Part 10 (1/2)
”And what are they?” inquired the King.
”A well-played comedy,” answered the Countess.
”And what _role_ do I play in it?”
”Perhaps that of a manager, who is deceived and robbed by every one.”
Augustus, slightly surprised, inquired,--
”Do you find everything here deceitful?”
”How could it be otherwise?” asked Anna. ”Kings never hear the truth.”
”It may be so,” said Augustus, ”and that is the reason they so frequently search for lips from which they may hear it.”
”But perhaps,” rejoined Anna, ”they only find lips that know how to administer poison more skilfully than the others.”
”Your speech,” said the King politely, ”proves to me that you do not like splendid courts. I greatly regret this, for I thought that the light from your eyes would brighten our gloomy skies.”
”Your Majesty,” replied Anna with animation, ”I should sound here with a false note. I know not how to sing like the others.”
To turn the current of their conversation, Augustus now began to make humorous remarks about the ladies and gentlemen surrounding them. And from this Anna discovered that he knew far more about the characters, inclinations, and even of the secrets in the lives of his courtiers, than she would have expected.
”You see,” added Augustus, ”that this comedy holds no secrets for me; and what renders it very amusing is that these people imagine that they deceive and blind me.”
”Thus the G.o.ds look on the earth,” concluded the Countess.
The King was much pleased at being called a G.o.d. As she spoke those words, her eyes, for the first time, met those of the King, which were fixed on her full of enthusiasm and admiration. In Anna's eyes there was only an expression of cold curiosity, not unmixed with fear.
After this, the King left her slowly. His courtiers all tried to divine his thoughts. Furstenberg was the first to encounter him.
”Your Majesty,” said he, ”may I dare to ask if the most beautiful is also--”
”The most witty,” said the King, finis.h.i.+ng his sentence for him. ”We must tell Hoym that he must not on any account venture to take her from Dresden. She is very interesting indeed--a little bit cold, but that will pa.s.s with time.”
Hoym, who had been watching from a distance, was unable to guess his wife's thoughts; but the moment Anna was left alone Countess Reuss, Fraulein Hulchen, and Countess Vitzthum hastened forward and surrounded her.
The King noticed it, and shrugged his shoulders.
”They already bow before the rising sun,” whispered he to Furstenberg.
”But I very much fear that they will be disappointed.”
Furstenberg looked surprised.
”You also are mistaken,” said Augustus, bending down and speaking in his ear. ”Hoym's wife is beautiful, I have examined her carefully: she is an animated Greek statue, but she is too energetic, too intelligent; and besides, she would wish to rule. A few days' pleasure with her is all that I desire. Her beauty attracts me, but her character repels me.”
Furstenberg now looked very much astonished, and the King went away.
During all this time, no one had noticed the pale face of a young man, whose head towered above all the others in the crowd around the door.