it is all up with us," cried the Gallmeyer, "all up with merry +Vienna; and," she added, glancing compassionately at von Stielow, +"alas! how many handsome young fellows will get shot." + +Old Grois raised his head. + +"We must have something patriotic in the theatre, something of the good +old kind; monkey tricks won't do, when a bloody tragedy is being played +outside." + +"I must go to the editor's office," said Doctor Herzel, with some +importance. He rose and seized his hat. + +A waiter entered. + +"Is Baron von Stielow here?" he asked. + +"What is it?" cried the young officer. + +"Your servant with an orderly; they have been looking every where for +you." + +"Duty," cried von Stielow, and rose-- + +"Farewell, my hosts. Your health, Fraeulein Pepi." + +He emptied a glass of punch and left the room. A cavalry soldier in a +cuirassier uniform handed him a sealed official paper. + +The young officer opened it. His face expressed happy pride. + +"On the staff of General Gablenz!" he cried joyfully. + +"Where is the general?" he asked. + +"In the Hotel zur Stadt Frankfurt, Herr Lieutenant." + +"All right; I come!" + +And with a quick step he hurried along the shores of the Danube, not +dreamily, as he had come, but with head proudly raised, sparkling eyes, +smiling lips, and his sword clattering on the pavement. + +Suddenly he walked more slowly. A cloud passed over his brow. + +"I am to march out to this merry war at which every soldier's heart +beats higher, and at the side of a general, whom every Austrian rider +regards with pride and admiration, and yet--what a scarcely tasted +happiness I leave behind--shall I ever find it more?" + +Slower and slower grew his steps, until at last he stood quite still; +and lost in thought he gazed into the Danube, where the bright lamps on +the bridge were reflected. + +"The shining light up there," he murmured, "below cold, grey death!" + +With a hasty movement he awoke from his reverie. "What is love," he +cried, "if it makes us sad and cowardly! No, my sweet lady, I will be +thy brave proud knight, and thy talisman shall bring me honour." + +He drew the rose from his breast and pressed it to his lips. Then he +walked on with a quick merry step, and with laughing lips he hummed to +himself-- + + + "And had she not promised my life to be, + No life would ever be won by me!" + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + FRANCIS JOSEPH II. + + +The greatest activity prevailed in Vienna--in the vicinity of the +Hofburg.[5] Aides-de-camp and orderlies came and went backwards and +forwards to head-quarters, which were literally fringed with staff +officers. + +Although it was still early, only about eight o'clock, groups of +inquisitive people stood here and there in the large court yard, and +looked at each coming or going officer with the greatest anxiety, as if +he must be the bearer of most important news. + +Public feeling was highly excited. Every one knew that important events +lowered like a tempest in the air, and that any moment might bring the +dazzling flash, followed by the mighty thunder-clap, which would +disperse the sultry fog. + +The good citizens of Vienna were in a warlike mood. The press had for a +long time increased their bitterness against Prussia, and on every side +were heard angry expressions against the Northern power, and confident +hopes of victory for the Austrian arms. + +Had not Field-Marshal Benedek, the man of the soldiers--the man of the +people, just been appointed commander-in-chief of the great Northern +army? He would show what the Austrian army could do when taken out of +the hands of the "Junker,"[6] and placed in those of a real working +soldier. + +Though these hopes were loudly expressed, no very joyful looks were to +be seen on the faces of the people. It was the language of the lips +rather than the heart; for deep in the breasts of the lively +gesticulating speakers lurked many a doubt, which gave the lie to the +words they uttered. It was a new foe whom they were to oppose--a foe +untried since the Seven Years' War, and from that time traditionally +feared--a foe, of whose wonderful military organization they had heard +and read things that seemed almost fabulous. + +But these doubts, however much they might be felt, were not openly +expressed, they only served to increase the general oppression +that weighed down the spirits of the people, and gave to merry, +light-hearted Vienna a character of unusual earnestness. + +Suddenly the conversation in the different groups was hushed, and all +eyes turned towards the entrance gate of the Hofburg. Lieutenant +Field-Marshal von Gablenz appeared, the general who from his brilliant +valour and knightly bearing was the darling of the Viennese. + +He walked firmly and gracefully into the courtyard, dressed in a grey +close-fitting general's uniform, his breast adorned with numerous +orders, the Cross of Maria Theresa around his neck, and a plumed hat +upon the noble head, with its well-formed expressive features. + +He was accompanied by Colonel von Bourguignon, the chief of his staff, +two aides-de-camp, and by Lieutenant von Stielow, in the brilliant +Uhlan uniform, rejoicing at the distinction of being so near to the +celebrated general. + +The crowd greeted von Gablenz as one whom they expected to fulfil their +loudly spoken hopes, to give the lie to their hidden fears. + +The general replied to their enthusiasm with a military salute, in a +friendly but dignified way; he was aware of his popularity, he did not +seek it, but accepted it as something which naturally belonged to him. + +He passed through the courtyard with his companions, entered by the +large portal, and ascended the steps which lead to the emperor's +apartments. + +The door of the ante-room was opened for him by the door-keeper with a +low inclination. Deep silence reigned in the lofty spacious rooms, +furnished with dark tables, high silken chairs, and heavy curtains +hanging over enormous windows. + +At the door which leads to the emperor's cabinet stood a life-guardsman +in military position. The equerry on duty leant against a window-frame +and looked down into the court-yard. He was a handsome young man, with +short dark hair and moustache, and wore the simple dark-green uniform +of the emperor's equerries, with the badge of a major; he advanced as +the general entered, and saluted him. + +Baron von Gablenz returned the greeting, and then especially saluted +the life-guardsman, (each one of these holds the rank of captain, their +own captain being Field-Marshal Count Wratislaw); he then held out his +hand to the equerry. + +"Well, dear Prince Liechtenstein, what have you all been doing in +Vienna since I saw you last?" + +"The clock of duty here pursues its everlasting round," returned the +young prince: "we are not so fortunate as your excellency; we make no +noise in the world, and are obliged to content ourselves with hearing +of your valiant actions. You go to pluck fresh laurels----" + +"Stop, my dear prince," interrupted the general; "we must not talk of +laurels until they are won. But," he continued, "is his imperial +majesty at leisure? I wish to be announced at once, and to return +immediately to the army." + +"Count Mensdorff has just gone in," returned the prince, "but he will +be certain not to stay long, and as soon as he leaves I will announce +you." + +The general and Colonel von Bourguignon stepped into a window recess, +whilst Prince Liechtenstein conversed with the aides-de-camp and Herr +von Stielow. + +Whilst this went on in the ante-room, the Emperor Francis Joseph stood +before a large table covered with papers, books, and maps, in his +well-lighted and simply furnished cabinet. He wore a comfortable loose +grey overcoat after the Austrian military fashion. The expression of +his face was very grave, and his hand rested lightly on the table, +whilst he listened with deep interest to the statements of Count +Mensdorff, who stood near him holding reports and despatches. + +"That Prince Solms has not succeeded in effecting an alliance with King +George of Hanover is most unfortunate," said the emperor: "we shall be +unable to threaten the Prussians from that side, and we must do all we +can to meet the whole of the enemy's forces in Bohemia, or let us hope +in Saxony, for the decisive battle. Do you think an alliance between +Hanover and Prussia is to be feared?" + +"Certainly not, your majesty," returned Mensdorff; "the king will +decline an alliance with Prussia, as with us. His Hanoverian majesty +holds strictly to his neutrality, and will engage himself on neither +side. I fear the king is placing himself in an isolated situation, +which in his position, surrounded as he is by Prussian power, will +prove most dangerous to his safety; yes, even to his crown." + +"To his crown?" asked the emperor, raising his head. + +"Your majesty," replied Mensdorff, "when the first cannon has been +fired, Prussia will be utterly regardless of all national laws; and +Hanover has long been the object of Prussian desires." + +"So long as the sword of Austria is not shattered in my hand by the +pitiless storm of war," cried the emperor proudly, "no German prince +shall lose his crown." + +Mensdorff was silent. The emperor paced the room hastily, and then +stood again before his minister. "You do not believe in our success?" +he said, with a penetrating look at the count. + +"Your majesty, I wear the uniform of an Austrian general, and I stand +before my emperor on the eve of a mighty war, when all the banners of +the Imperial States will be unrolled. How would it beseem me to doubt +the success of the Austrian arms?" + +The emperor tapped his foot on the ground. "That is no answer," said +he, "I question not the general, but the minister." + +"I would," returned Mensdorff, "that I stood as a general before your +majesty, or rather before your enemies; then my heart would be +lighter;" and he added, almost gloomily, "then I should have greater +hopes of victory, at least I could give my life to obtain it. As a +minister," he continued after a momentary pause, "I have already given +your majesty my opinion, and I can only again express my most earnest +wish--that it will please you to take from me this weighty +responsibility, and permit me to draw the sword." + +The emperor made no answer to the count's last request. + +"But my dear Mensdorff," he said, "I know your Austrian heart; does it +not beat higher at the thought of again raising in Germany the ancient +power of the house of Hapsburg, and of breaking the might of that +dangerous rival who would root out Austria and my royal house from +Germany, the old inheritance of my fathers? Shall I give up this +opportunity, which perhaps may never again occur?" + +"Your majesty cannot bear in your heart deeper love to Austria, nor +greater pride in your noble house, than I," replied Count Mensdorff +warmly; "and I would give the last drop of my blood to see you again +enthroned from Rome to Frankfort, surrounded by the princes of the +empire, as lord and leader of Germany; but----" + +"But?" cried the emperor with kindling eyes. "Do you believe the object +is to be attained without throwing the sword into the balance? That man +in Berlin, himself, says, 'Blood and the Sword must regenerate +Germany.' Now let the sword decide, and may the blood be upon him." + +"I cannot," said Count Mensdorff, in a melancholy voice, "consider this +opportunity as favourable; to open two theatres of war at once, is play +which neither the present resources of Austria nor my hopes for her +future justify; especially when one enemy is so powerful, and so +untiringly energetic, that we shall need all our strength to withstand +him." + +"Energetic?" said the emperor softly: "at Olmuetz the strong man quietly +gave way." + +"Olmuetz will not be repeated; the Emperor Nicholas is dead, and between +Alexander and us lies Sebastopol!" + +The emperor was silent. + +"May I humbly suggest to your majesty's attention," said Count +Mensdorff, after a moment's pause, during which he looked through his +papers, "that the Duc de Gramont presses for an answer on the subject +of the French Treaty, to be concluded on condition that we give up +Venetia." + +"Can the answer no longer be postponed?" asked the emperor. + +"No, your majesty; the ambassador declares that an undecided answer +will be regarded as a definite refusal." + +"What would you do?" + +Count Mensdorff spoke slowly and calmly. "If your imperial majesty has +decided, as indeed you have, to undertake at the present moment a +mighty war for the re-establishment of the Austrian power in Germany, +that object is great enough to set aside every other; it is noble and +costly enough to demand a sacrifice. The house of Hapsburg was powerful +in Europe _without_ Venice, it has not obtained power with that +province; on the contrary, many embarrassments, troubles, and +difficulties. The war in Germany, and about Germany, would have greater +chance of success if the enemy in the south were removed, our own army +there set free, whilst our alliance with France would hinder Prussia +from concentrating her army against us. The enemy would be occupied on +two sides, whilst we should be able to throw our whole force on one +point, and our present unfavourable position would be turned completely +to our advantage. Under such a constellation a second Olmuetz would be +possible, or, if the sword decided, success would be far more certain. +Your majesty," concluded Count Mensdorff, calmly meeting the emperor's +searching, anxious gaze, "I would yield Venetia." + +The emperor bit his lips in silence. + +"Must I buy," he cried at last, "must I buy the position of my house in +Germany,--must I buy the rights of my ancestors? And from whom? from +this King of Italy, who has banished the princes of my race, who +threatens the Church, and is even ready to attack the holy patrimony +itself. No! no! Put yourself in my place, Count Mensdorff; you will own +I cannot do it." + +"Forgive me, your majesty," said the count, "but everything must be +bought; every treaty is a purchase, and the more valuable the object +obtained, the better the bargain. Austria's Italian position, and +earlier policy, the correctness of which is doubtful, were given up +with Lombardy. Venice cannot avail us much, and would be a hindrance to +a possible alliance with Italy." + +"You think of an alliance with Italy as possible?" cried the emperor +with astonishment. + +"Why not?" said Count Mensdorff, "if Italy has the whole of what is +Italian, she has no further enmity with Austria, and would far rather +be a close friend to her, than to France, with whom sooner or later she +must struggle for the first place amongst the nations of Latin race." + +"And the banished archdukes, and his Holiness the Head of the Church?" +asked the emperor. "I cannot do it," he continued, gazing before him: +"what would my uncle think, who is preparing to make Italy feel the +sharpness of the Austrian sword--what would my whole family, what would +history?--what would they say of me in Rome? When Italy is overcome," +he said, after a moment's thought, "when we have attained our former +eminence in Germany, then we can negotiate about Venice; if then, +through this sacrifice, the safety of the Holy Father and the patrimony +of St. Peter can be guaranteed----" + +"If your majesty is victorious in Germany, we shall need no +negotiations with Italy," said Count Mensdorff; "but----" + +A knock at the door was heard, and the equerry on duty, Prince +Liechtenstein, entered. + +"A despatch for your imperial majesty from the Field-Marshal;" and he +withdrew. + +The emperor's eyes sparkled, and his hand trembled slightly as he tore +off the cover of the telegram. + +"Perhaps an engagement," he murmured. + +His eyes flew with the greatest anxiety over the lines. He turned +deadly pale, and with his eyes still fixed on the paper he held in his +hand, he sank upon the plain wooden chair before his writing-table. A +short silence ensued, during which the emperor gasped for breath. + +Count Mensdorff watched his imperial master with the greatest anxiety, +but did not venture to interrupt the painful reflections in which he +was plunged by the intelligence he had just received. At last the +emperor roused himself. + +"A despatch from Benedek!" he cried. + +"And what does the Field-Marshal announce?" asked Count Mensdorff. + +The emperor passed his hand over his brow. "He begs me to make peace at +any price. The army is not in a condition to fight, as he will explain +hereafter." + +"Your majesty cannot believe that the Field-Marshal and I have +conspired. If he does not believe the army equal to the war which is +before us--he, the man trusted by public opinion"--Count Mensdorff said +this with an almost imperceptible smile,--"then there must be a strong +foundation for my belief." + +The emperor sprang to his feet and hastily rang the golden bell which +stood upon his writing-table. The gentleman-in-waiting entered. + +"Prince Liechtenstein!" cried the emperor. + +A moment afterwards the equerry on duty stood before him. + +"Beg Count Crenneville to come immediately. Who is in the ante-room?" + +"General Baron Gablenz, with the chief of his staff and aides-de-camp," +replied Prince Liechtenstein. + +"Very good," said the emperor; "let them come in at once." + +The prince immediately summoned the general and his companions. Baron +Gablenz advanced towards the emperor. + +"I beg your majesty, before my departure for the army, to permit me to +express my humble thanks for the command you have bestowed upon me of +the 10th corps, and for your gracious expressions of confidence in me." + +The emperor replied, "This confidence, my dear general, is no favour, +you have deserved it, and you will justify it by the fresh laurels +which you will bind around the banners of Austria." + +Baron Gablenz presented Colonel Bourguignon, his aides-de-camp, and +Lieutenant von Stielow. The emperor said a few words to each in his +usually gracious and engaging way. To Herr von Stielow he said-- + +"You are from Mecklenburg?" + +"At your command, your majesty." + +"Yours will perhaps be a divided heart; for I fear your Fatherland will +be compelled to stand on the side of our enemy." + +"Your majesty," replied the young officer with emotion, "so long as I +wear this uniform, my Fatherland is where your royal banners wave. My +heart is Austrian." He placed his hand on his breast, and pressed +closer to his heart the rose he had received the evening before. + +The emperor smiled, and placed his hand on the young man's shoulder. + +"I rejoice that the general has chosen you, and I hope to hear of you." + +Prince Liechtenstein opened the door with the words, "General Count +Crenneville." + +The emperor's adjutant-general entered. He wore undress uniform. His +sharply-cut features of the French type, his short black moustache, and +bright dark eyes, belied the fifty years which the general bore. + +"Your imperial majesty sent for me," he said. + +"I thank you, gentlemen," said the emperor, turning to Baron Gablenz's +staff. "I hope the campaign will give you opportunities of performing +fresh services to me and to the Fatherland. I beg you to remain, Baron +Gablenz." + +Colonel von Bourguignon, the aides-de-camp, and Herr von Stielow +withdrew. + +The emperor seized the dispatch, and said, "I have just received this +telegram, on which I desire your opinion. The field-marshal," he +continued, his voice trembling a little, "begs me to make peace, as the +army is in no condition to fight." + +"Impossible!" exclaimed Count Crenneville. + +"What do you say, Baron Gablenz?" said the emperor to the general, who +had remained silent. + +He hesitated a moment before replying, whilst the emperor's eyes seemed +to hang upon his lips. + +"Your majesty, the field-marshal must have most cogent reasons for his +request; usually he fears no danger, and dashing boldness, rather than +cautious prudence, is his characteristic." + +"Your majesty's brave and brilliant army unfit to fight!" cried Count +Crenneville; "how can the field-marshal justify such ideas?" + +"He promises to justify them," said the emperor. + +Count Crenneville shrugged his shoulders in silence, whilst Baron +Gablenz asked, "_Can_ your majesty still make peace?" + +"If I place Austria for ever in the second rank in Germany, or rather +if I permit her to be thrust out from Germany--yes; if I give Prussia a +double revenge for Olmuetz--yes! otherwise I cannot." + +Count Crenneville looked anxiously at the general, who stood lost in +thought. "Your majesty," he said at last, in a quiet, impressive voice, +"no one can rate the power of our enemy higher than I. I have been with +Prussia in the field, and I know her material and moral power. Both are +immense; her arms are excellent, and the needle-gun is a frightful +weapon. If we alone were opposed to Prussia, I should go to the war +with a heavy heart. I am reassured by our German Confederation." + +"The army of the confederacy," said Count Mensdorff. + +"It is not the military contingent alone that I throw into the +balance," continued Baron Gablenz, "but the fact that these separate +armies will absorb the Prussian troops, and compel the enemy to a +complicated campaign. Had I been able to remain in Hanover, this +advantage would have been still greater. However, even without that +combination Prussia must fight with very divided forces, whilst we +shall be able to concentrate our army. This, your majesty, is my +comfort; in this rests my hope of success, however severe may be the +conflict. This is my opinion as a general. As to the condition of the +army and its fitness for a battle, I cannot speak until I have seen it, +and know the reasons for the field-marshal's judgment. On the political +situation I need not hazard my ideas, neither would your majesty +probably care to possess them; this only would I say, if Austria's +honour is engaged I would refuse to yield; a lost battle even is less +hurtful than to retreat without having drawn the sword." + +The general ceased speaking, and for a few moments silence prevailed in +the cabinet. + +"Gentlemen," said the emperor, "the questions before me are of so +difficult a nature, that they require careful investigation and calm +reflection. In an hour I will decide; and I will give to you, Count +Crenneville, the answer to the field-marshal, and at the same time you, +Count Mensdorff, shall receive a reply to the question you have brought +before me." + +The two gentlemen bowed. + +"Shall the motion be made immediately to the Confederation for the +mobilization of the armies of the un-Prussianized States, as your +majesty has desired?" inquired Count Mensdorff. + +"Certainly," cried the emperor, "it is necessary that the German States +should own to their colours, and that the armies of the Confederation +should be placed in the field. I am of the opinion of Baron Gablenz +that on this our safety greatly depends." + +With a friendly nod he dismissed the gentlemen; then approaching +General von Gablenz he took his hand, and said, "God be with you! may +He bless your sword, and give me fresh cause to be grateful to you." + +Gablenz bent over the emperor's hand, and said with emotion, "My blood, +my life, belong to you and Austria!" + +The emperor remained alone. Several times he hastily paced his cabinet; +then he seated himself at his writing-table, and turned over some +papers quickly, without looking at their contents. + +"What a frightful position!" he exclaimed; "every feeling of my heart +urges me to act against this German calamity, which like a wasting +sickness, like a gnawing worm, eats into the heart of Austria, and +devours her power and her greatness. My hereditary blood urges me to +pick up the glove, half scornfully, half threateningly thrown down so +long ago by the dangerous, deadly enemy of my race. The voice of the +German people calls me--and my minister counsels retreat, my general +hesitates at the moment of decision! Can the thought be true which like +a black mountain has oppressed my heart in my dark hours? Am I +predestined to bring misfortune on my beloved, beautiful Austria, the +glorious inheritance of my great ancestors? Will my name be linked in +history with the setting of the Hapsburg star, the fall of the empire?" + +He gazed into space with troubled eyes. + +"Oh! that thou couldst stand beside me, thou great Spirit, with thy +strong noble heart, with thy clear intellect, and unconquerable will, +to guide the rudder of the Austrian empire: thou whose calm proud +strength shattered the power of the hellish giant who had dismembered +the world! oh, that I had a Metternich! What would he counsel, that +mighty mind, whom none understood, whom none can understand, because +between his inner life and the world the proud words of Horace stand +inscribed: 'Odi profanum vulgus et arceo!'" + +He suddenly seized his bell. "Let States-Chancellor Klindworth come +immediately," he commanded, as the gentleman-in-waiting entered; "seek +him in the office of state." The gentleman-in-waiting withdrew. + +"He alone," said the emperor, "yet survives from the times of Austria's +greatness, when the threads of all European policy were gathered +together in our offices of state, when Metternich's ear was in every +cabinet, and his hand linked together the acts of every government. He, +it is true, was only the tool of the great statesman, not the confidant +of his thoughts--he was not Metternich, no, not Metternich, but he +laboured with him in working the wonderful machine--and his quick +penetrating mind seized the spirit of the whole, at least in some +degree. When he speaks to me, I seem to see that old, rich, +many-coloured period, and to know, as if by inspiration, what +Metternich would do if he still were the friend and adviser of the +house of Hapsburg. I have the will, the power to work,--the courage to +fight. Why is wisdom so hard?" + +The emperor leant his head on his hand, and sat in deep thought. The +gentleman-in-waiting opened the door leading to the inner apartments, +and announced, "States-Chancellor Klindworth awaits your majesty's +commands." The emperor raised his head and made a sign that he should +enter at once. + +Through the opened door advanced this extraordinary man, who began his +remarkable career as a schoolmaster in the neighbourhood of Hildesheim; +he then for a short time played a public part as state-chancellor at +the court of Duke Charles of Brunswick, and after the tragic fall of +that prince became one of the most skilful and zealous of Metternich's +agents. He was involved in all the most important political +transactions, and had had relations with every sovereign and minister +in Europe; yet he so skilfully enveloped himself in obscurity, that +only those most