Part 27 (1/2)

”Do not think that I am jealous; I only grieve for the King, who wrongs himself more than he does me.”

Having said this, she rose, wiped away her tears, and, suspecting some intrigue, tried to appear indifferent.

Glasenapp did not succeed in making her angry. Cosel could control herself at times.

The King did not come to see her the next day, he was afraid of her impetuosity. Instead he sent Vitzthum to reconnoitre. Cosel and he had always been good friends. Apparently, he came of his own accord, to inquire after her health, and did not in anyway allude to the events of the preceding evening.

”As you see, I am quite well,” said Cosel with a sad smile.

”You are always beautiful!”

”And you are always good-hearted and polite.”

They talked awhile on indifferent subjects, and then Vitzthum returned to the King and told him Cosel was very reasonable.

The whole clique of her enemies now waited impatiently for the _denouement_. Towards evening Augustus himself repaired to the Palace of the Four Seasons.

The news spread, and faces grew sad in consequence.

The King had become accustomed to Anna, and did not wish to abandon her; although his pa.s.sionate love for her had pa.s.sed, the habit still remained. He was ashamed of Duparc and proud of Cosel. Cosel on her side was determined to be as reasonable as the Queen herself.

”I do not like public quarrels,” said the King, ”they do not become either of us.”

”Your Majesty, it is my love for the King.”

”It must be reasonable,” interrupted Augustus.

”It is characteristic of love that it cannot be reasonable.”

”But you must try not to be jealous.”

”Why, your Majesty, should you give me any reason for jealousy?”

The King shrugged his shoulders, and replied,--

”Childishness.”

Cosel refrained from another outburst; she knew that she was not threatened by anything.

The relations between her and the King were not at all changed, only they had become less cordial; a ceremonious gallantry was now subst.i.tuted for his former pa.s.sionate love.

The best proof that the Countess had not lost her lover's heart was furnished by the visit of the Danish King, Frederick IV. Augustus, who was always glad of an opportunity for festivities and entertainments, by which he might astonish Europe, received his nephew with great splendour, and in all the festivities Cosel played the leading part, for by her beauty and majestic mien, she was superior to all the women at Court. It seemed as though the King should be excused for admiring such an exceptional being.

After the b.a.l.l.s, tournaments, shooting parties, there came the day when the Danish King must take his departure and set out on a journey to Berlin, whither Augustus was to accompany him. After a splendid supper, Cosel returned to her palace. Her face still glowed with triumph and enthusiasm, but at the same time she felt exhausted. She threw herself down on the sofa to rest.

In the palace perfect silence reigned, and this quiet, following on the noise of the entertainment, acted on her most strangely. She was seized with a most unjustifiable fear.

During the hour of her triumph, she had several times encountered Flemming's ironical glances, in which there was an expression of menace, which she alone could understand. Those looks stung her to the heart and made her sad.

In vain she tried to brighten her gloomy thoughts, by recalling all the marks of favour shown her by the King; she could not succeed, and even in the hour of her triumphs, she was haunted by the presentiment of a miserable future.