Part 14 (2/2)

”A written promise that you will marry me.”

Hearing this, Augustus frowned, and drooped his head.

”Believe me, Anna, such a condition is full of danger for yourself.”

”I will not give it up. I would give my life for it. My honour requires it. Then I should be your Majesty's wife, in thought and in hope. Else you shall not touch me; I will kill myself if you do!”

The King retreated.

”Very well, then,” said he, ”if that is your wish, shall have it.”

Anna gave a cry of joy.

”All the rest is as nothing in comparison with that!” she exclaimed in a voice full of happiness. ”But first I must be divorced from Hoym.”

”That shall be done to-morrow. I will have it signed in the consistory,” said the King hastily. ”Now, what further?”

”Nothing more on my side,” she replied in a broken voice, as she knelt before the King. ”That is sufficient for me.”

”But it is not sufficient for the King, for me,” said Augustus, seizing her in his arms, from which, however, Anna escaped by slipping down on the floor.

”I believe your Majesty's word,” she exclaimed; ”but before I permit myself to be touched, the chains that bind me must be broken, the divorce must be p.r.o.nounced, your promise signed. I am Hoym's wife, I have sworn to be faithful to him--I must keep my oath.”

Augustus kissed her hand.

”I am your slave, you are my lady! Hoym returns to-day, leave him; to-morrow I will have a palace ready for you. You shall have a hundred thousand thalers a year, I will lay my whole kingdom at your feet, and with it, myself.”

Seeing him kneeling at her feet, Anna kissed his forehead, then she sprang backwards.

”Until to-morrow!” she said.

”Am I to leave you?” inquired Augustus.

”Until to-morrow,” she repeated.

Then the King rose and left her. The heaps of gold remained lying on the floor.

That same night Count Hoym returned home. He hastened to his wife's apartment, but found the door locked, and, on inquiring of the servants, was informed that their lady was unwell and had retired to rest, after giving orders that no one should disturb her.

During his absence, which was of an unnecessary length, the Count had grown seriously uneasy about his wife. It was true that his spies wrote to him daily, informing him of her every movement, but as she was always accompanied by his sister, he could not foresee any danger. He felt, however, that the intrigue was growing ever stronger and stronger, and that it threatened his matrimonial life. Still he was powerless to prevent it, for at its head was the King, and him Hoym feared, for he knew him better than any one else did. Besides, he could not forget the fate that had overtaken Beichling. The best guarantee of safety that he had, lay in his wife's character, her pride, and her love for her good reputation.

When he returned to Dresden, he knew nothing but what his spies had informed him; in the city, and from the people of the court, he could not expect to learn anything.

The hour was late, but although at the King's castle a feast was in progress, Hoym had no wish to go thither; instead, he went straight to his own home, and having found his wife's door locked, he also retired to rest.

The following day the King sent for him, and he was obliged to obey the summons, and go to the castle without having seen his wife.

The King received him very kindly, he even embraced him, and this Hoym regarded as the worst possible sign. Next Augustus reproached him with having remained away so long, and although he himself had commanded that the Count should not return, he acted as though he knew nothing of the order.

<script>