initiated in political circles had ever seen him, or +spoken to him. + +Klindworth was now a man of about seventy years of age, broad +shouldered, and strongly built. His head, which was so pressed down +between his shoulders that it seemed to lurk there in concealment, was +covered with grey hair, fast turning white, and his face was of such +extraordinary ugliness, that it attracted and riveted attention more +than the highest order of beauty. His small eyes glittered quick and +piercing beneath thick grey eyebrows, and with their keen glances, +which they never directed straight at any other eyes, seized on +everything worthy of remark within their range of sight. + +His wide mouth, with its thin bloodless lips, was firmly closed, and +quite concealed in the middle by his long thick nose, which spread out +to an enormous breadth towards the lower part. He wore a long brown +overcoat closely buttoned, and a white neck-cloth, and his manner was +completely that of a worthy old tradesman who had retired from +business. No one would have imagined him to be a most dexterous and +far-travelled political agent; the art so much practised in his +political life, never to appear, but always to remain in the darkest +background, he seemed to exercise in his appearance; it would have been +impossible better to have represented the image of a modest unimportant +person. + +He entered, bowed deeply, and approached within two or three steps of +the emperor; he then stood still with a most respectful bearing, and +without uttering a word. His quick eyes examined the monarch, and were +instantly sunk again to the ground. + +"I have sent for you, dear Klindworth," said Francis Joseph, with a +slight bend of the head, "because I am desirous of hearing your views +on my present position. You know how much I like to hear how things +mirror themselves in your mind, which has lived through the experiences +of a past great time." + +"Your imperial majesty is too gracious," returned Herr Klindworth, in a +low, but distinct and penetrating voice. "The rich treasures of +experience obtained in a long political life are always at the command +of my gracious monarch; as my great master Prince Metternich +said--'The past is the best corrective and the truest barometer for the +present.' The faults of the past are seen with all their results and +consequences, and from them we may learn to avoid the blunders into +which present events are leading us." + +"Quite right," said the emperor, "quite right, only in the past, in +_your_ past, few blunders were committed; but what do you consider +would be the most dangerous error which could now be made?" + +Without hesitation, Klindworth replied, raising his eyes from the +ground for a moment, and fixing them on the emperor:-- + +"Indecision, your majesty!" + +The emperor looked at him with embarrassment. + +"And you fear this error may be committed?" he asked. + +"I fear it _has already been committed_," returned Klindworth, quietly. + +"By whom?" + +"Wherefore has your majesty chosen me for this high honour?" asked +Klindworth, instead of replying to the question. "Your majesty shall +hear my plain humble opinion, though its weight be but as a grain of +sand in the balance. You have _yourself_ not decided," and he assumed a +more humble and modest manner than before. + +The emperor smiled. "You know how to read the thoughts of others; +nothing is safe from your key. But granting that I have not decided, +this is no fault; the time for decision has only just arrived." + +"Does your imperial majesty command me to speak without any reserve?" +asked Klindworth. + +"Assuredly," said the emperor, adding with some haughtiness of manner, +"I certainly did not send for you to indulge in idle conversation." + +The states-chancellor clasped his hands over his breast, and tapped the +back of his left hand lightly with the fingers of his right. Then he +spoke very slowly, and with long pauses, during which he watched the +impression made by his words through his half-closed eyelids: + +"I cannot, according to my humble views, share your imperial majesty's +opinion that the moment for decision has only just come." + +The emperor gazed at him with surprise. + +"According to your views, when was that moment?" he asked. + +"It was," returned Klindworth, "before Prussia and Italy had concluded +a treaty; before Italy was armed; and before Prussia had completed her +preparations. Your majesty wished to decide the great German quarrel; +your majesty wished to set up the imperial throne in Frankfort after +Count Rechberg had, somewhat prematurely, roasted the _b[oe]uf +historique_." + +The emperor frowned, but without altering his tone Klindworth +continued,-- + +"Your majesty unveiled your designs too soon, and therefore the best +moment was lost; a blow should fall heavily, and the opponent be +unprepared. A long exchange of despatches reminds me of the Trojan +heroes, who made long speeches and related their genealogy before +hurling their spears. A dispute, an ultimatum, and your majesty's army +in Saxony at once! so should I have conceived the affair. Now the Saxon +army approaches Bohemia; it is impossible to fight except in Bohemia, +that is to say, the burden of war is brought into our own territory. +That, your imperial majesty, I call indecision; we feel its evil +consequences already, and they will increase every day." + +"Do you not think," said the emperor, thoughtfully, "that Prussia +dreads war, and will give way rather than appeal to arms?" + +"No, your majesty, that will not happen; Count Bismarck is incapable of +such a course." + +"But the king," said the emperor, "he is against the war. They speak of +a difference with Bismarck quite recently." + +"I do not believe it, your majesty," said Klindworth, "though I own my +personal judgment fails me where the King of Prussia is concerned. I +knew Frederick William IV.," he continued, "I knew the Emperor +Nicholas, and I know the Emperor Napoleon. Of the deceased monarchs I +could, of the Emperor Napoleon I can, foretell (through the knowledge +of human nature I possess) their probable course of action, but as to +King William," and a slight tone of injury and dissatisfaction was +heard in his voice, "I never could get any nearer to what he would do. +I have only the ground of conjecture to go upon where he is concerned." + +"And what do you conjecture?" asked Francis Joseph. + +"I conjecture that the king will not give way, but that he will fight. +He is no longer young, therefore he dreads war, with its misery and +distress: he is a Hohenzollern, and all Hohenzollerns have a certain +traditional deference for the house of Hapsburg, therefore he +especially dreads a war with Austria. But he is a man, a character, and +a soldier, therefore he will rather wage war than yield, and make his +military organization, which he has perfected after such a severe +struggle, the laughing-stock of the world. King William will fight your +majesty; threats will not alarm him, therefore to threaten was to +blunder, and indecision bears its evil fruit." + +"Since, however, the fault of indecision is committed," asked the +emperor, "how can we make it good? No statesman can always avoid an +error, the great art is to amend it. What can help us now?" + +"Quicker decision, and quickest action!" returned Klindworth. + +"But you do not know," said the emperor, hesitatingly, "Count +Mensdorff----" + +"I know all that," returned Klindworth, smiling; "Count Mensdorff is +ill, and to sick folks decision is hard." + +"How would Metternich, the man of prudence, and of happy combinations, +have decided?" asked the emperor, softly, speaking half to himself, +half to his companion. + +"Metternich would probably never have been in this position, but if he +now sat in the state council your majesty's troops would be in Dresden +and Hanover." + +"But Benedek----" said the emperor. + +"Benedek, your majesty, finds himself for the first time in a position +of great responsibility, without having yet acted; this depresses him." + +"But he says the army is unfit to fight," said the emperor, most +unwillingly. + +"It will certainly never improve by lying still in Bohemia; if your +majesty fights with it, it will become fit to fight," returned +Klindworth, positively. + +The emperor paced up and down the room; the states-chancellor stood +perfectly still, but his grey eyes watched every movement of the +emperor, who stopped suddenly before him, and asked,-- + +"Are you aware of the French proposal?" + +"An alliance, provided you yield Venetia," said Klindworth. + +"What do you think of it?" + +"I think it revolts every feeling of your majesty's heart--and with +justice." + +"It is not a question of inclination, or disinclination, but of +policy," said the emperor. + +"Policy is entirely against such an alliance," said Klindworth. + +"Why? Count Mensdorff gave me reasons in its favour, which I must own +made a powerful impression upon me." + +Klindworth's eyes sparkled, and he raised his bent figure somewhat, +whilst the movement of his fingers grew quicker, and his voice became +more animated, and louder than before. + +"All political reasons, your majesty, speak against this alliance, and +on these grounds: perhaps, I grant it, opposed to this coalition, +Prussia may give way--_perhaps_, but how far? Will your majesty obtain +what you desire? No! the quarrel is but patched up, and under such +circumstances that Prussia must win. I do not even believe that they +will yield in Berlin. I believe that they will fight, though opposed to +the French alliance--and then what occurs? If your majesty conquers, +the reward of victory will not be yours. Do you believe the Emperor +Napoleon will permit the sole supremacy of Austria over a united +Germany? To obtain the fruits of victory you would be forced to +commence a fresh war against your former ally, who would join hands +with your conquered rival. The benefit of an alliance with France is +also doubtful, since France is not in a position for any military +undertaking." + +"Is that certain?" asked the emperor, with surprise. + +"Your majesty is aware that I am careful in making distinct assertions, +and that I possess means of information which may always be relied on. +At this moment France cannot place 100,000 men in the field." + +The emperor was silent. + +"If, however, the benefits of this alliance are doubtful and insecure," +said Klindworth, "two great and certain evils must result from it." + +The emperor looked at him expectantly. + +"In the first place, your majesty, the position of the house of +Hapsburg and of Austria in Germany would be deeply compromised by a +French alliance. Should your majesty obtain success, half success at +the best, public opinion would always regard Prussia as a national +martyr, sacrificed to the hereditary enemy of the German nation. This +would give Prussia great additional strength, and it would be a fair +ground upon which to renew the struggle under more favourable +circumstances." + +"Opinion in Germany is on my side," said the emperor. + +"Partly," returned Klindworth, "but it is not on the side of France. +Your majesty, I do not belong to those politicians who are always +praising up a beloved nationality--for Austria it is highly +dangerous--and I belong to the time when the balance of power was +maintained by a skilful combination of great and small states; when a +bundle of wands cleverly bound together was considered stronger than a +clumsy cudgel; yet it is dangerous to slap national feeling in the +face, especially now, and henceforth, as it has been raised to +fever-heat by 'the great German union,' and similar demagogical +watchwords, to which governments always fall dupes. All the South +Germans and Bavarians, who are now so full of zeal that they speak, +write, and act against Prussia, would, I believe, straightway go over +to the enemy's camp, if they heard of an alliance with France. I know +what the 'furor Teutonicus' is, your majesty: we used to repress it; +now everything is done to kindle it, and if a French alliance is +concluded at the present moment, Germany will belong to Prussia." + +The emperor listened attentively; his own views appeared to coincide +with those of his states-chancellor, and a slight smile played round +his lips. This did not escape the quick eyes of Herr Klindworth. + +"Besides," he continued, "I consider this alliance prejudicial in the +highest degree, on account of the sacrifice which must purchase it." + +"Do you consider the possession of Venice so important?" asked the +emperor with interest. + +"The possession of Venice, in itself, I do not regard as important," +said Klindworth, "but a great principle is involved, which I hold to be +of the highest importance. If of your own free will you barter Venice +for a treaty, your majesty solemnly recognizes all that has been done +in Italy against the house of Hapsburg, against legitimacy, and against +the church; and not this alone, but also what is about to be done +against those pillars on which the strength and power of Austria rest, +I mean the robbery of the Patrimony of St. Peter, and the secularizing +of the Holy Roman See. It would be the abdication of Austria." + +"My own feeling tells me the same," exclaimed the emperor. "But do you +believe that if I conquer, I shall be able to check the course of +events in Italy; that I shall be able to win back what has been lost?" + +"I do believe it," replied Klindworth, firmly. + +The emperor was startled by this positive answer. + +"If I were the victor in Germany, would Germany make a pilgrimage to +Rome?" asked he. "I doubt it." + +"That would not be needful," returned Klindworth; "we have often heard +'Italia fara da se,' well, let us leave the Italians to act:" and he +rubbed his hands together with a low laugh. + +"What can Italy do?" said the emperor urgently, "do you know anything?" + +"It is a little _mon metier_ to know everything," returned Klindworth. +"Your majesty must permit me to make a few short remarks. Italy fell +under the house of Savoy and the demagogues, because Austria was beaten +at Solferino." + +"Not by Italy!" cried the emperor. + +"Not by Italy, it is true," continued Klindworth; "but it was beaten, +and the revolution was all powerful, the defenders of right lost heart, +and above all were disunited. Since that time much has occurred, much +has been learned from the foe; a strong, invisible bond now unites all +those who serve and are willing to fight for the right, and the +apostolic blessing rests upon this bond. What the Carbonari did for the +revolution, the Carbonari of right will again effect: but as the former +were assisted by victory from without, so do the latter wait until the +sword of Austria shall have effected the first breach in the fortress +of crime and wrong. Let there be one Austrian victory over the troops +of this crowned revolution, and Italy will be in flames, and the +crusade against Cavour's work will begin--and conquer." + +The emperor listened with the greatest excitement: he stepped close up +to Klindworth, who maintained his calm demeanour. + +"Do you speak from dreams of your own imagination," cried Francis +Joseph, "or from facts?" + +"From facts, your majesty, which I can prove." + +"When? where?" cried the emperor. + +"In five minutes; here, in your majesty's cabinet." + +"Then bring your proofs." + +"I must then beg your majesty to admit a person, who, foreseeing to +what the present conversation would lead, I took the liberty of +bringing with me, and who waits below." + +The emperor looked amazed. + +"Who is this person?" he asked. + +"The Count di Rivero, your majesty." + +The emperor seemed to search through his memory for the name. + +"Who is he?" said he, after a pause; "ah! I remember: was not a Roman +Count Rivero introduced at court, some years ago, by the Nuncio?" + +"You are right, your majesty," said Klindworth, "he is a Roman, and the +Nuncio was his sponsor. But with the Count Rivero, known in the +brilliant salons of the court, I have nothing to do. My Count Rivero is +an unwearied champion of Right and of the Church, preparing in quiet +obscurity the great insurrection which will destroy the work of +Wrong--a mighty leader of all those elements, which, bound together by +unseen threads, are preparing for the common struggle." + +"How does he prove his identity?" asked the emperor, in a voice in +which curiosity struggled with distrust. Klindworth drew from his +pocket a sealed letter, and handed it to the emperor: + +"In case your majesty should incline to see him, he has entrusted me +with this." + +The emperor seized the letter. + +"From the Farnese Palace, from my sister-in-law," he cried, breaking +open the seal, and reading the short contents. + +"Bring the count in at once," he then said. + +Bowing deeply Klindworth withdrew. + +"How fortunate that I sent for this man! what new views he opens out to +me!" cried the emperor. "Is it possible that the former greatness of my +house will again arise on every side?" + +He walked thoughtfully to the window, and looked up at the sky, slowly +following with his eyes the movements of the clouds. + +After a short time Herr Klindworth was announced, and at a sign from +the emperor, again admitted. He was followed by Count Rivero, whose +manner was as perfect and as calm as when he entered Madame Balzer's +boudoir, and as when he stood opposite Herr von Stielow's pistol. + +His dress was black, of faultless simplicity and perfect cut. With the +firm light step, and complete self-possession, which proved him +acquainted with courts, he advanced towards the emperor, and, bowing +deeply, waited, with his eyes calmly fixed on the monarch, for him to +speak. + +The emperor looked searchingly at him, and said: + +"I remember you, count, at court in former years." + +"It is very gracious of your majesty to recollect me," said the count, +in his soft, melodious voice. + +"You come from Rome?" + +"From the Farnese Palace, your majesty." + +"And what brings you here?" + +"The wish to offer your majesty my services in the great struggle now +before Austria." + +"My sister-in-law of Naples commends you to me as a man worthy of my +fullest confidence." + +"I believe I have deserved her confidence, and I hope to earn that of +your majesty," returned the count, bowing quietly, and speaking without +any presumption. + +"And how do you think you can be of use to me?" asked the emperor. + +The count returned his scrutinizing gaze openly and proudly, saying: + +"I offer your majesty the support of a great and invisible power, the +Holy League of Right and of Religion!" + +"Explain to me what this League is, and what it can do." + +"I will tell your majesty how it arose; you will then understand what +it is, and what it can do. After those great battles in which the +Austrian armies in Italy were crushed, the flood of revolution, urged +on by the ambitious house of Savoy, spread all over Italy, placing +firmly on the head of Victor Emanuel the crown created by red +republicanism; whilst all who had in their hearts a love of right and +religion, and a desire to fight for Holy Church, were surprised and +dispersed--incapable of united and energetic resistance. The work of +wickedness was accomplished in hot haste, and even the Emperor +Napoleon, who had thought out a very different Italy, could not check +the evil spirits he had himself unchained. After fever came exhaustion. +Even in the Vatican there was no safety. But exhaustion was followed by +reaction. In Rome, in the palace of King Francis, that single-minded +but in his simplicity truly great and royal hero (who, with the cannon +of Gaeta, had made his protest against sinful Wrong resound through +Europe), the men first assembled, who said, 'Wrong conquered because a +few wicked men willed it so, and worked together with united strength; +why then should Right not again arise, for God is on our side, if men +of courage and decision combine in the common work, assembling weaker +spirits and filling them with zeal and activity?' This proposal was +followed by decision, and decision by action. King Francis drew up the +plan and the way to carry it out; and your majesty's heroic royal +sister-in-law fanned the pure flame of good and noble resolutions into +a bright blaze of burning enthusiasm. Throughout Italy committees were +formed, and men and women of well-known opinions joined the League, +whose numbers could soon be counted by thousands. Men devoted to the +king work at all the European courts; the talented, accomplished, and +prudent Canofari remains in Paris, Count Citto travels through Europe; +we are well informed of all that takes place; Golotti organizes Naples +and Sicily. The influence which the members of the League have over the +masses is great; arms and ammunition lie in places of safety, and we +stand at the head of a power, to which we have but to apply the +electric spark, and Italy will be in flames, from the Alps to the +further point of Sicily. Does your majesty desire further information +upon the extent, the organization, and the power of the League?" + +"Not at this moment," said the emperor, with some excitement; "at a +future time I shall beg for these particulars, as they interest me +greatly. In what relation does the Holy See stand to your cause?" he +then asked. + +"The Holy Father, your imperial majesty, is the high priest of the +church," replied Count Rivero. "His weapons are spiritual, and he can +take no direct part in a work carried on by secular means; but this +work can only be well-pleasing to him, and the apostolic blessing must +rest on those who labour to restore both spiritual and temporal right. +All faithful priests support the League in every way permitted by their +holy office." + +"And how does this League intend to act; what does it hope to obtain?" +asked the emperor. + +"Your majesty," returned the count, "we await the breaking out of the +great war for the re-establishment of Austria's former power and +greatness. Whatever may be the result on the northern side, success is +certain for Austria in Italy. We can undertake nothing alone, for we +are unable to oppose well-organized armies. As soon as these armies are +engaged, and held fast by the Austrian forces, we shall give the +signal; and behind the crumbling armies of Victor Emanuel, Italy will +arise; the free troops of Right and of the Church will appear +everywhere, to cast out the Sardinian rule, and to bring back to their +inheritance their lawful princes. Your majesty only desires to rule +Lombardy, and that will again belong to you." + +"And Napoleon?" asked the emperor. + +"I have reason to think he will not dislike to see the Sardinian +government overthrown by Italy; he trembles at his own work--besides +his intervention will come too late." + +"And you believe," said the emperor, "that Italy herself will restore +Lombardy to my house?" + +"Yes, your majesty," replied the count, "under conditions." + +"Ah! conditions!" exclaimed the emperor. + +"Your majesty," said the count, "all we who take part in this great +work are Italians, and we desire to see Italy free and happy. We wish +to regard the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom in the north of our peninsula +as blood of our blood, and flesh of our flesh; we are therefore willing +to restore Lombardy into the hands of your majesty and to the house of +Hapsburg, but not to Austria." + +"How will you make the distinction?" asked the emperor, with a shade of +annoyance. + +"I believe," replied the count, "this distinction is the greatest proof +we could give of the reverence in which we hold your imperial majesty. +It would not become me," he continued, "nor am I called upon, to give +your majesty any views upon the government of those states which form +the Austrian empire; I must, however, remark, that according to my +perceptions--and I think I have history on my side--throughout the +whole of Austria there is but one common bond of union, the emperor and +the army." + +The emperor bowed a somewhat reluctant assent. + +"The truth of this, so far as Italy is concerned, is incontestable," +continued the count. "No one in Lombardy and Venice, nor indeed, +throughout the whole country, has the smallest objection to the rule of +the house of Hapsburg; but what hurt the national feeling, what +alienated the well disposed, was the German rule, which we were made to +feel in your majesty's Italian states: the rule was a foreign one, and +it felt to the people like a foreign occupation. If your majesty will +permit your Italian subjects to be Italian, all repugnance will +vanish." + +The emperor was silent, appearing not entirely to understand. + +"Allow me, your majesty," said the count, "to disclose to you the +picture, which stands in dazzling clearness before my mental gaze. When +my poor country fell under the hellish power which now oppresses it, I +thought out for it a united organization, somewhat similar to the great +confederation which unites Germany. In the south the kingdom of the two +Sicilies, in the heart the patrimony of St. Peter, and in the north, up +to its natural boundaries, rescued Sardinia, the smaller dukedoms and +the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom. At the head of this confederation, for +the developing of institutions for trade and commerce and for the +welfare and cultivation of these states, bound together by a common +spirit of nationality, stands the Holy Father, the head of Christendom, +your imperial majesty occupying the place of his powerful earthly +protector; and if the arms of Austria conquer in Germany, as I pray +they may, we shall behold the Roman emperor, from Sicily to the +northern sea, the honoured and beloved protector of right, and the +umpire of Europe." + +The count bowed, and was silent. He had latterly spoken with more +excitement, and his sparkling eyes seemed to see, in dazzling +completeness, the picture he had just sketched out for the emperor. + +Francis Joseph had listened with kindling eyes; and Klindworth had +stolen quick glances, now at the emperor now at the count, whilst he +stood perfectly still without appearing to-take any interest in the +conversation. + +"What you have disclosed to me, my dear Count Rivero, interests me in +the highest degree," said the emperor, "and I rejoice that your +communications have been made at the present moment. Your plans +coincide with the wishes I must always bear in my heart, as the heir of +my ancestors and the head of my house." + +"Your majesty graciously consents," asked the count, "to accept our +services, and to grant us your protection?" + +"I do," said the emperor. + +The count hesitated a moment, then fixed his clear eyes on the emperor. + +"And the home government of your majesty's Italian states?" + +"I pledge my word," said the emperor. + +The count bowed. + +"And you, my dear count, what _role_ shall you play in the great +drama?" + +"I shall remain here for the present to watch the course of events, in +order to give the signal at the right moment. I am at your majesty's +disposal." + +"Your information has been of great service to me," said the emperor, +"and," turning to Klindworth, "you have perhaps saved me from a +dangerous error. I believe, my dear states-chancellor, that indecision +is over. And now," he cried, with animation, "let us set to work with +all our might. I feel courage and strength, and I trust the old proverb +may again prove true: 'Austria est imperatura orbi universo!'" + +"'Ad majorem Dei gloriam!'" added the count in a low voice. + +The emperor bent his head, and called out to the count just as, +retiring with Klindworth, he had reached the door: + +"Auf Wiedersehen!"