Part 13 (2/2)

The king laughed aloud. ”Balby, you forget that you are a poor musician, chatting with your comrade. Truly your courtly bow suits your dress as little as a lace veil would a beggar's attire; you must lay your fine manners aside for a short time, for, with them, you would appear to the village beauties we may meet like a monkey, and they would laugh at instead of kissing you.”

”So we are to meet country beauties,” said Colonel Balby, no longer able to suppress his curiosity. ”Tell me, sire, where are we going, and what are we going to do? I shall die of curiosity.”

”Make an effort to die,” said the king, gayly; ”you will find it is not so easy to do as you imagine. But I will torture you no longer. You ask what we are going to do. Well, we are going to amuse ourselves and seek adventures. You ask where we are going. Ask that question of the sparrow that sits on the house-top--ask where it is going, and what is the aim of its journey. It will reply, the next bush, the nearest tree, the topmost bough of a weeping willow, which stands on a lonely grave; the mast of a s.h.i.+p, sailing on the wide sea; or the branch of a n.o.ble beech, waving before the window of a beautiful maiden. I am as incapable of telling you the exact aim and end of our journey, friend, as that little bird would be. We are as free as the birds of the air. Come! come! let us fly, for see, the little sparrow has flown--let us follow it.”

And with a beaming smile illuminating his countenance, like a ray of the morning sun, the king took the arm of his friend, and followed by his servant and cabinet-hussar, Deesen, left the pavilion.

As they stood at the little gate of the garden, the king said to Deesen,

”You must be for us the angel with the flaming sword, and open the gates of paradise, but not to cast us out.”

Deesen opened the gate, and our adventurers entered ”the wide, wide world.”

”Let us stand here a few moments,” said the king, as his glance rested upon the green fields spread far and wide around him. ”How great and beautiful the world appears to-day! Observe Nature's grand silence, yet the air is full of a thousand voices, and the white clouds wandering dreamily in the blue heavens above, are they not the misty veils with which the G.o.ds of Olympus conceal their charms?”

”Ah! sire,” said Balby, with a loving glance at the king's hand some face--”ah, sire, my eyes have no time to gaze at Nature's charms, they are occupied with yourself. When I look upon you, I feel that man is indeed made in the image of G.o.d.”

”Were I a G.o.d, I should not be content to resemble this worn, faded face. Come, now, let us be off! Give me your instrument, Deesen, I will carry it. Now I look like a travelling apprentice seeking his fortune.

The world is all before him where to choose his place of rest, and Providence his guide. I envy him. He is a free man!”

”Truly, these poor apprentices would not believe that a king was envying them their fate,” said Balby, laughing.

”Still they are to be envied,” said the king, ”for they are free. No, no, at present I envy no one, the world and its suns.h.i.+ne belong to me.

We will go to Amsterdam, and enjoy the galleries and museums.”

”I thank your majesty,” said Balby, laughing, ”you have saved my life.

I should have died of curiosity if you had not spoken. Now, I feel powerful and strong, and can keep pace with your majesty's wandering steps.”

Silently they walked on until they reached a sign-post.

”We are now on the border--let us bid farewell to the Prussian colors, we see them for the last time. Sire, we will greet them with reverence.”

He took off his hat and bowed lowly before the black and white colors of Prussia, a greeting that Deesen imitated with the fervor of a patriot.

The king did not unite in their enthusiasm; he was writing with his stick upon the ground.

”Come here, Balby, and read this,” he said, pointing to the lines he had traced. ”Can you read them?”

”Certainly,” said Balby, ”the words are, 'majesty' and 'sire.'”

”So they are, friend. I leave these two words on the borders of Prussia; perhaps on our return we may find and resume them. But as long as we are on the soil of Holland there must be no majesty, no sire.”

”What, then, must I call my king?”

”You must call him friend, voila tout.”

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