Part 5 (1/2)
Pollnitz made the three customary bows and left the room. The king gazed after him contemptuously. ”He is a finished scoundrel!” Then turning to Fredersdorf, who at that moment entered the room, he said, ”I believe Pollnitz would sell his mother if he was in want of money. You have brought me back a charming fellow; I rejoice that there are no more of the race; Pollnitz has at least the fame of being alone in his style. Is there any one else who asks an audience?”
”Yes, sire, the antechamber is full, and every man declares that his complaint can only be made personally to your majesty. It will require much time to listen to all these men, and would be, besides, a bad example. If your majesty receives fifty men to-day, a hundred will demand audience to-morrow; they must therefore be put aside; I have advised them all to make their wishes known in writing.”
”Well, I think every man knows that is the common mode of proceeding; as these people have not adopted it, it is evident they prefer speaking to me. There are many things which can be better said than written. A king has no right to close his ear to his subjects. A ruler should not resemble a framed and curtained picture of a G.o.d, only on rare and solemn occasions to be stared and wondered at; he must be to his people what the domestic altar and the household G.o.d was to the Romans, to which they drew near at all hours with consecrated hearts and pious memories. Here they made known all their cares, their sorrows, and their joys; here they found comfort and peace. I will never withdraw myself from my subjects; no, I will be the household G.o.d of my people, and will lend a willing ear to all their prayers and complaints. Turn no man away, Fredersdorf; I will announce it publicly, that every man has the right to appeal to me personally.”
”My king is great and good,” said Fredersdorf, sadly; ”every man but myself can offer his pet.i.tion to your majesty and hope for grace; the king's ear is closed only to me; to my entreaties he will not listen.”
”Fredersdorf, you complain that I will not give my consent to your marriage. What would you? I love you too well to give you up; but when you take a wife you will be forever lost to me. A man cannot serve two masters, and I will not divide your heart with this Mademoiselle Daum; you must give it to me entire! Do not call me cruel, Fredersdorf; believe that I love you and cannot give you up.”
”Oh, sire, I shall only truly belong to you in love and grat.i.tude, when you permit me to be happy and wed the maiden I so fondly love.”
”I will have no married private secretary, nor will I have a married secretary of state,” said the king, with a dark frown. ”Say not another word, Fredersdorf; put these thoughts away from you! My G.o.d, there are so many other things on which you could have set your heart! why must it be ever on a woman?”
”Because I love her pa.s.sionately, your majesty.”
”Ah, bah! do you not love other things with which you can console yourself? You are a scholar and an alchemist. Well, then, read Horace; exercise yourself in the art of making gold, and forget this Mademoiselle Daum, who, be it said, in confidence between us, has no other fascination than that she is rich. As to her wealth, that can have but little charm for YOU, who, without doubt, will soon have control of all the treasures of the world. By G.o.d's help, or the devil's, you will very soon, I suppose, discover the secret of making gold.”
”He has, indeed, heard my conversation with Joseph,” said Fredersdorf to himself, and ashamed and confused, he cast his eyes down before the laughing glance of the king.
”Read your Horace diligently,” said Frederick--”you know he is also my favorite author; you shall learn one of his beautiful songs by heart, and repeat it to me.”
The king walked up and down the room, and cast, from time to time, a piercing glance at Fredersdorf. He then repeated from Horace these two lines:
”'Torment not your heart With the rich offering of a bleeding lamb.'”
”I see well,” said Fredersdorf, completely confused, ”I see well that your majesty knows--”
”That it is high time,” said the king, interrupting him, ”to go to Berlin; you do well to remind me of it. Order my carriage--I will be off at once.”
CHAPTER V.
HOW THE PRINCESS ULRICA BECAME QUEEN OF SWEDEN.
Princess Ulrica, the eldest of the two unmarried sisters of the king, paced her room with pa.s.sionate steps. The king had just made the queen-mother a visit, and had commanded that his two sisters should be present at the interview.
Frederick was gay and talkative. He told them that the Signora Barbarina had arrived, and would appear that evening at the castle theatre. He invited his mother and the two princesses to be present.
He requested them to make tasteful and becoming toilets, and to be bright and amiable at the ball and supper after the theatre. The king implored them both to be gay: the one, in order to show that she was neither angry nor jealous; the other, that she was proud and happy.
The curiosity of the two young girls was much excited, and they urged the king to explain his mysterious words. He informed them that Count Tessin, the Swedish amba.s.sador, would be present at the ball; that he was sent to Berlin to select a wife for the prince royal of Sweden, or, rather, to receive one; the choice, it appeared, had been already made, as the count had asked the king if he might make proposals for the hand of the Princess Amelia, or if she were already promised in marriage. The king replied that Amelia was bound by no contract, and that proposals from Sweden would be graciously received.
”Be, therefore, lovely and attractive,” said the king, placing his hand caressingly upon the rosy cheek of his little sister; ”prove to the count that the intellectual brow of my sweet sister is fitted to wear a crown worthily.”
The queen-mother glanced toward the window into which the Princess Ulrica had hastily withdrawn.
”And will your majesty really consent that the youngest of my daughters shall be first married?”
The king followed the glance of his mother, and saw the frowning brow and trembling lip of his sister. Frederick feared to increase the mortification of Ulrica, and seemed, therefore, not to observe her withdrawal.