[7] + +He then seated himself at his writing-table and hastily wrote +two notes, sealing them with his ring; then summoning the +gentleman-in-waiting, he desired him to call his equerry. + +Prince Liechtenstein entered. + +"My dear prince," said the emperor cheerfully, "let these two notes be +given at once to Crenneville and Mensdorff." + +The prince took the notes, and left the room in silence. + +"Now," cried the emperor, as he stood up and raised his sparkling eyes, +"indecision is past. God protect Austria!" + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + HELENA. + + +The sun shone cheerfully one afternoon upon the quiet Pfarrhaus at +Blechow. The roses bloomed gaily in the box-edged beds of the +well-cultivated garden, where the masses of luxuriant white blossom +were beginning to turn to fruit. + +The doors of the large entrance-hall stood wide open, and its floor was +covered with sand, scattered over with short fir branches. + +In the principal dwelling-room of the Pfarrhaus, where the simple +arrangements proved the excellent taste which prevailed, and where the +snowy window-curtains bore witness to the cleanliness and order of the +household, there sat, around the coffee-table covered with a cloth of +dazzling whiteness, the Pastor Berger, his daughter, and the candidate, +Behrmann. + +Helena Berger was busily preparing the brown beverage of the Levant, +the fragrant aroma of which filled the room, in a pretty white china +apparatus; and no lady, in a drawing-room of the highest fashion, could +have performed all the complicated little arrangements with greater +natural grace. + +Pastor Berger sat opposite to her, in his large, comfortable arm-chair, +dressed as usual in clerical black, which according to the good old +custom he never laid aside for less professional clothes, even in his +own home. The only indulgence he allowed himself was the small black +velvet cap which he wore on his head, considering it the sign of +household comfort. + +The young candidate sat between them; he too was dressed in black, with +a white neck-tie, but the cut of his clothes was different, and +although the colouring was the same, the general effect of his dress +was quite unlike his uncle's. + +The pastor leant back comfortably in the depths of his arm-chair, his +hands folded one over the other, whilst he spoke, as was frequently the +case since his last visit to Hanover, of his interview with the king. + +"There is," he said in a voice of emotion, "something glorious about +the Lord's Anointed. He can give happiness with a word, and how willing +is our own king to do so! He does not regard his subjects simply in the +light of tax-payers; to him they are fellow-creatures, with feelings +and with beating hearts, and wherever his royal heart meets with a +fellow man, he is ready with human sympathy to join in his sorrow or +his joy. How different it is in a Republic!" he continued; "there the +law reigns, the dead letter, a cold majority, a chance. And in a great +monarchy the sovereign stands on an unapproachable, solitary height; +but here, in our beautiful, fertile, quiet Hanover, we know our king +(though he from his eminence can take in everything with his clear +gaze,) feels for us each individually, with his human heart." + +Helena had finished preparing the coffee, and she brought her father +his large cup, with the inscription, "dem lieben Vater," traced in +wreaths of roses. + +The old gentleman took a small sip, and his countenance assumed an +expression of great satisfaction at the result of his daughter's skill. + +"I must beg for a little water in my cup," said the candidate in a +quiet persuasive voice, "I cannot take strong coffee." + +"Just like the present generation! how fond they are of water!" cried +the pastor testily: "coffee must be strong if it is to rejoice your +heart and to do you good. Water is certainly a good gift of God, but it +has its proper place; now they pour it even into noble wine; and this +is why we hear so many watery words. I hope, my dear Hermann, your +sermon next Sunday will not be diluted with water, for our peasants +here are accustomed to the strong unembellished Word, which, as our +great Reformer said, 'should resound to the alarm of the hypocrite, and +the joy of the righteous.'" + +Helena had in the meantime prepared her father's large meerschaum pipe, +cutting up the rolled tobacco with which she filled it on a metal +plate, and bringing it to him with a lighted match. + +"Of course you do not dream of smoking the time-honoured pipe?" said +the pastor to his nephew, looking with great content at his own +well-coloured bowl, the companion of several years, and watching the +first clouds of smoke as they rose in the air, "but there are some +excellent cigars, which the president brought from Hamburg." + +"Thank you," said the candidate, declining, "I do not smoke at all." + +"Not at all?" cried the astonished pastor; "really that surpasses the +water! Well," he continued rather severely, "every time has its own +customs, and I don't think they improve. Have you yet received your +appointment as adjunct?" he asked. + +"No," replied the candidate, "they promised to send it after me as soon +as possible. I did not wish to wait for it, as I was desirous of at +once entering on the scene of my future labours, and also of being +admitted without delay into the family of my beloved relations." + +His eyes sought the pastor's daughter, who had seated herself at a +little table in the window, where she occupied herself with some white +needlework. + +"I did not think that the gentlemen of the Consistorial Council were +particularly pleased at his majesty's cabinet decree, appointing me +adjunct here, with a view to my ultimately succeeding to the pastor's +office." + +"I can well believe it," returned his uncle; "authorities like to rule +without feeling a higher power, especially when those below must hear +of the interference. It disturbs the _nimbus_. Can they make any +objection to your qualification?" he enquired. + +"Not the least," replied the candidate. "That were hardly possible," he +continued with a satisfied smile, "my testimonials are of the highest +order." + +"Well then, these gentlemen had better calm themselves, and not +begrudge to his majesty the right of making a faithful old servant +happy, since no injustice is done, and no one is passed over. Would to +God that these heavy times were safely gone, and the storm-cloud of war +dispersed; how much blood it will cost, if the strife once begins!" + +Helena let her work fall into her lap, and sat gazing through the open +window, across the blooming roses, at the smiling landscape beyond. + +A hasty step approached the house, and a knock was heard at the +sitting-room door. "Come in," cried the pastor, and a young, +poorly-dressed girl entered. + +"Well, Margaret, what brings you here?" asked the pastor in a friendly +voice. + +"Oh! Herr Pastor," sobbed the little girl, whilst large tears ran down +her cheeks, "father is so very ill, and he says he is afraid he shall +die, and he wants so much to see you, Herr Pastor, to get a little +comfort, and oh, dear! what will become of us if he does die?"--loud +sobs stifled the poor child's voice. + +The pastor stood up and laid his pipe down in his armchair. + +"What is the matter with your father?" he asked. + +"He got very hot, working, yesterday," replied the child, interrupted +by her tears, "and then he took cold, and it brought back his cough +last night so bad; and he is so ill, and he says he shall die!" + +"Take comfort, my child," said the pastor, "it will not be so bad as +that. I will come and see what must be done." And opening a large oaken +chest, he took from it a case containing several small bottles, stuck +it in his pocket, and seized his clerical hat. + +"One had need to be something of a doctor, here in the country," he +said to his nephew, "that the right means may be used, until further +help can be procured, when it is really necessary. I believe I have +saved a good many lives with my little medicine chest," he added, with +a happy smile. + +"Poor papa!" said Helena, "your fresh pipe?" + +"Do you not think the poor sick man will be more refreshed when he sees +me, than I should be by a few puffs of tobacco?" said her father +gravely. + +"But, my dear uncle, can I not undertake this for you?" asked the +candidate. "I am so anxious to make myself acquainted at once with the +duties of my sacred office." + +"No, my dear nephew," replied the pastor; "let us do all things in +order. You are not even appointed here yet; and then you must learn to +know your people before you can undertake these visits; the sight of a +stranger only excites a sick person. Wait quietly here--I will return +shortly." And he left the house with the child, who ceased crying when +she found the pastor was going to see her father. + +The candidate walked to the window; his eyes first rested on Helena, +who sat bending over the work she had again taken up, then they strayed +through the window, beyond the rose beds, to the wood-crowned horizon. + +"It is really pretty here," he said, "and in summer it is pleasant to +reside here." + +"Oh yes, it is lovely," interrupted the young girl, in that tone of +complete conviction and natural enthusiasm with which young hearts +regard the place where they have passed a happy childhood, feeling +certain that it must be the most charming and delightful spot in the +world; "you will think it still more beautiful when you know all the +glorious country around us, and all our pretty, quiet walks, even the +monotonous fir woods have their charm, and their language"--and her +eyes sought the dark green forests enclosing the sunny landscape as in +a frame. + +A slight smile, half compassionate, half ironical, played round the +lips of the candidate. + +"I really wonder," he said, "how my uncle, with his well-stored mind, +so plainly appearing in his conversation, and still extolled by the +friends of his youth, should have been able to exist here all these +years, so far removed from all intellectual life, and from all +intercourse with the progress of the world. He is considered one of the +first pastors in the country, his duties, it is well known, have been +performed in an exemplary manner, and with his reputation for learning, +and the influence he possesses, he might long ago have held a seat in +the Consistory. To such a man, this would have been the starting-point +for a great, an important career! I cannot imagine how he has endured +life among these peasants!" + +Helena looked with her great eyes at her cousin in amazement. His words +struck an element quite unknown to her life. + +"How little you know my father," she said; "he loves his beautiful +quiet home, and the peaceful, happy scene of his work, far better than +dignities with their restraints and cares." + +"But the higher and the more influential the position," said the +candidate, "the greater the scope for work, and the richer the blessing +that zealous labour may obtain." + +"It may be so," returned the young girl, "but the fruit is not so +plainly seen, intercourse with the people is so much less intimate, and +my father has often told me that his highest pleasure is to pour +comfort and peace into a troubled soul, and his highest pride to bring +back an erring heart to God. But you intend to remain here yourself, +cousin," she added with a smile, "and to bury yourself in this +solitude?" + +"I have to commence my career," he replied, "I must work to rise, and +youth is the time for toil; but as the aim of my life, I shall +certainly place a much higher object before me." His eye scanned the +far distance as if he were looking for some aim, very different to +anything which the quiet landscape around had to show. + +"And you, Helena," he asked after a moment's pause, "have you never +felt the need of a higher intellectual life, the longing for a more +extensive world?" + +"No," she replied simply; "such a world would only depress and alarm +me. When we were lately in Hanover it seemed as if all my blood rushed +back to my heart, I could scarcely understand what was said to me, and +I felt so dreadfully lonely. Here I know everything around me, the +people and the country; here life feels so rich and so warm, but in a +large town it felt cold and narrow. I should be very unhappy if my +father were going away from here; but there is no idea of such a +thing," she said in a tone of certainty. + +The candidate sighed slightly as he gazed straight before him. + +"But in winter," he said, "when you cannot be out of doors, and when +nature has no charms, you must be very dull and lonely." + +"Oh, no!" she cried cheerfully, "never. We are never dull here, you +cannot think how pleasantly we pass the long winter evenings. My father +reads to me, and tells me about so many things, and I play and sing to +him. He is so happy after his day's work." + +Again the candidate sighed. + +"Besides," she continued, "we are not quite without society. There is +the family of our president von Wendenstein at the castle, and we make +up quite a large party. We are not so much out of the world as you +imagine. Last winter we very often danced at the castle." + +"Danced!" exclaimed the candidate, as he folded his hands over his +breast. + +"Yes," said Helena; "the company staying at Luechow often came over, and +we had quite as much fun as they could have had in Hanover." + +"But my uncle, did he not object to your participating in such +extremely worldly amusements?" asked the candidate. + +"Not in the least," she replied; "why should he?" + +The candidate seemed to have an answer ready, but to repress it; and, +after a short pause, he said in a gentle tone of superiority,-- + +"The opinion becomes more and more confirmed in all well-regulated +circles, that such amusements are quite inadmissible in a clergyman's +family." + +"Indeed! what an excellent thing it is that we are quite out of the way +of those well-regulated circles," said Helena coldly, for she felt +displeased at her father's judgment being condemned, and her own +amusements disapproved. + +The candidate was silent. + +"Of what does the family at the castle consist?" he asked after a +pause; "I must go there and be introduced as soon as possible." + +"Besides Herr von Wendenstein, his wife and daughters, there is the +Auditor von Bergfeld," replied Helena. + +"Has he been here long?" asked the candidate quickly, casting a +searching look at his cousin. + +"A year," she replied, with perfect indifference, "and he will soon +leave, for a young auditor is always employed here." + +"But Herr von Wendenstein has sons?" he asked. + +"They are no longer at home," she replied; "one has a government +appointment in Hanover, the other is an officer at Luechow. Here comes +my father!" she exclaimed, and pointed out a pathway leading from the +high road, at the farther end of which the pastor had just appeared. + +"I will make him a fresh cup of coffee. But good heavens!" she +exclaimed, whilst a deep blush spread all over her face. + +The candidate followed the direction of her eyes, and saw a horseman +trotting quickly along the high road in the blue uniform of a dragoon. +He must have called out to the pastor, for he stood still; he then +turned round and walked back to the road, and held out his hand to the +officer, who had reined in his horse. + +After a short conversation, the officer rode on, waving his hand to +Helena, whom he had seen at the window. She returned his greeting by +bending her head. + +"Who is that?" asked the candidate. + +"Lieutenant von Wendenstein," she replied, and left the window to light +the spirit-lamp upon the table, and to prepare afresh the coffee, which +her father had before been prevented from drinking. + +The candidate watched all her movements with a scrutinizing look. + +After a few minutes the pastor entered the room. + +"Thank God," he said, "it was nothing dangerous. A severe cold, with a +good deal of fever; but it is a peculiarity amongst the people here, +who, from their simple lives and strong constitutions, know little of +sickness, that they believe every illness must prove fatal." + +He exchanged his hat for his little cap, and seated himself in his +arm-chair, his face wearing an unusually grave expression. + +"The lieutenant has just returned," he said. + +"I saw him just now," remarked Helena, as she handed her father a fresh +cup of coffee. "What brings him at so unusual a time--generally he +comes only on Sundays?" + +"Things look very bad," said the pastor. "War appears inevitable, and +for the present no more leave will be given; the lieutenant therefore +has ridden over this afternoon to bid them good-bye at home. He begged +that we would walk over there soon--he will leave early, as he must +return to-night." + +Helena's hand trembled as she again prepared her father's pipe. + +"My heart aches," he continued, "for our good friend von Wendenstein +and his gentle, loving wife. This fearful war may rob them of their son +in the very flower of his youth." + +He took his pipe dreamily from his daughter's hand, whilst, bending +over him, she offered him a light. She then hastened to the door. + +"Where are you going, my child?" + +"Before we walk to the castle," she replied, with an unusual vibration +in her voice, "I must see about several things in the house." Without +looking round, she left the room. + +The candidate gazed after her rather inquisitively; he then seated +himself by the pastor, and said, after folding his hands together,-- + +"My dear uncle, from the moment of entering your house, where I hope, +God willing, to be your faithful companion in your holy office, I wish +to take up my position on a foundation of truth; this should be the +rule of conduct for all, but especially for one who takes upon him the +life of a clergyman." + +The pastor smoked his pipe, looking as if he scarcely understood what +this was to lead to. + +"My mother has often told me how much she desired that I should be +united to you even more closely than by our present bond of +relationship, and how she hoped my coming here might be the guidance of +heaven, pointing out to me your daughter Helena as my true and +Christian wife." + +The pastor smoked on in silence, but his expression showed that this +idea was neither new nor disagreeable to him. + +"Often she has said," continued the candidate, "'How much I should +rejoice if I could see you the support of my brother's old age, and if +he could feel that in you he had a protector for his daughter when it +should please God to call him to Himself.' Certainly," he continued, +his eyes studying the expression of his uncle's face, "certainly the +outward cares of life will not be hers." + +"No," cried the old gentleman cheerfully, as he blew an enormous cloud +from his pipe, "no, thank God! as far as that goes, I can depart in +peace when my Master in heaven calls me. The small fortune I inherited +from my uncle has greatly increased, for I have scarcely ever needed to +spend more than the half of my income as pastor, and unless God should +take away what He has given, when He calls me home my daughter need +have no trouble as far as money is concerned." + +"But," continued the candidate, an almost imperceptible smile of +satisfaction playing around his thin lips, "'but she will still need a +protecting arm, and if you could afford her this, perhaps in the very +home where she has passed her childhood, how happy it would make me.' +This is what my mother has often said to me." + +"Yes, yes, my good sister," said the pastor, with an affectionate +smile,--"fate separated us completely, not perhaps as things are now, +for the borders of Brunswick may be reached in a day, but in our +calling travelling is difficult!--her true heart has always kept its +affection for me." + +The candidate proceeded: + +"My mother's wish pleased me much, but I set it aside as an open +question, for according to my ideas a marriage should only take place +from mutual inclination, arising from sympathy between two hearts, and +therefore it was needful we should know one another. But since I have +been here, and during the few days I passed in your society in Hanover, +my mother's wish has become my own. I find in Helena all those +qualities which I hold most necessary to enable her to fulfil the +duties of the Christian wife of a clergyman, and to render the life of +her husband happy, and therefore (that everything may be clear and true +between us) I ask you, my dear uncle, if you will permit me to +endeavour to gain your daughter's affections, and if after a more +intimate acquaintance I should succeed, whether you will be willing to +trust her to me for life?" + +The old gentleman took the pipe from his mouth, and held out his hand +to his nephew. + +"You have acted well and honestly," he said, "in speaking to me thus, +uprightly and honourably, and I will answer you in the same upright and +honourable manner. What your mother," he continued, "thought and said, +passed also through my mind, and I own that when I obtained your +nomination here, I thought it would make me happy if you became +mutually attached; then when I felt my strength failing me I could +resign, and still see my dear daughter ruling the loved home where she +grew up, and which her gentle, affectionate mother first made so dear +to me." + +The old man was silent for a few moments, and tears stood in his eyes. +The candidate's features expressed extreme satisfaction. + +"With my whole heart, my dear nephew," resumed the pastor, "I give you +leave to woo my Helena, and if you obtain her love I will joyfully give +my blessing to your union, both as a father and as a priest. But do not +be hasty--give her time--she is of a timid disposition, and shrinks in +alarm from everything that is new. Learn really to know one another; +you will have plenty of time." + +The candidate pressed his uncle's hand. + +"I thank you most heartily," he said, "for your permission, rest +assured I will not try to take her heart by storm; no sudden blazing +fire beseems a Christian marriage, our hearts should feel a pure and +quiet flame." + +At this moment Helena returned; she wore a light-coloured dress, and a +straw hat, ornamented with some small flowers. There was a rosy tint +upon her cheeks, and her eyes shone with enthusiasm, but as if through +a veil of tears, yet her lips smiled. + +She looked extremely beautiful; she nodded affectionately to her father +as she entered the room, but she cast down her eyes when she saw the +look with which the candidate surveyed her whole appearance. + +"I am ready, papa," she said. + +"Quite right my child; then we can go." + +He stood up, and laid aside his cap. + +"You must accompany us," he said to his nephew; "I will introduce you +to our president." + +"Should I not first call at the castle?" asked the candidate. + +"You will do so now with me," replied the pastor; "we are not formal +people here,--I answer for it you will always be welcomed by our +friends." + +The candidate put on his glossy, well-brushed black hat, and they all +three left the parsonage. + +In the old castle at Blechow, the president's family was assembled in +the large garden drawing-room. Madame von Wendenstein sat on the large +sofa, in her snow-white point-lace cap and flowing dark silk dress, and +her daughter was preparing the tea-table at an earlier hour than usual. + +The lieutenant had drawn a low arm-chair close to his mother, and was +endeavouring to amuse her with lively conversation, and she sometimes +replied to his remarks with a melancholy smile, though she could not +prevent the tears from falling upon her white hands, as she +mechanically continued her needle-work. + +The president walked up and down the room in silence, pausing sometimes +at the open door to gaze beyond the terrace at the landscape bathed in +the warm light of the summer evening. + +"Don't damp the boy's spirits," he said, standing before his wife, and +speaking in a voice of forced harshness; "a soldier should always set +out willingly and joyfully to a war, when a war comes, for that is his +business, and he ought to rejoice at the opportunity of following his +calling, and doing his duty in earnest. Besides which, nothing is yet +certain," he added, partly to console his wife, partly to allay his own +anxiety; "though they must be ready for anything that may occur, the +tempest may still pass over." + +"I will not certainly take from him his cheerful pleasure in doing his +duty," said Madame von Wendenstein in a gentle voice, "but I cannot +help being sad in this dark and heavy hour. We shall sit here at home +alone with our thoughts and our cares, whilst he will hurry about in +the open air, with the constant variety of change. He will soon recover +his spirits. Is your linen all in order?" she said, turning to her son, +as if she wished to diminish her sorrow by material cares for the child +who was soon to encounter such dangers. + +"My linen is in the most excellent order, mother," replied the +lieutenant cheerfully. "But if we really march, I shall not be able to +take much with me,--our baggage must be small. Where is the pastor?" he +exclaimed? "he promised me to spend the last few hours here. +_Apropos_," he added, "have they visitors at the parsonage? I saw a +gentleman in the dress of a clergyman, standing by Helena at the +window." + +"It is the nephew who is appointed adjunct here," said the president, +"and to whom the pastor will in time resign. I am very glad that the +king graciously granted our good Berger's request, especially as I +believe the Consistory would not have appointed him. Perhaps, too, he +may be a _parti_ for our pretty Helena." + +The lieutenant cast a quick glance at his father, and then stood up and +looked silently out over the terrace. + +A whispering was heard in the ante-room, and an old servant entered, +and said, "Fritz Deyke wishes to speak to the lieutenant." + +The young man turned round quickly, and called out, "Come in! come in! +my good Fritz. What brings you here, my lad?" asked he kindly, as he +walked towards the door, where young Deyke stood in a stiff attitude, +holding his cap in his hand. + +"I beg your pardon, sir," he said, "but I want to ask you a favour." + +"Out with it then!" cried the lieutenant gaily, "it is granted +beforehand." + +"I hear in the village," said the young peasant, "that war is about to +break out, and that the king himself will take the field. Then I must +go too; and I came to beg you, sir, as you have known me from a child, +to take me with you as a servant, that we might go to the wars +together." + +"Stop, my dear fellow," cried the officer, "we have not got so far as +that, we are not to march yet, perhaps not at all; at present there is +no increase of troops, for the army remains on the strength it has in +time of peace, so with the best will in the world I cannot take you. +But," he continued, "if it really begins, I promise to take you, not as +my servant, I have already a very quiet, respectable man; and," he +added laughingly, "my old friend Deyke's son is in too good a position +to be a servant." + +"Not to be _your_ servant, sir," said Fritz, with such pride in his +voice that it was evident he thought himself quite above being servant +to anyone else. + +"Be easy about it," said the lieutenant, "you shall certainly come with +me; at the right time I will take care to get you into my troop, then +we shall always be able to talk of when we were in the dragoons +together." + +"You promise it, and that I shall keep near you?" asked the young +peasant. + +"I promise," said the lieutenant, "my hand upon it!" + +He gave his hand to his former playmate with great heartiness; the +latter seized it and shook it warmly, saying,-- + +"Then God grant, sir, we may not be parted long!" + +Whilst the young peasant took leave of the officer, the servant had +silently opened the door, and the pastor, accompanied by his daughter +and his nephew, had entered. + +The pastor introduced the candidate to Herr von Wendenstein, who shook +hands with him and led him to his wife, by whom he was welcomed with a +few friendly words. + +Helena laid aside her hat and assisted Miss von Wendenstein in the +final arrangements of the tea-table. The lieutenant joined the young +ladies. + +"Now, Miss Helena," he said, "I am quite in earnest, you really must +give me your good wishes, for, perhaps, I shall soon have need of them. +Will you not," he cried warmly, as he looked into her eyes, "will you +not sometimes think of me, if we actually march, and send your good +wishes after me?" + +She looked at him for a moment, and then cast down her eyes, as she +said in a voice that trembled slightly,-- + +"Certainly, I will think of you, and I will pray to God to take care of +you." + +He looked at her with emotion: the words were so simple, and so +natural, and yet they touched for the first time something in his +heart, which seemed to tell him that if he really did march as he so +greatly desired to this merry war, he must leave much that he loved +behind him. + +"I remember very well," he said, after a moment's silence, "the dark +cloud we saw the evening before my father's birthday, and how it was +driven farther and farther from the light of the moon. I think of it +now, that I shall not be here for a long while, perhaps, indeed, this +is the last time I shall ever be at home. You see, Miss Helena," he +continued, lightly and jestingly, as if he wished to conceal his +feelings, "I learn from you--I have got on,--I remember your beautiful +thoughts; another step, and I may have ideas of my own." + +She answered neither his earnest words nor his jest, but looked up at +him in silence. + +"Tea is ready, dear mamma," said Miss von Wendenstein, as she gave a +last scrutinizing glance at the large round table, which, contrary to +custom, was brought into the drawing-room, and bore an improvised +supper. + +Madame von Wendenstein rose, and approached the table with the pastor, +her husband and the candidate followed. + +"You will sit by me, will you not?" half whispered the lieutenant to +Helena, "for the sake of old times." + +She did not reply, but silently took the chair next to him. + +The candidate gave the young people a glance of disapproval, as he +seated himself beside the young lady of the house. + +The cheerful spirits that usually prevailed in the old castle at +Blechow were to-day quite wanting. The conversation was forced. No one +said what he thought, and no one thought what he said. The jokes, which +the president sometimes attempted with an effort, fell flat, like spent +rockets; and many quiet tears fell into Madame von Wendenstein's plate. +The lieutenant drew out his watch. + +"Time is up," he said, "will you excuse me, mother? John, my horse." + +They all rose. + +"Yet one request," said the lieutenant, "sing me one song before I +leave, Miss Helena. You know how much I like to hear you sing, and +to-day I must carry away the happiest recollection of my dear home." + +A slight shiver seemed to run through the young girl's slender frame. +She made a movement with her hand as if to refuse. + +"I beg it," he said in a low voice. + +The president opened the piano, and Helena soon sat before it, led +thither by Miss von Wendenstein. The lieutenant leaned against the door +opening into the garden, through which there still came the clear +twilight that lasts so far into the nights of June. + +Helena placed her hands upon the notes and gazed straight before her. + +Then she struck a few chords, and as if compelled by some unknown +impulse she began to sing Mendelssohn's beautiful melody, + + + "Es ist bestimmt in Gottes Rath, + Dass man vom Liebsten, was man hat, + Muss scheiden." + + +Her lovely pure voice had great richness of tone, and filled the room +as with a magnetic stream. The lieutenant stepped outside into the +shadow of the evening twilight, and Madame von Wendenstein rested her +head in her hands, whilst her sobs became audible. + +The voice of the singer grew richer and more expressive, though her +face showed only blank indifference, and as she reached the conclusion +a firm conviction, a holy faith rang through her song: + + + "Wenn Menschen auseinander gehn, + So sagen sie: Auf Wiedersehn!" + + +There was a deep silence as she ended, so great was the impression made +by the song. + +The lieutenant came back from the terrace, looking very grave. He gave +one long affectionate look at the young girl, who had risen from her +seat and was standing near the piano, her eyes cast down, and with the +same calm expressionless look on her face; then he went up to his +mother and kissed her hand. + +The old lady stood up, took his head between her hands, and pressed a +warm kiss upon his brow. She whispered softly, "God protect you, my +son;" then she gently thrust him from her, as if she wished the sorrow +of leave-taking to be ended. + +The president pressed his son's hand, and said: + +"Go, if God wills it so, and let your acts be worthy of your position +and your name! Now no more adieux," cried the old gentleman, looking +with concern at his wife, who had sunk back on the sofa, and covered +her face with her handkerchief. "To horse! we will accompany you +outside." + +And he went out through the door of the entrance hall which had been +opened by a servant. The pastor and the candidate followed him. + +The lieutenant turned back for a moment, and embraced his sister, then +he approached Helena: + +"I thank you from my heart for your song," he said, and took her hand; +then half as if the last words still ran in his mind, half as if +speaking to her, he added: + + + "Wenn Menschen auseinander gehn, + So sagen sie: Auf Wiedersehn!" + + +"Auf Wiedersehn!" he repeated, raising her hand to his lips and +imprinting upon it a kiss. + +He then hastened after his father. + +A bright red colour flew into the young girl's cheeks, and her +expression grew animated and her eyes very bright, as they followed him +to the door. Then she sank down on the chair before the piano, and a +hot tear fell into her lap, unseen by Madame von Wendenstein, whose +face was still hidden in her handkerchief, unseen by her daughter, who +held her mother in a gentle embrace, and stroked her soft grey hair. + +Fritz Deyke stood outside; he had not been able to deny himself the +pleasure of leading round the lieutenant's horse; Roland pawed the +ground impatiently. + +The lieutenant took an affectionate leave of his father and the pastor, +and gave his hand to the candidate, who received it with a bow. Had it +not been for the darkness, the deadly hatred of the look he cast upon +the young officer must have been observed. + +Then the young man sprang lightly into the saddle. + +"God grant, sir, I may soon come too!" Fritz Deyke cried after him, as, +putting his horse to a gallop, he disappeared into the gathering night. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + BERLIN. + + +The streets of Berlin, though, bright with sunshine, looked empty at +eight o'clock on the morning of the 15th of June, 1866. Life in that +city does not begin so early; and at this hour only a few of the lower +orders hurried along under the lime trees, with here and there an +employe or a merchant hastening to his office. + +A troubled expression appeared on the face of every passer-by; +acquaintances stopped and exchanged greetings and the news of the day, +but the news was of an unpleasant and evil nature; the Austrian +ambassador was recalled, and war was inevitable,--a war which no one +desired, and which was entirely ascribed to the ambition of the +minister, who, in order to retain office, was about to set Germany, nay +Europe, on fire. + +So thought and spoke the good people of Berlin, for they were +accustomed to think and speak in the morning as Aunt Voss and Uncle +Spener had caused them to read the day before; and these two +long-established and highly privileged organs of public opinion daily +maintained, in articles whole columns in length, that the disturbance +in Germany was entirely owing to the restless ambition and criminal +rashness of this Herr von Bismarck; and all the Muellers, all the +Schultzes, all the Lehmanns, and all the Neumanns who had been brought +up in the royal capital, firmly believed that nothing was needed to +preserve the absolute peace of Europe under the parliamentary +government, than that Herr von Bismarck should be sent about his +business, either to Schoenhausen, or to Kniephof, to cultivate his March +Ukrain turnips, or his Pomeranian cabbages. + +But when some of the Landwehr marched past on their way to the railway +stations from whence they were to be sent off to join the different +army corps, a very discontented expression was seen on the faces of the +Berlin children, both old and young, as they stood about in knots at +the side of the streets and roundly abused that "junker Bismarck," who +brought such misery on families, and cost the country so much money. +This did not hinder the kind-hearted inhabitants of Berlin from +bestowing on "the sacrifice to Bismarck's policy," the "Blue Laddies" +of the Landwehr Guards, who were being sent to this horrid fraternal +war, many abundant tokens of their affection, in the shape of beer, +cigars, sausages, and spirits. And "the sacrifice" itself appeared by +no means discontented; for from its ranks resounded those merry old +Prussian soldier songs, which are handed down unwritten from generation +to generation, and transplanted from the bivouac to the home, where the +boys learn them when they play at soldiers, and sing them later on in +the bivouacs of the man[oe]uvres, or of the first war to which their +king and country send them. + +In the evening, all the Schultzes, Muellers, Lehmanns, and Neumanns went +to their hereditary beer-shops, and sat round the table listening to +the news from the mouth of the oracle of their different circles; and +they heard how that very day a journalist had written, or a deputy had +spoken, inculcating the great lesson that all the uneasiness, all the +stagnation of trade, all the troubles of private families, were caused +by one man, who sacrificed the happiness of the subject to his own mad +notions and ambition; one man, who placed the crown and the country in +danger, Herr von Bismarck, the aristocratic despot! + +No wonder then that all the people who were hurrying along in the early +morning looked on the world with dismal eyes, nor that when +acquaintances met and discussed the news, a curse, not loud but deep, +should be bestowed on that Bismarck who plunged the whole world, which +would have been so happy without him, into grief and woe. + +Through the hurrying, busy people, and through the discontented groups +walked Bismarck himself, under the lime-trees, from the +Wilhelmsstrasse. He looked as calm and well satisfied in his white +cuirassier's uniform, with its pale yellow collar, plain stool helmet, +and major's epaulets, as if he were at the highest point of popularity. +No one greeted him, but he did not care, and he walked on with a quick +step, and military bearing; he reached the corner where +Friedrichsstrasse is divided by the lime-trees, opposite Kranzler's, +the well-known confectioner; there he went to a newspaper shop and +bought a morning number of Aunt Voss's newspaper, a few inquisitive +folks silently watching him with no friendly looks meanwhile, for every +one knew the head of the ministry. + +He pursued his way, hastily skimming the newspaper, until he came to +the king's plain-looking square palace, opposite the colossal statue of +Frederick the Great, over which the royal standard, with its purple +ground and black eagles, waved in the morning wind. + +The guard presented arms, and Bismarck entered the palace, and turned +to the left, on the raised ground floor, towards the king's apartments. +Here he found the equerry on duty. Major the Baron von Loen greeted +him, and began a conversation on indifferent subjects, until the hour +of audience arrived, which the king always observed with the most +conscientious punctuality. + +In his large, simply-furnished work and reception room stood King +William himself, with his grey hair and youthful, powerfully built +figure. He had placed himself near the further window, from whence he +could look down on the Platz below, as he frequently did during an +audience, or while hearing a report, and through which the Berlin +public often saw him during the morning hours. + +King William wore the black overcoat and white buttons of the first +regiment of foot guards; his fresh-coloured face with its strongly +marked, benevolent features, surrounded with white hair, and a +carefully kept white beard, was grave, almost melancholy, as he +listened to a man, who spoke to him upon the contents of various papers +in a large black portfolio. + +This man, who was a head shorter than the king, was dressed in plain +black, with a white neck-handkerchief. His hair, which was quite white, +was brushed smoothly down on each side of his head, his face had a very +animated expression, and his keen, candid eyes, sparkling with good +humour and youthful fire, were fixed on the king. + +It was the Privy Councillor Schneider, who was as well known as a +dramatic author, manager, and actor, as he was as a military writer; he +had been reader to Frederick William IV., and to William I., and for +many years a faithful servant to the royal family. + +"You have spoken with the king?" asked the monarch. + +"I have, your majesty," replied Schneider; "on my journey home from +Duesseldorf, where I had been to obtain some information for my +historical work, I was obliged to stop in Hanover, and as his majesty +King George has always shown me the most gracious marks of his favour, +as your majesty is aware, and as I feel for him the greatest sympathy +and respect, I drove to Herrenhausen, had myself announced, and +requested an audience. The king received me in his own apartments, and +his breakfast being just served, he graciously invited me to breakfast +with him. His majesty was most kind, and I experienced afresh the truly +magic charm of his manner." + +"Yes," said King William, "my cousin George is of an amiable and noble +nature. I often wish we had remained nearer together. It would have +been better for Germany. He, alas! always feels enmity to Prussia." + +"I cannot understand it," said Schneider; "personal aversion cannot +possibly be the cause, for I assure your majesty, the king delights in +recollections of his youth at Berlin, he feels a deep and filial +veneration for his late majesty Frederick William III., and he drew +from his wonderful memory numerous little traits and anecdotes of old +times, of Count Neale, and old Princess Wittgenstein----" + +"For whom we princes felt such immense respect," said the king +laughing. + +"And," continued Schneider, "I could see what pleasure the king felt in +these reminiscences, and how much he was interested by my own +recollections of the same times." + +"And did you speak of the present political position?" asked the king. + +"The conversation could not fail to touch upon that," said Schneider. +"I took the liberty of expressing my hopes that the king, from his +friendly remembrance of the Berlin court, would take your majesty's +side in the present sharp conflict, and that the old bond which united +Hanover and Prussia in the past, might be strengthened afresh." + +"And what was his majesty's reply?" asked King William anxiously. + +"The king spoke most candidly and openly," replied Schneider, +"displaying the chivalrous character I have always admired, when I have +had the honour of any intercourse with him. He assured me he had not +the smallest animosity against Prussia, though he is so often accused +of it; that he considered a German war would be the greatest of +misfortunes, and that from the laws of the Confederation, he should +consider it an impossibility, until it actually commenced. In such +wickedness and misery he would never take part." + +"Why then did he not conclude a treaty of neutrality?" asked the king. + +"But his Hanoverian majesty believes himself to be completely neutral," +replied Schneider. + +"Then I cannot understand it!" exclaimed King William; "Count Platen +always denied the conclusion which I so greatly desired." + +"I know nothing, your majesty, of what Count Platen did, or did not do; +but of this I am certain, King George believes himself to be +maintaining the most complete neutrality." + +"You do not believe he has concluded a treaty with Austria?" asked the +king. + +"No, your majesty, I do not believe it, for the king said in the most +decided way, he would take no part whatever in this unholy war. +Nevertheless----" + +"Nevertheless?" asked the king. + +"Nevertheless his majesty said in the most clear and straightforward +manner," added Schneider, "that the Prussian endeavour to alter the +German Confederation of States into one Confederated State would never +obtain his consent, and that he should oppose with all his power any +such attempted reform of the Confederation, and should defend his own +sovereignty and the complete independence of his crown." + +King William shook his head. + +"I ventured to remark, that I was sure no one, your majesty least of +all, thought of interfering with the sovereignty of any prince, but +that a stronger military union was needful for Germany, and that the +most powerful state must be the leader of this offensive and defensive +alliance. I added that his majesty had been brought up as an English +prince, but that the policy of a small state like Hanover, could not be +conducted on the principles of a first-class power, with large fleets +and armies at command." + +"Did not his majesty take that amiss?" asked King William. + +"Not at all," returned Schneider, "he heard me with the greatest +kindness, and without interrupting me; he then said, without any heat, +but with the greatest firmness, 'My dear Schneider, my royal rights do +not depend on the extent of my territory. I hold my crown from God, +just as much as the ruler of the largest kingdom, in the world, and +never will I abate one tittle of my sovereign and absolute +independence, be the consequence what it may!' I remarked to his +majesty that it was not my business to interfere in any way with +politics, but that the decided declaration he had just made was of such +great importance at the present moment, that I felt it would be my duty +as a true servant to my king to communicate it to your majesty on my +return. King George fully agreed, and declared that his opinion on this +subject was no secret, and that he was ready to act up to it. He then +dismissed me in the most gracious and friendly manner." + +"Then they are all against me!" cried King William after a moment's +reflection, and with a very sorrowful expression. + +He gazed from the window, and his eyes rested for some time on the +statue of the Great Frederick. + +"He too was alone!" he said softly, "and alone when greatest!" + +His countenance became more cheerful, he glanced at his watch, then +smiled at his privy councillor, and said: + +"Now, my dear Schneider, puff!" He made a little movement with his +mouth as if he were blowing something away and pointed to the door. + +"I vanish, your majesty," cried Schneider, as with comic haste he +rushed to the door; there he stood still for a moment and said, "I wish +all your majesty's enemies could be as quickly dispersed by the breath +of your mouth." + +The king remained alone. + +"I stand then on the brink of decision!" said the king thoughtfully, +"and the fate of my house and of my kingdom lies at the point of the +sword. Who would have thought that I, called to the throne in my old +age, should yet have to undertake so great a war, and that I myself +should lead the newly organized army, the work of long thought and +zealous toil, which I believed I should bequeath to my son, as an +instrument, as a security for future power and greatness,--that I +myself should lead this army into the field, there to prove it on the +same battle fields where my great ancestor inscribed his name in such +glorious characters. And yet," he added with a dreamy look, "there +often came upon me a dark foreboding. When I stood before the altar at +Koenigsberg, there to be solemnly invested with the insignia of my royal +office, as I took the sword of state a feeling seized me, sudden and +unexpected, as a warning, or a promise from on high. I felt compelled +to use the sword against the enemies of my kingdom, who in a distant +assembly were conspiring against it, and from the depths of my heart a +vow arose to God, never to draw the sword without dire necessity, but +once drawn, to wield it in God's name, until the enemies of my people +lay beneath my feet! That foreboding is fulfilled," he whispered, "and +now let us go forward, and God be with us!" + +The king folded his hands together and remained silent for a time, with +his head bent down. + +Then he walked rapidly to his long writing-table, cheerful energy and +decision beaming from his face, and with a firm hand he rang his bell. + +"The minister-president, Count Bismarck," he commanded, as the +gentleman-in-waiting appeared. + +A few moments afterwards Bismarck entered the cabinet. + +His quick penetrating grey eyes were fixed for a moment on the king. +Apparently he was satisfied with the expression upon his royal master's +features, for he said joyfully, as he drew some papers from his +uniform: + +"Your majesty, the decision draws near! I hope the dismal fog will now +clear up, and disclose Prussia's brilliant armies, and that they for +the future will clear the road for us after all these blocks and +stoppages." + +"What do you bring?" asked the king quietly. Count Bismarck hastily +turned over his papers. "Herr von Werther," he said, "announces his +departure from Vienna. He also informs us that Benedek is with the +army, and is dissatisfied with its condition." + +"That I can well believe," said the king. + +"Gablenz has also joined the army." + +"I regret that this brave general is amongst our enemies!" remarked the +king; "he has fought with us, and may be dangerous." + +"No general alone can be dangerous to us, your majesty, material is +wanting; besides they will not listen to his advice," said Bismarck +confidently. "At the same time," he added, "the mobilization of the +army of the Confederacy against Prussia was decreed in Frankfort +yesterday. By this measure war is virtually declared, and your majesty +must take immediate steps to forestall a danger which threatens our +operations on our own territory. Hanover and Hesse must be rendered +harmless." + +"How was the measure taken in Frankfort?" asked the king; "have Hanover +and Hesse declared for Austria?" + +"They have not taken up the Austrian demands," replied the minister, +"but they have consented to the mobilization. Always the same game of +see-saw!" he added, "but it will be very dangerous to us if these +states are not soon made unable to hurt us." + +"They have not yet armed," said the king. + +"After the decree of the Confederation they must arm; and besides, even +on a peace foundation, their armies might annoy us extremely," remarked +Count Bismarck. "I beg your majesty to proceed instantly with the +greatest vigour, and to command a march into Hanover and Hesse without +delay." + +The king thought deeply. + +"They refused to conclude the Treaty of Neutrality in Hanover and in +Cassel when we offered it," he said. "Now that the mobilization is +decreed, of course it is no longer the question. But they have always +preferred half measures, which seems to prove they would never venture +seriously and decidedly to declare against us. I will ask them once +more the clear and positive question, and give them the opportunity of +turning back on the dangerous road they are now taking." + +"But, your majesty," exclaimed Count Bismarck, "time will be lost, and +time is precious!" + +"Put your mind at ease, dear count," returned the king, "no time shall +be lost. The time of doubt and restlessness is past. The time for +action has come, for us there is no longer deliberation or a choice!" +Count Bismarck breathed freely again. + +"But, pour l'acquit de ma conscience," said the king, "I will give one +last and serious warning to my royal cousins, for God knows it will be +hard to me to act against them. The ultimatum guaranteeing their +possessions, and offering them an alliance on the foundation of our +proposed reform of the Confederacy, is in the hands of the +ambassadors?" he asked. + +"At your majesty's command," replied the minister. + +"Then give a telegraphic order immediately that the ultimatum is to be +delivered, and that we will await an answer until this evening." + +"The order shall go forthwith," said Count Bismarck, "but what if a +refusal, or as is more probable, an evasive answer is returned?" he +asked, with an anxious look at the king's face. + +King William was silent for a moment, then he fixed his eyes with a +look of firm resolution on his minister, and answered: + +"Then the ambassadors shall declare war!" + +"God save the king!" cried Count Bismarck, with a loud voice, and a +look of the greatest satisfaction. + +"Let the same be done in Dresden," said the king. + +"In Dresden!" exclaimed Count Bismarck; "does your majesty believe that +Herr von Beust----?" + +"I have nothing to do with Herr von Beust," replied the king with +dignity, "but I will once more offer King John my hand. If it be in +vain, the guilt of what follows will not rest with me." + +"But," said Count Bismarck, "may I beg your majesty immediately to +command the military operations, which will be needful as soon as war +has been declared." + +"I will summon Moltke, and give the requisite orders," said the king. + +"May I call your majesty's attention to one point?" asked Count +Bismarck. + +The king looked at him inquiringly. + +"General von Manteuffel is coming with his troops from Holstein," said +Count Bismarck; "he has permission from Hanover to march through to +Minden. His advanced guard is before Harburg, and the vessels on the +Elbe are placed at his disposal. Harburg is without a garrison, but it +might easily be occupied from Stade, which has lately been strongly +garrisoned. It appears to me highly important, at the commencement of +hostilities, in case war is declared against Hanover, that we should +have Harburg in our own hands, as under adverse circumstances much time +might be lost there. I believe it would be very judicious if your +majesty were immediately to order Manteuffel to occupy Harburg. He has +a perfect right to do so, as he is permitted to be there on his march +by the Hanoverian Government. If the ultimatum is accepted by Hanover, +he marches quietly on; if it is rejected, he has an important point, +and the railway in his hands." + +The king listened attentively,--he laughed as he nodded his head. + +"You are right!" said he; "what a good thing it is to have a soldier +for one's minister. The orders shall be given." + +"If your majesty will permit me, I will now go," said Count Bismarck, +"that the measures you have commanded may be promptly carried out." + +He moved away as if about to withdraw. + +"What news have we from Paris?" asked the king. + +Count Bismarck walked back into the room. His expression was rather +gloomy. + +"Benedetti is silent, your majesty, contrary to his usual custom; but +Count Goltz informs us they urge action in Paris, and he is given to +understand the emperor's inclination will cause him to side with +Austria, if we do not soon take some decided step. I have reason to +think," he added, "there is some separate treaty on foot about Venice, +and at the last moment we may find they have played us some trick, so I +have been informed by a reliable agent in Vienna; and Count Usedom +declares he is dissatisfied with the Italians, and that he meets with a +good deal that is of an equivocal nature. Nevertheless," continued the +minister, "I am not much disquieted by all these intrigues, they will +yield nothing in Vienna,--there they are still quite too much on the +high horse. However, I have sent instructions to Florence, desiring +them to be watchful and energetic, and to act in harmony with our +military operations." + +"But what does the Emperor Napoleon want?" asked the king. + +"Always to fish in troubled waters," replied Count Bismarck, with the +reckless candour peculiar to him; "but if he is now urging us to war, I +don't think the fishing will be lucky for him. I have questioned +Benedetti on the secret proceedings now going on between Paris and +Vienna. He declares he has been informed of nothing; but at least he +can let them know in Paris that _here_ we are not deaf of both ears." + +"I have never thoroughly liked this Italian alliance," said the king, +"though I own its great usefulness. Oh! that it might have been +otherwise, and that, as in my youth, conjointly with Austria we might +have turned our arms in another direction." + +The minister studied the king's face with anxious eyes. + +"And if it had been otherwise," he cried, with animation, "your majesty +would never have been able to free Prussia, our glorious, rising +country, the creation of your great ancestor, from the chains with +which the envy and malice of the great European powers fettered her, by +the suggestion and guidance of Austria,--this Austria who never was +German, who used Germany only as a footstool for her ambition in +Europe, and who was always ready to sell, to betray, to divide it. No, +your majesty, I rejoice that we are forced to act, and that at last the +royal eagle may spread his wings freely in the air. 'Nec soli cedit' is +his motto, and he will fly to the sun, though the way be through +thunder-clouds. I see before me the great and brilliant future of +Prussia and of Germany, and I am proud and happy that it has been +granted to me to stand beside the king, who is the creator of this +future." + +King William's clear gaze rested thoughtfully on the excited, +enthusiastic face of his minister. His own eyes had sparkled at the +words of the bold statesman who stood before him confident of victory, +but he raised his looks to heaven, and said quietly and simply-- + +"As God wills!" + +Count Bismarck looked with emotion at his royal master as he stood +before him in such simple greatness, and an expression of astonishment +crossed his features, as the mighty sovereign, on the eve of a fearful +war, which must have so great an influence on the future, laid aside +all his hopes, all his ambition, all his misgivings, in these three +simple words. + +"Has your majesty any further commands?" he asked, in a voice which +still showed traces of his former excitement. + +"No," replied the king, "hasten to send off the despatches." + +And with a friendly nod he dismissed the minister-president. + +Count Bismarck left the king's cabinet and the palace, and walked back +quicker than he had come, to his own house in Wilhelmsstrasse, and he +heeded even less than before the angry looks cast at him as he walked +along under the lime trees. His face expressed proud satisfaction, and +his manner joyful confidence. The great war, which his feelings and his +convictions showed him to be unavoidable and necessary, was to begin, +and he believed in its happy termination with a firmness and security, +which excluded all doubt and hesitation. + +On the ground floor of the minister's hotel, to which he was hastening +back on account of the many pressing affairs awaiting him, in a plain +office-like room, before a table piled with papers, sat Herr von +Keudell, the Minister of Legation. He was engaged in animated +conversation with a man of about six or seven and thirty, with fair +hair and moustache, whose open features of the North German type +possessed great mobility of expression, and whose clear grey eyes shone +with good nature, humour, and talent. This man, who was dressed with +the peculiar elegance only met with in large cities, sat leaning back +in a great arm-chair, which was placed near Herr von Keudell's writing +table. His manner was a mixture of the bourgeois and the dandy, and he +balanced his glossy hat on his knee, whilst with his hand he prevented +it from falling. + +"You believe then, dear Beckmann," said Herr von Keudell, "it will be +possible to keep the Paris press in our favour during the war, and +eventually to prevent the voice of public opinion in France from +declaring for Austria?" + +"Nothing easier," replied Herr Albert Beckmann, the clever and witty +editor of the newspaper the "Temps," who for the last twenty years had +lived in the journalist circles of Paris, and had acquired a perfect +knowledge of all the tastes and manners of the inhabitants of the great +capital of the world, without ever losing the peculiarities of his +German origin. "Nothing easier. Neffzer is devoted to you; he will +write you up from true conviction, otherwise we could not get him to do +it. The 'Siecle' is for you,--all liberal papers look on Prussia as +progress, on Austria as reaction, and they will greet any Prussian +success with joy,--they would all condemn an alliance of France with +Austria as the height of folly. To obtain the voices of these papers in +your favour is quite unnecessary; it will only be needful to give them +the right direction, by sending them all news, diplomatic and military, +quickly, and well arranged. With regard to that--je m'en charge!" + +And he stroked his hand over the nap of his hat, twirled his small +light moustache, and leant back in his chair with a satisfied air. + +"But the clerical papers, 'Le Monde,' 'L'Univers?'" asked Keudell. + +"Ah! c'est plus difficile!" replied Herr Beckmann, "these gentlemen are +very Austrian, and hard to manage. In the 'Monde' the German +correspondent is a cousin of mine, Doctor Onno Klopp." + +"Onno Klopp is your cousin?" asked Herr von Keudell. + +"Il a cet avantage," said Beckmann; "and he writes under the name of +Hermann Schultze, but I must say he is very wearisome, and as he cannot +write in French all his articles have to be translated, which makes +them still more unpalatable to the public. Fortunately, it is enough +for these papers to take one side, to make all Paris take the other." + +"But have they not great influence at court?" + +"Pas du tout, not the smallest," replied Herr Beckmann, confidently; +"the emperor only attends to the independent papers, and never cares +what the ultramontane journals say. I can assure you one article in the +'Temps' or the 'Siecle' would have more influence on him than a whole +campaign in the 'Monde' or 'L'Univers.'" + +"Do you not believe," suggested Keudell, "that the Austrian policy will +also work upon the press, and that they will do all they can to turn +public opinion in France in favour of Austria? They will not scruple as +to means. Prince Metternich----" + +"Ah! bah!" cried Beckmann. "Prince Metternich will do nothing; he is +_trop grand seigneur_ to work on the press. He has the Chevalier +Debraux de Saldapenha at his side, who will write him an article in his +Memorial Diplomatique, very fine, very diplomatic, very elevated, and +which no one will read. Enfin," he added, "true public opinion will be +for you. Ollivier too--Emile Ollivier, the Roman citizen, with a +longing in his heart for the portfolio," he said, with a laugh, "is +quite Prussian, and will do more with his conversation than any +newspaper." + +"You think the portfolio has charms for Emile Ollivier?" asked Keudell, +with surprise. + +"He will be minister one day," replied Herr Beckmann, confidently, "on +fera cette betise. For the present he is the man of the opposition, and +his voice is powerful. He is out and out the partizan of Prussian +supremacy in Germany; that suffices. There are still," he continued, +"the 'Revues hebdomadaires;' they have as much influence as the daily +papers, as they are read quietly and digested. But we are fortunate in +occupying the territory beforehand. I know all the editors, and I think +I can easily work upon them in your favour. You remember how favourably +my pamphlet, 'Le Traite de Gastein,' was received? I wrote it after I +had had the honour of talking to the minister-president at Wiesbaden." + +"Certainly," said Keudell. "I was surprised at the support we received +from the French press; and we are still thankful to you for it." + +"Pas de quoi," said Herr Beckmann, "I acted from conviction. I wished +Count Bismarck's ideas on a newly-constituted Germany to have a +favourable hearing in France, and I will still work for the same cause, +because I consider his plans just and right. _Apropos_, did you know +that Hansen is here?" + +"Ah!" exclaimed Herr von Keudell. + +"I bet he will stay some time," said Beckmann, with a quick side +glance, "to watch the situation. You can work through him. What you +impart to him will go to the right place, and will reach the press." + +Keudell slightly bowed his head. + +"Now," said Beckmann, "I think I had better go back as fast as I can to +Paris, and open the campaign." + +He rose. A servant entered. + +"His excellency awaits the Minister of Legation." + +"I come," said Keudell. He gave Beckmann his hand, and said: "Let us +soon hear of your diligence. You will pass through Hanover just in time +to see the general flight." + +"I am sorry Hanover is against you," said Beckmann. "It is my own +country, and though I left it so long ago, I have a natural and deep +regard for it. However, it will be all right when the great conflict is +once over; now Fate must have her way." + +And he took leave of Herr von Keudell, who forthwith mounted the broad +staircase which led to the minister's rooms. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + THE LAST DAY AT HERRENHAUSEN. + + +King George of Hanover sat in the forenoon of the same 15th of June in +his cabinet at Herrenhausen. The fresh air blew through the open +windows, the flowers in the room gave out a pleasant perfume, and the +fountains splashed and sparkled before the king's windows in his own +especial garden. Everything in the royal residence breathed rest and +profound peace, placed as it was quite out of the noise of the town in +delightful solitude. + +Privy councillor Lex sat at the table near the king, occupied in +reading aloud to him the events which had just taken place. + +The attendant had brought the king a cigar with some long wooden tongs, +and George V. leant comfortably back in his arm chair, slowly blowing a +thin blue cloud from the fragrant leaf of the havannah. + +"The result of the votes at Frankfort yesterday is known, your +majesty," said Lex. + +"Well?" said the king, enquiringly. + +"The mobilization of the army of the Confederacy was decided upon by +nine votes against six." + +"That is a majority in favour of Austria, which was hardly to be +desired," said the king. "We are placed by it in an embarrassing +situation; however the modification which the votes of Hanover and +Hesse will give the measure will deprive it of much of its point." + +"I must humbly remark to your majesty that this modification, which +mobilizes the Prussian Army Corps with us, while sending back the +Austrian, has not been accepted by the majority of voices, and +according to my humble opinion it is of very small importance, for +matters have come to a point where no legal subtlety, but only powerful +deeds can influence the scale." + +"But," said the king, "Count Platen believed our vote would cause more +moderate measures at Vienna and Berlin----" + +"Prussia apparently did not share his views," said Lex, glancing at the +despatches before him, "for the Prussian ambassador left the assembly +of the Confederation as soon as the votes were declared. He stated that +his government considered itself freed from the Confederation, but that +it was willing to conclude a new Confederacy upon the basis of the +reform project, with individual governments." + +"Has it come to this," cried the king, with concern, as he raised +himself upright in his chair; "then our German Confederation, the +bulwark of peace in Germany and Europe, has given way. What times are +ours! But," he added, after a moment's thought, "how can Prussia regard +herself as freed from the Confederation? it is contrary to every +fundamental law, and the whole of Germany must cling to it all the more +closely!" + +"I fear the Confederation, which was strong and safe when supported by +Austria and Prussia, will have no life left in it when it is deprived +of Prussia," said Lex. + +The king was silent. + +"I am in great anxiety about the future," continued Lex, with a sigh. +"I should be infinitely happier if the treaty of neutrality was in your +majesty's hands." + +"But, good God!" cried the king, "I have continually declared my +determination to remain neutral." + +"But the treaty is not concluded," said Lex. + +"The Prince of Hesse did not wish to be bound," said the king. "They +sent Wimpffen to him from Vienna and my brother Karl to me. You know, +the prince replied to me through Meding that he could not form any +definite resolution, or conclude any treaty, until the lamentable +rupture of the German Confederation was an actual fact. However, he is +as determined as I am, to remain neutral. If I were to be hasty in +concluding a treaty, from what Count Platen tells me it would alarm +them much in Frankfort, and wound them deeply in Vienna." + +"I am decidedly of opinion your majesty should have concluded a treaty +of neutrality without caring for the alarm it might cause in Frankfort, +and if it is still possible, I advise you immediately to conclude such +a treaty, without heeding the dissuasions of Count Platen. It is better +to sit on one stool than between two." + +"You are right!" cried the king, "the thing must come to an end, and +neutrality entirely expresses my intentions. Not even the lamentable +event in Frankfort can alter my convictions, and I should be acting in +direct opposition to them if I took part in any war between two members +of the German Confederation. I will summon Platen, and command him +immediately to continue the negotiations for the conclusion of the +treaty of neutrality." + +"I am convinced," said Lex, with satisfaction, "that your majesty will +do well, and I shall be at rest, when the treaty is safely in our +Archives." + +A gentleman in waiting entered. + +"Count Platen urgently begs an immediate audience!" + +"Let him come in!" cried the king, with surprise. + +Lex's face became puckered with anxiety. + +Count Platen entered. The indifferent, self-satisfied calm which his +face formerly wore had given place to an expression of thoughtful +anxiety. + +Lex looked at him attentively and uneasily. + +"What brings you here in such haste, Count Platen?" cried the king. + +"A note," replied the minister, approaching the king's writing-table, +"has just been given to me by Prince Ysenburg, on which I am obliged +immediately to beg your majesty's gracious decision." + +"Well!" said the king anxiously, "what do they want in Berlin? I was +just talking about our neutrality, and it appears to me that since the +Confederation, alas! is virtually burst asunder, the treaty commenced +by verbal negotiations should be at once concluded." + +"Your majesty," said Count Platen, as he drew a folded paper from his +pocket, "it seems they now require much more in Berlin." + +"More!" exclaimed the king, while an expression of surprise and pain +was seen on his contracted brows; "what can they require more?" + +"They now demand an alliance on the foundation of the Prussian reform +project; in return, the sovereignty and possessions of your majesty are +to be guaranteed." + +"But this is something quite new!" cried the king. + +"Too late!" said Lex softly to himself, as he bent his head. + +"This reform project," said the king with animation, "takes from me the +largest and most essential part of my sovereignty. I have once and for +all refused it, and I will never accept it. What sovereignty would be +left to guarantee, after I had yielded the most essential conditions of +sovereignty? Tell Prince Ysenburg----" + +"Will your majesty," said Count Platen, "be pleased to listen to Prince +Ysenburg's note? The situation is grave--he will wait for your answer +until this evening, and if it is not satisfactory, viz. if your majesty +does not accept the alliance, Prussia will regard it as a declaration +of war from Hanover." + +The king stood up. + +"Have we come to that?" cried he; "but read!" + +He covered his face with his hands, and leant back in his chair. Count +Platen unfolded the paper he held in his hand, and read the Prussian +ultimatum, dated the same day. + +Whilst he read the king neither spoke nor moved. As Count Platen ended +he raised his head--his features expressing deep earnestness. + +"What is your opinion?" he asked calmly. + +"Your majesty," said Count Platen, in a somewhat hesitating and +uncertain voice, "I think matters have hardly gone as far as this note +would imply,--they wish to exercise severe pressure; and I believe if +we could only gain time----" + +"But the reply must be given this evening!" interrupted Lex, with a +slight tone of impatience in his voice. + +"Certainly," said Count Platen, "your majesty must give an answer, but +there is always a _moyen terme_ to be found; we may reply that your +majesty is willing to conclude a treaty with Prussia; we must avoid the +word alliance, but the conditions must first be discussed,--this will +give us several days; in the meantime events may happen. Count +Ingelheim hourly expects to hear that the Austrians have marched into +Saxony, and we can act according to these events." + +"My opinion remains fixed!" said the king, with an expression of firm +determination on his proud features, and a movement full of dignity as +he threw back his head; "the projected reform, on the foundation of +which I am to conclude an alliance, curtails the independence and the +holiest rights of the crown, which I inherited from my ancestors, which +is guaranteed to me by the whole of Europe, and which I am pledged to +leave to my son in the same entire independence. Whilst this is my +conviction, I can give but one answer to the Prussian proposal, and +that answer is, No! But," he added, "I will have no prevarication, +no dilatory negotiations; I wish them clearly to understand me in +Berlin,--the neutrality I promised I will keep to, and I am ready +formally to conclude it; but to this proposal I will never consent!" + +Lex was silent. + +Count Platen folded Prince Ysenburg's note and unfolded it again,--he +seemed trying to find some modification to the king's decided reply. + +George V. rose. + +"The position," he said, "in which my family and my kingdom are placed +is so grave, and what now occurs is of such immense importance in +regard to the future, that I wish to hear the opinion of my assembled +ministers." + +Count Platen gave a sigh of relief, and nodded approval with his head. + +"Drive back to town at once, my dear count, and assemble the ministers +without delay." + +"Your majesty's commands shall be obeyed," said the count hastily. + +"We must," added the king, "take immediate measures for concentrating +the army, which is scattered over the country. I must prevent all +needless bloodshed in our own country, and I shall march with the army +into South Germany immediately, there to act in concert with my +confederates. Thus my kingdom will at least be spared the horrors of +war, though I cannot protect it from being occupied by the enemy." + +"Your majesty will march yourself!" cried Count Platen. + +"I will do my duty," interrupted the king with dignity; "when my +soldiers take the field, my place is amongst them. Send mounted +orderlies to my adjutant-general, to the chief of the general staff, +and to the commandant of the corps of engineers," he said to Lex; "and +you, my dear count, hasten and bring back the other ministers as +quickly as possible!" + +Count Platen and Lex departed. + +The king remained alone. + +He sat motionless before his table, as if lost in thought. His head +sank down deeper and deeper, and occasionally a heavy sigh came from +his labouring breast; then he put back his head, and raised his +sightless eyes to heaven in silent enquiry. + +Both the folding doors were suddenly thrown open, and the groom of the +chambers exclaimed: + +"Her majesty the queen!" + +George V. roused himself, and stood up. + +The queen hastily entered the cabinet, and walked up to her husband, +who stretched out his hands towards her, and kissed her on the +forehead. + +Queen Marie was about forty-five years of age, her figure was tall, and +still possessed its youthful elasticity, and her movements were +extremely graceful. Her face, surrounded by abundant light brown hair, +no longer had the fresh rosy colouring and childish features which +appeared in her large half-length portrait, taken at the time of her +marriage when Crown Princess, which was hanging over the king's writing +table; but her pure, expressive, and intelligent face was still +beautiful, and her dark grey eyes sparkled with goodness and animation. +But now those eyes were full of care and uneasiness, and there was +painful excitement in her voice as she said, looking up at her husband: + +"I saw from my window Count Platen come and go hastily, and in this +time of anxiety and difficulty I always fear some evil tidings. Is it +anything important?" she asked in her strangely beautiful and flexible +voice, whilst she looked anxiously at the grave, almost solemn +countenance of the king. + +George V. replied: + +"It would be foolish to say it is nothing; you would soon discover the +truth, and a queen will know how to face great perils." + +He laid his hand gently on her head. + +"Yes, it is important," he said; "this evening we shall be at war with +Prussia." + +"Oh! my God!" cried the queen, shuddering, "how is that possible? you +had determined to remain neutral!" + +"They offer me conditions which I cannot accept, without injuring the +honour and dignity of my crown. I must refuse--and then war is +declared!" said the king in a gentle voice, as if he wished to make the +hard tidings easier to bear. + +"Horrible!" exclaimed the queen. "Is no escape possible, can I not +perhaps mediate?" she cried, as if seized by a sudden inspiration. +"Queen Augusta will recoil as I do from such a fratricidal war." + +"Yes, it is indeed a fratricidal war," said the king, "for in many a +family, whilst one brother fights for me, another will be in the +Prussian service; but nothing can be done, believe me it is so. I am +sure the only thing I can do now is to prevent, as far as possible, +bloodshed in my own country. Count Platen believes he can still +negotiate." + +"Oh! that he had not negotiated so long," cried the queen impetuously, +"then we should not have been in this dreadful position, no help on +either side; at least we should not have been without Gablenz and his +troops. Believe me, my own dear husband," she cried affectionately, +"Platen's ridiculous indecision has plunged us all into misfortune." + +The king listened with a gloomy look. + +"Nothing can be altered now," he said, "the situation must be struggled +with as it now is. This night I shall join the army with Ernest; I +shall assemble it in the south of the kingdom, that we may reach the +southern troops as soon as possible." + +"And we--where shall we go?" cried the queen anxiously. + +The king took her head between his two hands, and impressed a kiss upon +her brow, then he said, with extreme mildness and gentleness, but with +equal determination: + +"You and the princesses must remain here." + +"Here?" cried the queen, taking a step backwards in her extreme +surprise, whilst she gazed with frightened eyes upon her +husband--"here? during the enemy's occupation! Impossible, you cannot +intend it." + +"I do intend it," said the king, "and you, my angel-queen, will be of +my opinion when you think over it quietly, of that I am convinced." + +The queen looked at him inquiringly, but slightly shook her head. + +"I desire," continued the king, "to spare my country all the horrors of +war, and to preserve my army from being overpowered in a useless +struggle, therefore I must lead them to join the South German army, and +thus take a part in the great conflict. From the foreign occupation, +with its humiliations, its pain, and its sorrows, I cannot shield my +subjects and the families of my country. They must see the soldiers of +the enemy in their homes, they must admit them to their houses, whilst +their own sons oppose them in the field. As I, with my son, share the +fate of the army, so must you, the queen, with our daughters, share the +fate of the country; that is our royal duty; no family in Hanover must +say that the family of the king acted differently to what was required +of the subjects; we are united to our country by bonds which have +endured a thousand years, we are flesh of its flesh, and blood of its +blood; could you permit it to be said, 'the queen sat still in safety, +whilst heavy times oppressed her country?'" + +He stretched out his hand to feel for his wife, whilst his head turned +towards the side on which he heard the slight rustling of her dress. + +The queen had folded her hands together; her eyes had been fixed on her +husband, and had gradually lost their expression of fear and anguish; +now they shone through tears upon the king. + +As he ceased speaking she took his outstretched hand, put his arm +around her shoulders, and pressed close to him. + +"You are right!" she cried, "Oh! as ever you are right! Your great, +noble heart always knows what is good and just. Yes, my king, my +husband, I will stay here, separated from you, but united through our +country, our love, our duty!" + +"I knew that you would be of my opinion," said the king calmly and +affectionately. "My queen could not think and feel differently to +myself." + +And they stood for some time in a silent embrace. The queen wept +quietly, and laid her head upon the king's broad breast, and with his +hand he gently stroked her luxuriant hair. + +The flowers still gave out their perfume, the fountains plashed on, the +birds sang in the trees, and all nature breathed happy peace; and over +all the sunshine, over all the sweet spring scents and the singing, +hung unseen the heavy thunder-cloud and the forked flash which was to +destroy all this quiet happiness, all this royal splendour, for ever. + +A knock was heard at the door. + +The king gently put the queen from him. + +"The ministers await your commands," said Lex, as he entered. + +"Now," said the king gently to his wife, "leave me to arrange what is +needful with the ministers. We will see one another again." + +"May God bless your councils," said the queen fervently. + +"These are evil times, dear Lex," said the queen, affectionately, to +the privy councillor, who bowed low as she passed him; "would that they +were safely over!" And she slowly left the king's cabinet. + +The ministers entered and seated themselves around the table. + +Besides Count Platen, Bacmeister, and General von Brandis, the minister +of the household and supreme chamberlain, von Malortie, was present. He +was an old gentleman, with short grey hair and a small wrinkled face, +who, from his discontented expression, bent figure, tall black necktie, +and half buttoned-up frock-coat, looked more like an invalided +government clerk than the witty composer of a book considered as an +authority at every court, "The Lord Chamberlain as he should be." + +There was besides the minister of equity, Leonhardt, the well-known +lawmaker, a plain, slight man, with thin hair and sharply-cut, +intelligent features, whose expressive, animated, and penetrating eyes +were concealed behind silver spectacles; the minister for education, +von Hodenburg, a fair man, who was still young, and who had formerly +been diplomatic resident at the Hague; and also the young minister of +finance, Dietrichs, who had been named as secretary by Count Platen--a +highly-aristocratic minister, and whom the king had appointed, saying, +"If he has ability, and if he works, he will some day be minister +himself." + +All these gentlemen had entered the king's cabinet in deep and solemn +silence. When they had taken their places, George V. spoke: + +"Gentlemen, the King of Prussia, through the ambassador at my court, +has proposed to conclude an alliance with me, now that the German +Confederation is at an end. You know what has taken place in Frankfort. +I do not consider the dissolution of the German Confederacy as lawfully +accomplished by the declaration of the Prussian ambassador, though, +alas! I must acknowledge that the German union is in fact broken. Since +the misfortune to Germany is unavoidable, of a war between Austria and +Prussia, I desire, as I repeat before you all, to enter into a treaty +of neutrality with the King of Prussia. But that is not what his +Majesty of Prussia requires of me. Count Platen, I beg you to read +aloud Prince Ysenburg's note." + +Count Platen slowly read the Prussian ultimatum. When he had ended, the +king again spoke: + +"I believe, gentlemen, that you are acquainted with the Prussian +project of reform on the foundation of which I should have to conclude +this alliance?" + +The ministers simultaneously assented. + +"I should resign," continued the king, "authority over, and the command +of, my army in time of war--the army of Minden, of the Peninsula, of +Garcia, Fernandez, of Waterloo--and this army would then be compelled +to march against the united German forces who have taken the side of +Austria. I ask you, my ministers, before God and your consciences, and +upon the oath you have taken to me and to your country. Can I accept +this proposition? Can I as the defender of the royal rights of my +family? Can I as the defender of my country? Can I according to the +constitution of the kingdom? Answer first, Count Platen, as minister of +foreign affairs." + +Count Platen rubbed his hands gently together, rocked himself slightly +to and fro, and replied: "No, your majesty. It would perhaps----" + +"And you, Herr von Malortie, as minister of my household?" + +The chamberlain, who sat huddled up more than usual in his black +neckcloth and frock-coat, said in a low voice, "No, your majesty." + +"And you, my minister of equity?" + +Leonhardt answered shortly, in a clear, firm voice, "No!" + +"The minister of the interior?" + +"No, never!" replied Bacmeister. + +The ministers of war, of education, and of finance gave the same +answer. + +The king rose, the assembled ministers with him. + +"I perceive with great pleasure, gentlemen," said George V., "that you +all give the same answer to the Prussian proposal which I, from regard +to the rights of my crown and of my country, immediately gave to Count +Platen when he first read me the ultimatum. It is a great comfort to me +to find myself at one with my assembled ministers on so important a +question; not, gentlemen, that I shun the responsibility, or wish to +lay it upon your shoulders"--the king raised his head proudly--"but +this unanimous answer from you all, I regard as a pledge that the +sufferings which my country may have to bear, from refusing the +Prussian proposition, are unavoidably and inevitably sent from God. If, +however, we are all of one mind that I cannot accept the alliance on +the basis proposed, we must all immediately take the measures our very +serious position requires. I shall lead the army into south Germany, +and I must, therefore, concentrate it at once in the south of the +kingdom. I must immediately arrange the details with my generals. The +queen and the princesses will remain here, and will share the fate of +the country!" + +A murmur of applause was heard. + +"Your majesty," said Bacmeister, "I must ask you to decide at once on a +relevant question." + +"What is it?" asked the king. + +"General von Manteuffel is at Harburg," said the minister, "and demands +railway carriages in which to transport the Prussian troops to Minden. +The railway directors want to know what they must do." + +The king gnashed his teeth. + +"When war is declared he will be in the centre of the country!" he +cried. "Order all the carriages to be sent here at once. We shall +require them for the transport of the troops." + +"Further," continued the minister, "we must dissolve the States +Assembly under these circumstances. When Count Platen confided to me +our position, I drew up the order of dissolution." + +"Produce it," cried the king. + +The minister laid the order upon the table. + +"The secretary-general is without," said he. + +"Let him come in!" + +Bacmeister hastened out, and returned with the secretary-general of the +ministry, in whose presence the king executed the order for the +dissolution of the States Assembly. + +"And now, gentlemen," he exclaimed, "you will all go to work in your +different ways, to struggle against these evil times, and may the +triune, almighty, and just God grant that I may once more see you here +again, happily assembled around me. I beg Count Platen and General +Brandis to remain." + +The other ministers bowed gravely and silently, and left the cabinet. + +"You will now, Count Platen," said the king, "give Prince Ysenburg his +answer, as clear and decided an answer as you have all pronounced!" + +"I will obey your commands, your majesty," said Count Platen. "You do +not, however, command a form which will entirely exclude all +possibility of future negotiations?" + +"You still believe in negotiations?" exclaimed the king. "Let the reply +be friendly and courteous," he added; "let my desire for neutrality be +again expressed, but on the subject of the reform project let there be +no doubt." + +"If it be your majesty's pleasure," said Count Platen, "I think Herr +von Meding should draw up our reply. He will be sure to use no harsh +expressions, and from his talent in the choice of words----" + +"Let Meding draw up our reply by all means," interrupted the king, "but +I fear the best words will have no result. Send Meding to me with our +answer as soon as it is ready." + +"I will obey your commands, your majesty," said Count Platen, as he +hastily withdrew. + +"You, my dear general, must remain here," said the king, turning to the +minister of war, "in order to discuss with me, the adjutant-general, +and the chief of the staff the best means of concentrating the army." + +"Are the generals here?" he inquired of Lex. + +"They await your majesty's commands," he replied. + +"Let them come in." + +"I feel young again," said General von Brandis, "at the thought of +taking the field with your majesty and the army. My heart beats, as in +the time of the great Wellington!" + +"Then Germany was united," said the king, with a deep sigh. + +The generals sat in consultation at Herrenhausen, the aides-de-camp +galloped to and from the town, the telegraph conveyed orders to all the +commandants of troops in the kingdom, and the city of Hanover was in a +fever of excitement. Small crowds assembled in the usually quiet +streets, and the position of affairs was loudly discussed. Immense was +the excitement when one of the initiated imparted the great news--the +army is to march into South Germany, the king goes with it. For some +time past the feelings of the people had been extremely anti-Prussian, +the king had been openly blamed for allowing the Kalik brigade and +General Gablenz to go, every possible ovation had been given to the +Austrian troops, and now--when a war was inevitable, when the gravity +of the position was apparent to every one, the people felt overwhelmed +with disquiet and care. And that the king himself was to go, seemed +completely to stun the good Hanoverians. + +They may take the line of opposition, they may blame and criticize what +had been done, and what had not been done,--but the capital without the +king,--the idea was horrible and beyond belief, and already voices were +raised bestowing blame. "The king leaves us alone; the enemy will have +no restraint, we shall be given up to pillage." + +But then the reply was heard, "The queen remains here with the +princesses; they will protect the capital by their presence, a royal +lady must be respected," and this intelligence reassured many. + +All sorts of notions were discussed, the most timid hastened to the +burgomaster and the burgher superintendents, to stir them up to take +some step to prevent the king from leaving the city; others urged the +concentration of the troops in the capital; others proposed the +destruction of the railways; in a word endless advice, political and +military, was given away in the streets, and each adviser thought his +plan the only one which could save the city and the country. In the +meantime the troops in garrison at Hanover marched to the station, and +were sent off by railway; other battalions and squadrons arrived, and +after a short delay were also dispatched, but everything was done so +quietly that the crowd standing about the railway station never +perceived the military proceedings. + +In the large square before the station stood a group of citizens in +earnest conversation, whilst a small dark man with a pale face and +brilliant eyes endeavoured to calm them. They were large powerful men +of the old Saxon race, who may be relied upon to act, under +circumstances which they understand, but who lose all their courage and +presence of mind if they find themselves in an unusual and unexpected +position. The North German and Saxon character always requires time to +accustom itself to new and unforeseen events, before it can show all +its worth; everything new, sudden, and unusual, stuns it, and cripples +its powers. + +So it was now; these strong powerful men, with their large +characteristic features, stood looking depressed and puzzled, an +expression of great discontent and displeasure upon their faces, and +their displeasure they were quite ready to pour out upon the +government, for they were accustomed to hold the government answerable +for everything, and to sulk with it, if the calm routine of their daily +life was disturbed. + +"But do be reasonable," cried the small pale man, gesticulating +energetically; "you are no longer children, and you surely might have +foreseen that they would not go on for ever in Germany, speechifying +and resolving over their beer, but that in the end they would _do_ +something. Besides, you know nothing as yet for certain." + +"That is what is so wrong," interrupted a large corpulent man, with a +deep bass voice; "that is what is so wrong; we know nothing; we might +at least be informed of what is about to take place, then every citizen +might set his house in order, and provide for the future." + +"But wait," cried the little man vehemently; "you have heard that the +generals are now at Herrenhausen with the king, and that the ministers +have only just returned. How can you be told of things until they are +decided upon? I suppose," he said, laughing scornfully, "the king +should call the whole town and the suburbs to his councils." + +"Sonntag is right!" said a thin old man, in a plain burgher dress, and +speaking in the Saxon Low German, still commonly used by the middle and +lower classes in town and country. "Sonntag is right; we must wait and +see what will happen; the king will tell us all in good time; he +certainly will not leave us without saying what we are to do; he is the +son of Ernest Augustus," he said soothingly to the other burghers, who +evidently listened to him with much greater confidence than they had +bestowed on the small, pale, animated merchant, Sonntag. + +"Look!" cried the latter suddenly; "there is Count Wedel's carriage at +the railway station!" and he pointed out an elegant open carriage which +had drawn up before the large entrance to the station, whilst the +beautiful horses pawed the ground; "let us wait for the count, he will +know what is going on." + +He hastened to the carriage, the others following him. + +In a short time the governor of the castle, Count Alfred Wedel, came +out of the station in undress uniform. + +He saw with astonishment a crowd of citizens surrounding his carriage +as if they wished to block up the road. + +"Come, what is going on here?" he asked kindly; "you here, Herr +Sonntag? and you too, old Conrad?" and he walked towards the old +weather-beaten man, who, with Sonntag, had left the crowd, and going +close up to him he offered him his hand. + +"Count," said Conrad, the old court saddler, a veteran who had fought +in the great wars, and who had been an especial favourite with King +Ernest Augustus, who used often to talk to him, and who enjoyed his +extremely unceremonious answers, which usually contained a good deal of +national wit, "Count," and he pushed aside Herr Sonntag, who was +anxious to speak, with his strong hand, "we are all in much trouble and +uneasiness about what is going to happen. We do hear, now and then, +that war is about to break out, and the king is going to leave +us,--that makes all the citizens very uncomfortable about the fate of +the town, and we all want to know something for certain." + +"Yes," cried the merchant Sonntag, who had freed himself from Conrad's +restraining hand, and who now stepped forward; "yes, count, all these +gentlemen are very anxious and uneasy, quite ready to lose all courage. +I have taken great pains to calm them, but in vain. I pray you, sir, to +tell them what is taking place, and what they ought to do." + +An expression of anxiety was seen on all the faces as they turned to +the handsome, strongly made young man who before replying examined the +crowd for a moment with his clear calm gaze. + +"What is taking place?" he then said in a loud firm voice; "that is +easily told, war stands before the gate, and the king takes the field +with the army." + +"And leaves us here behind in an open town!" was murmured by the crowd. + +A bright flush passed over the young count's brow, and an indignant +look flashed from his eyes as he heard the complaint. + +"Does not the Hanoverian soldier march and leave his family at home?" +he cried. "The queen and the princesses remain here, and I stay with +her majesty." + +"Ah!" resounded from the crowd, "if the queen stays here it is not so +bad a look-out for the city." + +"Bad or good, the queen shares your fate, and the king his soldiers'; +is that right or wrong? Answer," cried Count Wedel. + +"Right," cried old Conrad in a loud voice, and "Yes! yes!" was faintly +echoed by the crowd. + +"But," added Count Wedel, in a loud and grave voice, "you have asked me +what you are to do." + +He advanced a step or two, until, he was quite surrounded by the +citizens, and he turned his flashing eyes from one to another. + +"What!" he cried, "Hanoverian citizens do not know what they are to do +when their country is in danger, and their king and the army take the +field? Old Conrad can tell you better than I, what he saw in the old +times of which I have only heard the history. The army is on the peace +foundation," he continued with animation, "everything is wanting, +transport, stores, help of all kinds, the cannon have to be taken from +the arsenal to the railway station, and Hanoverian citizens stand still +to murmur and complain? Get horses and workers, and if the horses will +not hold out, we will draw them ourselves, for I will be amongst you as +soon as my duty permits. The army takes the field," he continued, "and +the commissariat must be organized; are the soldiers to starve? Form +committees to provide abundance of food and drink here at the railway +station from whence it can be sent off to the different magazines as +necessity may arise. And," he cried, "to-day or to-morrow the troops +may encounter the enemy, there will be plenty of sick and wounded, and +you must prevent your wives from complaining and lamenting. Let them +make bandages and scrape lint, it will be wanted; go to my wife, she +will advise you how to arrange everything. And further, how often have +you played at soldiers at your rifle clubs; now the troops are going, +shall the queen remain unguarded in Herrenhausen? Is there no citizen +who will keep guard over the queen when the king trusts her to his +capital? Now," he added slowly, "I have told you what you have to do, +and there is so much to be done, that really there is no time for +anyone to stand here to idle and grumble." + +The citizens were silent; the little merchant Sonntag examined them +with looks of triumph. + +Old Conrad scratched behind his ear. + +"Donnerwetter!" he broke out at last; "the count speaks the truth, and +a shame it is that we old fellows should have to be told all that by a +young gentleman. But now come on," he cried in a loud voice, "let us +all set to work, let us separate, and assemble the citizens, here is +Sonntag who understands it, he shall make the committees, I am off to +the arsenal." He walked up to Count Wedel. "You are true Hanoverian +blood, count!" he said bluntly, "and you have spoken your mind plainly; +but you were quite right, and you shall see the citizens of Hanover on +the move--and you old fellow up there!" he cried, taking off his cap +and looking up at the bronze statue of King Ernest Augustus, standing +in the midst of the square, "you shall see how old Conrad and all the +Hanoverians will stand by your son!" + +He offered his hand to the count, who shook it heartily. + +All the citizens seemed changed as if by magic. The discontent and +restlessness had gone from their faces, and their looks expressed high +courage and firm determination. They all crowded round Count Wedel as +he got into his carriage and offered him their strong hard hands. + +The horses started at a rapid pace and the carriage rolled away on the +road to Herrenhausen. An hour later the appearance of the town was +completely changed. + +No longer whispering groups of idlers were seen standing in the +streets, everywhere there was intelligent, cheerful, energetic +industry, men of all classes, artisans and servants, dragged carriages +and hand-barrows laden with arms from the arsenal to the railway. +Others brought cartloads of provisions of every kind, some for the +consumption of the troops on their journey, some to be forwarded to the +different magazines. The women hurried about the streets with light +steps and busy looks, making collections and receiving promises of +help. The most influential ladies presented themselves at the door of +Count Wedel's new imposing-looking house. They were received by the +countess, and formed into one large committee. + +Old Conrad was at the arsenal assisting in loading the arms, now +ordering, now rebuking the unskilful with a round oath, and everywhere, +on whatever side you turned, was the merchant Sonntag, paler than usual +from excitement, hot with talking so much, ordering, encouraging, +animating those around to unceasing and fruitful exertions. + +Thus evening fell upon the city, and the sun set for the last time upon +the Guelphic king in the castle of his forefathers. + +It was nine o'clock when the minister Meding drove rapidly along the +broad road, lighted on either side by gas lamps, to Herrenhausen, with +the answer to the Prussian ultimatum. + +As he mounted the steps, it seemed as if the uneasiness and activity +which prevailed in the city had not spread to the palace. The porter +stood as usual before his lodge, the servants in their scarlet liveries +moved noiselessly through the large vestibules, but on every face +appeared deep anxiety. + +In the courtyard were several waggons, with lighted lamps, and the +under servants were filling them with coffers. With anxious expectation +the attendants saw the well-known confidant of the king arrive at so +unusual an hour, but severe etiquette prevented a word of inquiry, +though the uneasy looks betrayed the fears to which each was a prey. + +"Is the king in his cabinet?" inquired Meding. + +"His majesty is with the queen." + +Meding ascended the stairs to the floor above, which he had so often +seen crowded by the brilliant uniforms of officers, and the elegant +toilettes of ladies, and which now looked empty and lonely in the light +of the candelabra. + +Before the door of the queen's apartments her groom of the chambers, +with snow-white hair, sat in a large armchair, and the king's groom of +the chambers stood beside him. + +"Inform his majesty that I am here!" said Herr Meding. + +The attendant hesitated a moment. + +"Forgive me," he said, "for asking if war is really to break out, and +if we shall have the enemy here?" + +"It is too true, my dear Mahlmann," said Herr Meding, in a sad voice, +"but announce me at once, no time must be lost." + +"Oh! my God! what times!" cried the king's groom of the chambers, as he +entered the apartments, while the queen's grey-headed servant covered +his face with his hands. + +Herr Meding following the king's attendant through the large ante-room +and was shown at once into the queen's drawing-room. Here all the royal +family were assembled round the tea-table. + +The king wore a general's uniform, and sat beside the queen smiling and +cheerful; she commanded herself and repressed the tears she could +hardly refrain from shedding. Next the queen sat the Princess Marie, a +slender maiden of seventeen, with beautiful and noble features, and +large blue enthusiastic eyes; less accustomed to self-command than her +mother, she could not help weeping, and her handkerchief had frequently +to be applied to prevent her tears from falling. On the other side of +the king sat his eldest daughter, the Princess Frederika; fair, tall, +and slender, she greatly resembled her sister, but her face possessed +her father's noble expression, and although she was entirely without +haughtiness or self-esteem, her whole bearing, her every movement, bore +witness to her royal birth. She did not weep, her large clear blue eyes +looked proud and brave, sometimes the beautiful teeth bit the full +fresh lips, and in her heart she longed to accompany her father to the +field of battle, and dreaded remaining at home in solitary idleness, +waiting for tidings of the fate of the army and of her country. + +Opposite to her sat, or rather lay back in his chair, the Crown Prince +Ernest Augustus, a large tall young man of one-and-twenty. His face had +not the smallest resemblance to his father's. A low retreating forehead +was almost concealed by his thick smooth brown hair. His nose deeply +indented at the bridge was almost flat to his face, and his large mouth +with its full rosy lips seemed to move with difficulty over his slowly +spoken words. Beautiful teeth and bright good-natured eyes, however, +gave a certain charm to the young prince's appearance. + +The crown prince wore the uniform of the Guard Hussars, a blue coat +ornamented with silver braid, he bit the nails of his left hand, while +with his right he patted a little terrier, which appeared devoted to +him. + +Such was the picture which met Meding's eyes as he entered the room. + +With a sigh he looked at the royal family, and he then walked up to the +king. + +"Good evening, my dear Meding," cried the king in his usual voice. "You +bring our answer to Prussia: I hope it is clear and decided?" + +"I hope I shall have fulfilled your majesty's wishes," replied Herr +Meding as he bowed. + +"Do you wish us to leave you?" asked the queen. + +"No!" cried the king, "you are all as much interested in this matter as +I am. Meding will be so kind as to read us the draft. Seat yourself, my +dear Meding, and begin." + +"Certainly, your majesty." + +Herr Meding seated himself opposite to the king, opened his folded +paper, and read the draft. + +The king leant back in his chair, and covered his face with his hands, +as was his custom when he wished to listen attentively. + +The queen and Princess Marie wept quietly, Princess Frederika listened +to every word with earnest attention and flashing eyes. The crown +prince played with his terrier. + +Meding read slowly and distinctly, pausing at every fresh point in the +draft. + +It set forth in very quiet, measured terms, the reasons wherefore the +king could not accept an alliance with Prussia on the foundation of the +project of reform, repeated a decided promise of neutrality, and added +the king's determination never to fight with any German power, unless +his kingdom was invaded, and he found himself compelled to defend it. +It concluded with the hope that the friendly relations between Hanover +and Prussia might remain undisturbed. + +The king listened to the end in silence. As Meding ceased he raised his +head. + +"You have expressed my intentions admirably," he said, "I desire to add +nothing and to take nothing away. But ought not the words in which we +decline the Prussian proposals to be even more sharp and plain, lest +they should entertain the idea of my being brought round to join in +that reform-project? That would not be worthy conduct nor honourable to +Prussia." + +"I believe, your majesty," replied Meding, "the answer leaves not the +smallest doubt on this point. The quiet and conciliatory tone +throughout your reply will, however, amply prove your majesty's great +desire to preserve peace if possible." + +"Yes! certainly," cried the queen with animation. + +"If it be possible," added the king, as he drew a deep breath. + +"I beg you, my dear Meding, to read the draught again. Forgive me for +troubling you so much, but the matter is of sufficient importance to be +read twice." + +"Oh! I beg your majesty----" exclaimed Herr Meding. He again read the +reply. + +"It shall remain as it is," cried the king as he concluded: "I have +nothing to alter. What do you say?" he continued, turning to the queen, +"I beg you, and all of you, to give your opinion, for you are in the +highest degree interested." + +"It must be so!" said the queen in a voice choked with tears. + +"And you, Ernest?" said the king, turning to the crown prince, "have +you anything to suggest?" + +"No!" said the crown prince with a sigh, as he lifted his little dog on +to his knees and stroked its head. + +"And you two?" asked the king. + +"No!" replied Princess Frederika, as she proudly raised her head, and +"No" sobbed her younger sister. + +"Well, then, the thing is decided!" exclaimed the king quite +cheerfully. "I have commanded the concentration of the army in +Goettingen," he added, turning to Meding, "by my generals' advice, that +they may march thence to the south. I shall start at two o'clock. I beg +you, my dear Meding to drive to General Brandis and to Count Platen; +request them to be ready for the journey, and tell them to meet me at +the railway station at two tonight. I must ask you also to make your +preparations and to accompany me; I shall need you. You will have but +little time!" he added considerately. + +"Oh! fully enough, your majesty," replied Meding. + +"I believe," said the king to his son, "that you must yourself give the +orders necessary to prevent any of your equipments being forgotten. And +now, my dear Meding, give me the answer, that I may sign it." + +Meding took a pen from the queen's writing-table, gave it to the king +and placed his hand upon the white margin of the paper. + +In firm bold characters the king wrote his initials, "G. R." + +"Add to it," he said, "the exact hour, that we may know hereafter when +I completed this decisive and important document." + +Meding looked at his watch; it was twelve minutes past midnight. He +added the exact date below the king's signature. + +"I must now beg your majesty's permission to go," he said, "for time +presses." He turned to the queen. "Allow me, your majesty, to offer my +truest sympathy, and my most sincere hopes, that you may pass safely +through the dark days before us. May God bless your majesty, and may He +guide events to a happy issue." + +The queen bent her head and covered her face with her handkerchief. + +"Auf Wiedersehn!" cried the king, and with a low bow Meding withdrew. + +In the ante-room he met a young man dressed in the uniform of the Garde +du corps. + +He was tall and slight, with merry, pleasing features and large clear +eyes, it was Prince George of Solms Braunfels, the king's nephew. He +held out his hand to Meding and cried: + +"Well, is everything settled, and is war decided upon?" + +"I am taking back the answer to the Prussian note!" said Meding +gravely, looking at the folded paper in his hand. + +The prince looked serious too for a moment. + +"Do you know," he then said, "what you remind me of? Of Davison, Queen +Elizabeth's secretary, carrying the death warrant!" + +Meding gave a melancholy smile. + +"Alas!" he said, "the sheet of paper in my hand is perhaps the death +warrant of many a brave heart now beating joyfully; thank God I am not +answerable for it, I have only to perform my duty, which I never felt +to be so painful as now. We shall meet in Goettingen, prince," he said, +taking leave with a hasty pressure of the hand, he then hurried down +the stairs and threw himself into his carriage. + +Just at the brightly lighted, gilded iron gate of the outer court he +met a long row of carriages driving to the castle. + +The magistrates and the principal burghers of the capital were coming +to take leave of the king. As the long file of carriages emerged from +the avenue, they looked so dark against the bright light that they +resembled a long black funeral, and shuddering involuntarily at this +idea Meding leant back in his carriage and drove towards Hanover. + +In the meantime Count Platen sat in his cabinet. A small lamp shed its +light over the writing table covered, with letters and papers, before +which he sat, his head leaning on his hand. + +"Is there really no escape?" he cried at last, as he rose and paced up +and down the room; "can we not recover the fine position we held?" + +He looked thoughtfully from the window out into the warm starlight +night. + +"The concentration of the army is good," he said, "it shows we are in +earnest, and not inclined to give way without resistance: that the king +should go, is also good--it makes negotiation easier. Well, I believe," +he cried in a tone of relief, "they will bethink themselves in Berlin +after firing off this alarm gun, and will be satisfied if we accept +neutrality. But even if we are obliged--they cannot abandon us in +Vienna--and if Austria conquers!" A happy smile passed over his face, +and flattering pictures of the future seemed unrolled before his mind. + +The timepiece on his writing-table struck twelve. + +"Prince Ysenburg!" announced the groom of the chambers. + +"Now, at this hour?" cried Count Platen, starting back. And he hastened +to meet the Prussian ambassador, who had entered the room, and advanced +slowly and gravely. "What good news do you bring at this late hour, +dear prince?" he asked. + +"Whether I can bring good news, I know not!" replied the prince, a +small slight man, with regular features and a spare black moustache, as +he fixed his black eyes with a sad and enquiring look upon Count +Platen; "I must first beg for your answer to the note I delivered this +morning, the reply to which I was to wait for until this evening. You +see," he said drawing out his watch, "I have given my instructions the +widest possible extension; it is now twelve o'clock--the day is ended." + +"My dear prince," said Count Platen, "I gave the note to the king +immediately, the reply is now with his majesty; I expect it back every +moment, and I do not doubt we shall easily come to an understanding." + +The prince shook his head slightly. + +"Though the answer is with his majesty, yet you must know, and I +_must_"--he laid a stress upon the word--"urgently beg you to impart +its purport. Is the proposition accepted, are you authorized to +conclude the proffered treaty?" + +"You will allow," said Count Platen, "that such a deeply important +proposal as the reform of the confederation requires a discussion that +will occupy some time." + +"I must press you, Count Platen," said the prince, "to give me a +distinct answer upon one point,--I am not authorized to commence a +discussion,--has the king accepted the treaty or not?" + +"No," said Count Platen, with great hesitation, "but----" + +"Then I declare war!" said Prince Ysenburg solemnly. + +Count Platen stared blankly in his face. + +"But my dear prince--" he cried. + +"You must perceive," said Prince Ysenburg, "that after such a +declaration it is impossible for me to say anything more, except to +express my deep personal regret that our long years of intimacy, on +which I shall always look back with pleasure, should have so sad an +end. Farewell! remember me with the same friendship with which I shall +always think of you." + +He held out his hand to Count Platen, who seized it mechanically, and +before the minister had recovered from his astonishment the ambassador +had left the room. + +A short time afterwards, Meding arrived, and found him still under the +influence of this scene. He brought the minister the king's commands to +accompany him to Goettingen, and Count Platen imparted the declaration +of war. + +"Did you ever doubt it?" asked Meding. + +"I considered it impossible!" said Count Platen; "and I yet hope we may +be able to do something in Goettingen." + +"There is nothing to be done, except to march as fast as we can for +South Germany!" said the privy councillor. + +He left the minister, to prepare for his journey, and hastened to seek +General Brandis. + +Herr Beckmann had come to Hanover with the courier from Berlin, and he +discovered to his great discontent that he could not set out again upon +his already retarded journey, until various trains containing troops +had been despatched from the railway station. + +It was two in the morning. + +He walked disconsolately up and down the platform, wrapped himself +shiveringly in his large travelling cloak, smoked his cigar, and looked +at the busy proceedings in the railway station. + +There was a train with a steaming engine close to the platform; it +consisted of only a few carriages, but in the centre there was a large +saloon carriage richly gilt, and surmounted by a crown. + +"What is that?" asked Herr Beckmann as a busy porter hurried past. + +"The king is going to Goettingen," he replied, and hastened on. + +Herr Beckmann walked up to the saloon carriage and examined it. + +"It is true," he said, "the king must really be starting; but," he +added, "it does not look like a flight, the soldiers, at all events, +seem to have no mind to fly." + +Notwithstanding the late hour the platform grew more and more crowded +with people, who waited quietly near the royal train. + +Then the large doors of the royal waiting-room opened, and Count +Platen, a number of generals, Lex, and Herr Meding appeared. They all +seemed grave and silent. + +The wheels of other carriages were heard. + +There was a movement amongst the gentlemen in the waiting-room, and the +crowd on the platform pressed towards the open door. + +The king entered, dressed in a general's uniform, leaning on the arm of +the crown prince, who wore a hussar's uniform. They were followed by +lieutenant-colonels von Heimbruch and von Kohlrausch, and by Major +Wedel. + +The king gravely greeted those who had assembled to take leave of him, +he conversed with several of the gentlemen and shook hands with them. + +The general director of the railway came up and said that the train was +ready. + +The king and the crown prince walked across the platform and entered +the railway carriage. + +Every head was uncovered, and a sorrowful murmur passed through the +assembled crowd. + +The king was followed by the gentlemen of his suite. The crowd +thickened around the carriage. + +Then George V. appeared at the middle window, bowed, and said in his +clear voice: + +"I say farewell to the citizens of my capital, because I must accompany +my army to resist unjust demands. My queen and the princesses I confide +to your protection; they will share your fate. God be with you, and +with our just cause!" + +"God save the king!" cried the crowd; "auf Wiedersehn! auf Wiedersehn. +God bless your majesty!" Handkerchiefs waved, and hats rose higher and +higher. + +Herr Beckmann stood in the outer row. Tears shone in his eyes, he +raised his hat in the air and his voice joined in the general cry with +which the citizens of Hanover took leave of their king. + +The train moved slowly, the engine puffed, the wheels rolled faster, +and there was one general cry: "Auf Wiedersehn!" The carriage rushed +on, the king had left the capital. + +The generals and court officials slowly departed, the crowd slowly and +silently dispersed, and Herr Beckmann paced thoughtfully up and down +the platform. + +"Tiens, tiens," said he to himself, "voila le revers de la medaille. +What will not this war destroy? how deeply will it cut into human life, +both high and low! Great events lie in the lap of the future: yes, but +tears also--did not my eyes grow wet when the king took leave of his +people. Well! what must happen, will happen, an individual can neither +add nor take away. Fate seizes on us all!" + +"The train is starting for Cologne," said a porter coming up to him. + +"At last!" cried Herr Beckmann with a sigh of relief; and the +whistling, puffing engine soon bore him away. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + CAMPAIGNING BEGINS. + + +King George V. arrived in Goettingen early in the morning of the 16th of +June, to the no small amazement of the inhabitants, who had scarcely +comprehended the grave position of the country the evening before, and +arose the next day to discover that war had broken out, that the king +was installed in the Crown Hotel, and the army concentrating in hot +haste in and around Goettingen. + +The old city of Georgia Augusta had scarcely ever before seen such +varied active life within its walls. + +Fresh troops perpetually poured in through the gates of the town, or +from the railway station; some taking up their quarters in the city, +some in the surrounding villages. + +All the soldiers were adorned with fresh sprigs of oak, the proud +cavalry regiments rode gallantly on, batteries of artillery rolled +noisily over the pavement, and merry songs resounded from every +regiment of the war-inspired troops. + +In front of the Crown Hotel the greatest activity prevailed. Orderlies +of the red hussars of the Guard were halted, waiting to convey orders; +aides-de-camp went and came, servants hurried busily to and fro, groups +of citizens stood whispering together, and looking curiously at the +middle window of the first floor, where was the king's apartment. + +But a fresh regiment streamed in, and shortly before it reached the +hotel struck up the air of "God save the king;" the window was opened, +and the king appeared in a general's uniform and military cap, grave +and quiet; he affectionately greeted the troops who came at his summons +to follow him to the field, and their banners were lowered to their +royal leader. The old Hanoverian Hurrah! burst out so loudly and +joyfully that it made the windows clatter, and the king's heart beat +higher, for he could hear that the shout came from the hearts of +soldiers who were ready cheerfully to pour out their blood in his +defence. + +About nine o'clock the Senate of the University appeared, headed by the +pro-rector, the famous professor of state law, Zachariae; the black +robes adorned with the colours of the different faculties, and the +almost priestly appearance of the professors of wisdom, who came to +greet their king in the midst of the tumult of war, lent a new charm to +the animated changing picture, as they mingled with the brilliant +uniforms of the soldiers. + +The king had received the professors, had worked with the +adjutant-generals, and with General Gebser, whom he had appointed +commander-in-chief of the army, and he now sat alone in his room. + +His face was pale and weary from the distress and excitement of the +last few days, and from a sleepless night, but indomitable courage and +firm determination shone in his eyes. + +The groom of the chambers opened the door and announced the crown +prince. + +The king held out his hand affectionately to his son, who kissed it +reverently. + +"Have you slept?" asked the king. + +"But little," replied the prince, whose features, impressed by the +moving noisy life around him, were more animated than usual; "I have +been talking with many of the officers of the troops who have just +arrived." + +"There is a glorious spirit in the army, is there not?" cried the king +with joyful enthusiasm; "it makes me too happy to be surrounded by such +troops." + +"Yes," replied the prince with hesitation, "the spirit is excellent; +but----" + +"But what?" asked the king, surprised and hurt, "have you observed +anything that does not accord with this spirit?" + +"The spirit is perfectly excellent, my father," replied the prince +slowly, pausing as he spoke as if he could not find the right words; +"but--but there is no proper confidence in their leaders!" + +"No confidence in their leaders!" cried the king energetically, as he +stood up; "at the beginning of a campaign that were bad indeed!" + +He was silent for a moment. + +"Are you quite sure?" he asked. "Who told you so?" + +"Several officers of the general staff," replied the prince, "the +aides-de-camp, and they begged me to tell you." + +"So!" said the king. "And in whom have they no confidence?--did they +mention any names?" + +"They do not think," replied the prince, "that General Gebser has +energy enough to command in the field, and his name is not popular +amongst the soldiers, and General Tschirschnitz is too old to bear the +fatigues of war, and too much accustomed to office life----" + +With a hasty movement the king passed his hand over the table before +him and rang the bell that stood upon it. + +"The equerry on duty!" exclaimed the king to the attendant who came at +the summons. + +Immediately afterwards Count Wedel, the brother of the commander of the +castle, entered. + +"Your majesty sent for me?" + +"My dear Wedel," said the king, "the crown prince has just told me, as +was his duty, that the officers and the troops have no confidence in +General Gebser, whom I have appointed to the command of the army, and +that they also have not the confidence needful in the adjutant-general. +The moment is grave. Tell me, as my equerry and my officer, on your +oath and your duty, what you know on the subject." + +Count Wedel, a handsome powerfully made man, with short black hair and +a black beard, fixed his large dark eyes upon the king, and said firmly +in a clear voice: + +"What his royal highness has told your majesty is, so far as I have had +the opportunity of judging of the general opinion, perfectly true!" + +The king sat still for a moment in deep thought. + +"And you have heard it from good and clever officers?" he asked. + +"From the officers of the general staff," replied Count Wedel, "and +from several other officers with whom I have conversed." + +"And whom would the army trust as their leader?" asked the king. + +"General von Arentschildt!" replied Count Wedel without a moment's +hesitation. + +"I thank you," replied the king gravely; "beg General von Brandis and +Count Platen to come to me." + +"At your command, your majesty." + +And Count Wedel left the room. + +"This is bad, very bad!" said the king sorrowfully, "for an army that +has no confidence in its leaders is already half beaten; but it is well +I learnt it whilst there is still time." + +The crown prince had stepped to the window and was looking at the +various groups in the street below. + +The two ministers entered, General von Brandis calm and cheerful as +ever, Count Platen pale and excited. + +"Gentlemen," said the king, "I hear that the adjutant-general, and the +general I have chosen to command the army, do not possess the +confidence of the troops." + +He was silent. + +"Alas! it is so, your majesty; I have heard it on all sides," said +Count Platen. + +"And you, General Brandis?" + +"Your majesty," said the general in his calm voice, "I have heard many +such expressions here, I cannot deny, but if every expression uttered +in a time of excitement were attended to, the command would be +continually changed. The chief thing seems to me that we should be well +commanded, and get on quickly." + +"I do not think much of what is said here and there," said the king, +"but this appears to me serious, and truly I would not send my army +into the field without confidence in its leaders." + +"Certainly, your majesty, the matter is serious," said Count Platen. +"It is most painful to me," he continued, "to express my opinion on +military affairs, as they by no means belong to my department, and as +your majesty knows I am never in any degree influenced by the opinions +I hear casually----" + +General Brandis smiled slightly. + +"But here," added Count Platen, "is evidently an occasion on which the +general opinion must be right." + +"Have you, too, heard General von Arentschildt named?" + +"He is named universally, your majesty," replied Count Platen. + +General Brandis was silent. + +"I know so little of Arentschildt," said the king, thoughtfully; "what +do you think of him, General Brandis?" + +"Arentschildt is a clever general, and an honourable man," said the +minister of war. + +"Do you think he is the man to command the army?" asked the king. + +"Your majesty, the proof of a general is his success. I am an old +soldier, and I can only judge of a soldier in the field." + +The king leant his head on his hand and sat for some time in silence. + +At last he raised himself. + +"My country and the whole future of my family are at stake," he said +seriously. "I must sacrifice my personal wishes and opinions, where +such great interests are concerned. I could never forgive myself if +success were imperilled through my own fault; no time must be lost, the +decision must be made at once. My poor brave Tschirschnitz," he said in +a low voice, shaking his head; "it will be a heavy blow to him. Whom do +they feel confidence in as adjutant-general?" he inquired. + +"They speak of Colonel Dammers," said the crown prince, who had left +the window and again approached the king. + +"Colonel Dammers?" asked the king. + +"A clever and energetic officer," said General Brandis, "a man of quick +and ready action." + +"I have conversed with him," said Count Platen, "he is a remarkably +intelligent man. I unfolded to him the policy we have lately pursued, +he fully recognized its propriety. I believe----" + +"Is the colonel here?" asked the king. + +"He was in the house just now," said the crown prince. + +The king rang. + +"Beg General Gebser and the adjutant-general to come to me," he said, +sighing. + +The two gentlemen entered the room. + +General Gebser was of a tall and graceful figure, his boldly-cut +features had a free open expression, and his hair and moustache were +slightly grey. General von Tschirschnitz held a paper in his hand. + +"My dear General Gebser, and you my adjutant-general," said the king +with emotion, "I have something most serious to say to you. I have to +demand from you a fresh proof of your patriotism and of your devotion +to me and to my family." + +General Gebser looked firmly at the king; old General von Tschirschnitz +lifted his astonished gaze from the paper he held in his hand to his +royal master, as if he marvelled what further proof of devotion could +be expected from him. + +"In an hour such as this," continued the king, "plain and +straightforward speaking is necessary. I hear that the army does not +confirm the choice I made, General Gebser, when I nominated you as its +commander, and that another name is more popular than your own amongst +the soldiers. Also," he added, "I hear that fears are expressed lest +you, my dear adjutant-general, should be disabled by increasing years +from undergoing the fatigue which, will doubtless be needful during a +difficult and exhausting campaign. Should your health fail there would +be an interruption in your duties, which could not but be dangerous and +disastrous to an army on the march. Gentlemen," he said in a low tone, +bowing his head as if he wished with his sightless eyes to discover the +impression caused by his words; "you know that I am ready to sacrifice +my life, and every personal wish to my country. I know that you have +the same feelings, and that from your true hearts I may ask the same +sacrifice. I, your king, acknowledging and prizing your services and +your talents, I beg you to make this sacrifice." + +The king was silent, a deep sigh broke from his heart. + +General Gebser raised his head proudly, and a smile came to his lips. +Pale, but without hesitation, he advanced towards the king, and said in +a firm voice: + +"It was my duty, at my royal master's command to lead the army against +his enemies, and to draw my sword in defence of my country. It is +equally my duty, if your majesty has found one more worthy, to resign +the command. I thank you for the confidence you felt in me." + +"Which has never been shaken for a moment," interrupted the king. + +"And I hope," added the general, "that he who succeeds me will serve +your majesty and the country with the same zeal and devotion. I know it +will be so," he continued, "for he is a Hanoverian officer." + +The king held out his hand to him in silence, and without glancing at +the crown prince, or the ministers, with a firm step the general left +the room. + +General von Tschirschnitz gnawed his white moustache in great emotion. +A tear shone in his eye. + +"Your majesty," he said slowly, "this is not the time and place to +examine into the reasons of those who are so careful to protect my old +age from the fatigues of war. I have nothing to do but to request your +majesty to allow me to resign the post of adjutant-general. Your +majesty knows I have already requested permission to retire, in time of +peace,--that I must do so now, when the army is marching to meet the +enemy, is a deep grief to the heart of an old soldier. Perhaps the +recollection of this," and he pointed to the Waterloo medal upon his +breast, "might have enabled me in spite of my age to bear the fatigues +of war; but it is a law of nature that the old should give way to the +young. I beg your majesty to preserve a gracious remembrance of your +old adjutant-general." + +The old gentleman's rough soldier voice failed him. + +The king went quickly up to him, and spread out his arms. + +"We will not say adieu, my dear Tschirschnitz," he cried; "I hope we +shall meet happily and soon, when this sad war is over, and that you +will give me your valued counsels for many years." + +And he pressed the general to his heart. + +"Accept the nomination of general of the infantry as a proof of my +gratitude and affection," he said in a low voice. + +The general bowed in silence. + +"Your majesty will permit me," he then said, "to return to Hanover? An +old invalid can do nothing against the enemy," he added bitterly. + +"Go, my dear general," said the king; "the queen needs the advice of +true servants." + +The crown prince came forward. + +"I beg you to greet my mother from me," he said affectionately. + +"Farewell, your royal highness," replied the general; "you see an old +servant of your father, and of your grandfather, depart. So do the old +times vanish: may the future bring new men, but guard the old truth." + +And the general also left the room. + +The king drew a deep breath. + +"So," he cried, "the worst is over. Now for the new appointments, and +God grant the choice may be happy. General Brandis, will you prepare +the papers?" he said, turning to the minister of war, "and see that +General Arentschildt comes to me immediately to receive the command; +and also Colonel Dammers, that he may at once commence the duties of +adjutant-general." + +Gravely and silently the general withdrew. + +Count Platen approached the king, and said,-- + +"Count Ingelheim had just arrived when your majesty sent for me. He +requests an audience." + +"Let him come," cried the king with satisfaction. + +Count Platen went out, and soon returned, accompanied by the ambassador +of the Emperor Francis-Joseph. + +Count Ingelheim was a tall, slender man of fifty-eight years of age, +with short, light hair, which was changing to grey. His amiable and +pleasing face was pale, and without beard or moustache. He wore black, +with the star of the Order of Guelph and the Maltese cross. + +"I am rejoiced, my dear count, to see you here," cried the king +cheerfully. "You have not, then, shunned the tumult of war?" + +"Your majesty," replied the count, "my imperial master commanded me not +to leave you, and especially to accompany the army--a command in +accordance with my most earnest wishes, for besides being the fortunate +witness of the heroic deeds of the brave Hanoverian army, the cause +here is the same as in the Austrian camp--the cause of justice and of +Austrian independence. I beg your majesty's permission to remain at +head-quarters." + +"With the greatest pleasure, my dear count, I offer you the hospitality +of my head-quarters," cried the king. "You will, perhaps," he added, +smiling, "during your military campaign, have to excuse the dinners we +shall offer you, but _a la guerre comme a la guerre_. We are going to +encounter great events," he continued gravely. + +"They will doubtless bring great glory and enduring happiness to your +majesty," said Count Ingelheim. + +"Do you think we shall be able to reach South Germany?" asked the king. + +"I am sure of it," replied the count, "according to all the information +I have received. And I have just had a note from Count Paar who is in +Cassel. The road is free, and the few Prussian troops who may be there +will be unable to arrest the march of your majesty's army." + +"I would the next few days were over," said the king gloomily; "the +cares of the march weigh heavily upon me, and I cannot bear to think +that we may be surrounded by superior forces." + +"Your brave army would fight its way through if needful," cried the +count. "I cannot doubt it, for I saw them on my journey here; but above +all, let your majesty remember you do not stand alone; the decisive +action must take place on a Saxon battle-field, and when the emperor +has fought there and won, your majesty will return in triumph to your +capital." + +The king was silent. + +"The great thing would be," he said, after a pause, "to reach Bavaria. +If we succeed in this, the army is saved, and will be free to take a +part in the great struggle on the fate of Germany. We must know exactly +where the Bavarian army is." + +"According to what I heard yesterday, the Bavarian outposts are near +Eisenach and Gotha," said Count Ingelheim. + +"Well, then, the union would not be difficult. But would it not be well +to let the Bavarian head-quarters know where we are, and our line of +march, that they may direct their operations accordingly?" + +"Doubtless, your majesty," said Count Platen, "as soon as the new +commander and the general staff have completely decided on our march." + +"It seems to me," said the king, "that in our present circumstances we +should follow the simple plan of taking the easiest and shortest line +of march." + +"I do not know," replied Count Platen; "to me it appears there are many +different views and opinions to be considered, which may be difficult +to reconcile." + +"Difficult to reconcile! I do not understand why," exclaimed the king; +"but," he continued, half to himself, in a melancholy voice, "I must +leave that to my generals. Pray take care, Count Platen, that +trustworthy and intelligent persons are sent on by the roads leading to +the south, with instructions to discover if the enemy's troops are +there, and in what numbers." + +"At your command, your majesty." + +"Are there any news from Hesse?" asked the king. + +"Yes, your majesty, up to yesterday," said Count Ingelheim. "The prince +had determined to remain in Cassel. The army is under the command of +General Lothberg, and is concentrated at Fulda." + +"We must join it there," cried the king. "United to the army of Hesse, +we should form a force capable of serious resistance, and we should not +easily be brought to a halt." + +The groom of the chambers announced the minister of war. + +"General Arentschildt and Colonel Dammers await your majesty's +commands," said General Brandis; "and here are the necessary papers," +he added. + +"Ask the gentlemen to come in," cried the king. "My dear count, we +shall meet at dinner, if I may make the request, in campaigning +costume." + +He held out his hand to the Austrian ambassador. + +"Count Platen, I commit Count Ingelheim to your care, trusting he may +find all the comforts our headquarters afford." + +The two gentlemen withdrew. At the door they met the officers. + +General von Arentschildt was not tall, but remarkably thin, with +sharply-marked, somewhat withered features, and an enormous grey +moustache, hanging completely over the mouth. He entered the room +first, and was closely followed by Colonel Dammers, a man who was still +young, extremely fair, with a red fresh colour, and quick energetic +movements. His clear grey eyes took in everything with a sharp firm +glance, and were then fixed expectantly upon the king. + +They were followed by General Brandis. + +"Gentlemen," said George V. gravely, and with a certain degree of proud +reserve, "my minister of war has imparted to you why I have sent for +you at this moment, so full of danger to myself and the country. I am +persuaded that the confidence in you, so universally expressed, and of +which I give so signal a proof, will be completely justified. I beg you +to commence your duties without delay; and I request you, General von +Arentschildt, to give us your opinion upon our further march as soon as +possible." + +"Your majesty," exclaimed the general, striking his hand vehemently +upon his breast,--"Your majesty, I am highly honoured by your +confidence, and I will do everything an old soldier can do, to justify +it. I beg your majesty----" + +"What?" asked the king. + +"To give me Colonel Cordemann as chief of the general staff." + +The king was silent for a moment. + +"A new chief of the general staff too," he said, half speaking to +himself. "It is right," he continued, "for you to have a chief of the +staff of your own choosing. Colonel Dammers, will you prepare what is +needful? and will you, General Brandis, inform General von Sichart in +the most considerate manner----" + +"The general has sought me already, requesting me to bid your majesty +adieu for him," replied General Brandis. + +"Brave man!" cried the king. "But I will see him shortly, and take +leave of him personally. And now, gentlemen, to work. Ernest, I beg you +to send me the privy councillor." + +The crown prince and the officers left the room. + +With a deep sigh the king leant back in his chair. He listened +thoughtfully to the sounds of voices and footsteps which rose from the +street below, mingled with military signals, the trampling of horses, +and the trumpet calls, and he whispered to himself: + +"Nec aspera terrent!" + +The newly-organized general staff was installed in the aula of the +university, and worked unceasingly at the mobilization of the army, and +the preparations for its march. + +Whilst the whole town was thus feverishly restless and active, a +carriage drove quickly to the railway station. + +In it sat old General von Tschirschnitz with folded arms, gazing +gloomily before him. + +"This, then, is the end of a long service commenced on the +battle-fields of 1813, and continued through many a year of war and +peace,--and now to be sent off when before the enemy,--and why? because +certain young officers, ambitious climbers, wish to have the road open, +and seize the opportunity of freeing themselves from the firm strict +rule of old Tschirschnitz." + +He took up his sword, and laid it on the opposite side of the carriage. + +"Lie there," he said gloomily, "thou worthy old sword; thou art too +stiff and too straight for the present generation,--they write a great +deal, also they run to and fro continually,--they make plans, they +proclaim orders and counter-orders, but they don't trouble themselves +about the soldiers; they will not march, and they will only fight when +they are obliged. But," he said with a deep breath, "the army will +fight, the troops will rush at the enemy if they meet, in spite of +instructions and theories--of that I am sure." + +He had arrived at the railway, and as he was stepping, sabre in hand, +into an empty train, about to return to Hanover for more troops, the +Cambridge dragoon regiment drew up with clattering of arms in the court +of the station under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Kielmansegge, +who was at their head on a snorting spirited horse, and who was about +to lead his regiment through the town to the villages of Harste and +Gladebeck lying before Goettingen. + +The old general looked from his coupe affectionately at the flashing +arms of the gallant horsemen. + +Then he leant back with a melancholy smile, the engine whistled, and +the train rushed towards Hanover. + +At the same moment the trumpet sounded, the strains of the regimental +band rose in the air, the horses threw up their heads, their riders +settled themselves in the saddle, the ranks closed up, and the glorious +regiment rode through the city of Georgia Augusta. + +In front of the fourth squadron, on a curveting horse, rode a tall +handsome man, the Rittmeister von Einem,[8] and beside his troop rode +Lieutenant von Wendenstein, looking fresh, and dazzling in full +uniform. His eyes shone brightly, and it was evident that only duty +constrained him to keep his place in the line, and restrain his +spirited horse; he would rather have rushed in a wild gallop straight +at the enemy. Yet a low sad strain rang in his heart when he thought of +the old house in Blechow,--of the last evening amongst his family, and +of the song which had so strangely affected him,--yet still this strain +mingled harmoniously with the warlike fanfare of the trumpets, with the +neighing of horses, and the clashing of arms,--his eyes flashed in the +sunshine, and his lips smiled as he whispered the hopeful words, "Auf +Wiedersehn!" + +The regiment rode past the Crown Hotel; the squadrons greeted the king +at the window with an echoing hurrah, then they rode out by the further +gate to the villages, where the peasants gave them a hearty welcome, +for the Hanoverian cavalry is always popular with the Hanoverian +peasantry; how much the more now, when the brave horsemen were riding +out with their king? + +The fourth squadron remained in the village of Gladebeck on outpost +duty. + +The horses were foddered and provided with straw, according to the +rules of the service and the heart of the cavalry soldier, whose first +care is always for his horse. + +A cheerful fire burned in the street of the village, which stands at +the foot of a hill overlooking a broad plain of meadows and orchards. +Below, the lights from the village windows gleamed through the clear +night, and in the distance echoing voices were heard, with signals, and +trampling horse-hoofs. The dark sky glittered with stars, and the soft +night-wind blew refreshingly over the fields after the heat of the day. + +Upon the hill a single vedette stood motionless, a carbineer named +Schenkel. + +Before the fire, upon a heap of clean well-piled straw, lay two young +officers, Lieutenants von Wendenstein and Stolzenberg. The water in a +campaigning kettle bubbled and steamed; brandy, lemons and great lumps +of sugar were abundant, and Lieutenant von Stolzenberg, a handsome, +pleasing-looking young man, prepared in two silver beakers the fragrant +invigorating drink which inspired Schiller in his immortal song. Ham, +bread, and sausages lay around, proving that the peasants of Gladebeck +had treated their guests to all that their store-chambers could afford. + +Stolzenberg mixed the beverage, tasted it, and passed the cup to his +comrade after he had stirred it with a piece of wood. + +"Do you believe in presentiments, Wendenstein?" he asked. + +"I really scarcely know," replied that young gentleman, raising himself +from the comfortable position in which he lay gazing up at the sky, to +take the cup and drink a hearty draught,--"I really scarcely know, I +have never thought about it; but," he added, laughing, as he placed the +cup conveniently before him on the ground, "I should like to believe, +for if a presentiment is a certain indescribable feeling that +penetrates us and gives us a peep into the magic mirror of the future, +my future must be bright and clear; everything smiles upon me so +merrily that I could gallop for miles to-night for the simple pleasure +of the thing. You see, Stolzenberg," said he, drawing a cigar from his +pocket and carefully cutting the end with a small knife, "it is such a +pleasure to escape from that weary garrison-life, and to go into the +field to a real actual war; such a night as this, old fellow, in +bivouac under the open sky, is the most delightful thing a soldier can +wish for. Give me a light for my cigar." + +Herr von Stolzenberg gave him a glowing piece of wood, from which with +the skill of a connoisseur in the art of smoking he kindled his cigar, +the fine aroma of which soon rose in the air. + +"Well, and what do your presentiments say, Stolzenberg?" he asked; "or +rather, have you had a presentiment?" + +Stolzenberg poked the fire with an oak stick and gazed thoughtfully +into the blaze. + +"Yes," he said gravely. + +"Well," cried Wendenstein, "you say so in the tone of the marble guest; +speak out and tell me all about it. Drink first and take a good +draught, you know some philosopher has said presentiments come from the +stomach, and for the stomach nothing is better than to be comforted in +moderation with a good drink." + +Herr von Stolzenberg took kindly to his friend's didactic advice, and +then said, again gazing gravely at the fire,-- + +"Do you know I feel shy of speaking about it? It is really +nothing--neither has a spirit appeared to me, nor have I had a dream, +nor is there anything I can really describe. When I was leaving my room +quite ready to mount my horse, suddenly an icy coldness passed like an +electric spark through all my veins, and a voice seemed to say, 'You +will never return.' The impression was so vivid and powerful that I +stood still for a moment as if spell-bound. But suddenly the feeling +was gone, as if it had never been." + +"This is madness!" said Wendenstein leaning his head on his hand and +gazing up at the stars; "I remain firm in my opinion that your stomach +is out of sorts, and what more natural, after the early rising and +fatigue of the day? You must double your dose of punch!" + +"And once again," said Stolzenberg thoughtfully, without heeding his +friend's jest, "I had the same feeling. As we passed the Crown in +Goettingen and the king greeted us from the window, and all our lads +hurrahed madly, just as I raised my sword to salute--in that very +moment the icy coldness seized me, and again a voice cried: 'You will +never return. The king will never return!'" He spoke in a low troubled +voice. + +"Man, you are raving!" cried Wendenstein, sitting up with a great jerk. +"Have as many presentiments about yourself as you please, but leave the +king out of the game. Pray oblige me by telling no one else of your +hallucinations!" + +Stolzenberg gazed straight before him. + +"If it is to be so," he said in a low voice, "in God's name it is well; +if we come to blows many a brave soldier will fall, and it is our lot; +a quick honourable death is all a man can wish, only no long suffering, +nor to return a cripple." + +"I will answer you no more," said von Wendenstein, "such thoughts are +too dismal for a first night in the field. But," he continued sitting +up and looking into his friend's face, "I will confide something to +you." + +And half jesting, half smiling at some happy remembrance, he said,-- + +"I think I am in love." + +"You?" cried von Stolzenberg, laughing, "it would not be for the first +time; but the moment is ill-chosen." + +"Why?" + +"Because a good cavalry soldier when he goes into the field should +leave no regrets behind him. Forwards! is the word, and a lover makes a +bad soldier." + +"I do not understand that," said von Wendenstein; "on the contrary, in +battle, how happy it would make a man to feel a heart is beating for +him, and following him with thoughts and good wishes, and if he +distinguishes himself the brave soldier will feel greater pride, and +then when he returns, oh! that must be delicious!" + +"When he returns," said Stolzenberg gloomily. "But," he continued in a +cheerful voice, "who is your new flame?" + +The eyes which von Wendenstein had been directing towards the stars +were turned upon his friend with a look of surprise, and he said in a +somewhat hurt voice, as he threw himself back in the straw: + +"New flame? what an expression! certainly I shall not tell her name!" + +"Then you are really in earnest," returned von Stolzenberg. "And now I +must prescribe an extra glass of punch; for I retain my opinion that +love is a sickness, especially at the beginning of a campaign." + +Wendenstein did not reply, but continued attentively to watch the +course of the stars, which at the same moment were shining down on the +old house at Blechow, upon the old trees and the well-known pastures +and fir-woods, and upon the Pfarrhaus with its beds of roses, and he +hummed to himself: + + + "Wenn Menschen auseinander gehn, + So sagen sie: Auf Wiedersehn!" + + +"Halt! who goes there?" cried the sentry on the hill, and presented his +carbine. + +Both the young officers sprang to their feet. A carriage and two extra +post-horses, coming rapidly along the road, drew up at the challenge of +the sentry. + +In a moment the officers were at the carriage door. Some dragoons +appeared a little way off. + +"Whom have we here?" asked Herr von Stolzenberg, looking into the +carriage, in which sat a figure wrapped in a cloak. "You cannot pass +the outposts." + +A young man with a fresh open countenance threw back his cloak and +leaned over the door to greet the officers. + +"Everything is quite in order, gentlemen," he said, laughing. "I am +Duve of the Chancery, and I am sent by Count Platen and General +Arentschildt with a despatch from Count Ingelheim to Baron Kuebeck at +Frankfort; I am also to seek the Hessian army and to bring back +intelligence which may enable you to join it. Here are my despatches, +and here is the order for passing the outposts." + +Lieutenant von Stolzenberg stepped with the pass to the light of the +fire, read it, and returned it to Herr Duve. + +"It is quite right," he then said. "I wish you a pleasant journey and +good success; send us the Hessians soon, and if possible the Bavarians +also." + +"I will do what I can," returned the messenger. + +"Stolzenberg," cried von Wendenstein, "bring a glass of punch. Here, +sir," he said, "take this away in your stomach, it will do you good in +the night; who knows when you will meet with it again?" + +"To your good watch," said Herr Duve, as he emptied the proffered +beaker. + +The horses started, the carriage rolled on, and the officers returned +to their fire. + +After a short time the sentry again challenged; steps were heard on the +other side of the hill, the pass-word was given, and the officers, who +had hastily sprung to their feet, met Rittmeister von Einem. + +The lieutenants saluted, and von Stolzenberg said: "Nothing fresh, a +messenger has passed with despatches and a correct pass." + +"All right, gentlemen," said the Rittmeister, "all is in perfect order. +And now," he continued, laughingly, "let us lay aside duty; and give me +a glass of your drink, and something to eat, for I have had so much to +do to-day with the horses and men that I have not had time to find +anything for myself." + +The young officers hastened to get him such supper as their simple but +plentiful provisions afforded, and to brew him as good and fragrant a +glass of punch as he could have met with in the most comfortable +dining-room. + +"Yes," said von Einem, as, stretched at his ease on the straw, he +lighted his cigar, "it is all very comfortable to begin with; but, by +and by, when we have no more punch to drink, and no more cigars to +smoke!" + +"So much the better," cried von Wendenstein cheerfully; "our pluck will +then be put to the test. But, Herr Rittmeister, shall we march soon? A +messenger has just passed to the Hessian army. I suppose that to unite +we must march. The Hessians will not come back here." + +"If we shall march," said the Rittmeister, sighing, "I know nothing +about it; but it does not look like it. The general staff sits and +works, and writes, and rewrites; but when we shall march, I do not +know." + +"I am very sorry about General von Tschirschnitz," said Herr von +Stolzenberg. "He was a strict old gentleman, and woe betide anyone who +tried to play tricks with him. But he was of the good old stamp; why +has he been sent off?" + +"Count Kielmansegge, who was with me a quarter of an hour ago," said +the Rittmeister, "tells me the army no longer feels any confidence in +his capabilities." + +"Well, I have heard for some time past that he was breaking," remarked +Wendenstein; "but one could not perceive it, if one had anything to do +with him. What is Colonel Dammers like--the new adjutant-general?" + +"I know him but very little. I believe he is an energetic man. But we +have nothing to do with all these things. The cavalry should hold to +the old rule--to go in at the enemy and beat him or fall!" And he took +a good draught from his glass. + +"God grant that the new brooms may sweep clean, and that we may soon go +forwards." + +He stood up. + +"Good night, and a good watch, gentlemen; we shall meet to-morrow, and +I hope we shall march!" + +The officers saluted, and the Rittmeister slowly walked back to the +village through the dark night. The two lieutenants determined to sleep +an hour each alternately through the night, whilst the other watched. +So midnight passed, and all was silence at the outposts, whilst new +troops poured into Goettingen, reserves and recruits streaming in from +every part of the country; for all the young men desired to be enrolled +in the army. + +The new general staff worked all night long; much was debated and +written in the great aula of Georgia Augusta, and at last it was +decided that the army must remain four days longer in Goettingen, in +order to prepare for the march. + +Four days is a long time when events may be counted by hours. + + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: + + "Was du dein Augenblick verloren, + Bringt keine Ewigkeit zurueck."] + +[Footnote 2: _Droste_.] + +[Footnote 3: + + "Wer nun den lieben Gott laeszt walten, + Und hoffet auf Ihn allezeit, + Den wird Er wunderbar erhalten, + In aller Noth und Faehrlichkeit."] + +[Footnote 4: + + "Da sah'n wir von Weiten, + Unsern Koenig schon reiten; + Er rief nach seinem Brigadier, + 'Lustige Hannoveraner seien wir.'"] + +[Footnote 5: The royal castle.] + +[Footnote 6: The nobility.] + +[Footnote 7: We shall meet again.] + +[Footnote 8: In German armies the Rittmeister holds the rank of a +major.] + + + + + END OF VOL. I. + + + + + * * * * * + + CHISWICK PRESS:--PRINTED BY WHITTINGHAM AND WILKINS, + TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of For Sceptre and Crown, Vol. I (of II), by +Gregor Samarow + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR SCEPTRE AND CROWN *** + +***** This file should be named 37723.txt or 37723.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/7/2/37723/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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