“I thank your majesty,” cried the general; “and now have the goodness to dismiss me—­I must make my preparations.”

As Rothenberg stood upon the threshold, the king called him.  “You have guessed my thoughts, and now I will prove to you that I read yours.  You think I am in love.”

“In love?  What!  I dare to think that?” said the general; and folding his hands he raised his eyes as if in prayer.  “Shall I dare to have such an unholy thought in connection with my anointed king?”

The king laughed heartily.  “As to my sanctity, I think the holy Antonius will not proclaim me as his brother.  But I am not exactly in love.”  He stepped to the window, upon the sill of which a Japanese rose stood in rich bloom; he plucked one of the lovely flowers, and handing it to the general, he said:  “Look, now! is it not enchantingly beautiful?  Think you, that because I am a king, I have no heart, no thirst for beauty?  Go! but remember that, though a king, I have the eyes and the passions of other men.  I, too, am intoxicated by the perfume of flowers and the beauty of women.”

CHAPTER VI.

The first rendezvous.

The night was dark and still; so dark in the garden of Monbijou, that the keenest eye could not detect the forms of the two men who slipped stealthily among the trees; so still, that the slightest contact of their clothing with the motionless leaves, and the slightest footstep in the sand could be heard.  But, happily, there was none to listen; unchallenged and unseen, the two muffled figures entered the avenue, at the end of which stood the little palace, the summer residence of the queen-mother.  Here they rested for a moment, and cast a searching glance at the building, which stood also dark and silent before them.

“No light in the windows of the queen-mother,” whispered one; “all asleep.”

“Yes, all asleep, we have nothing to fear; let us go onward.”  The last speaker made a few hasty steps forward, but his companion seized him hastily by the arm, and held him hack.

“You forget, my young Hotspur, that we must wait for the signal.  Still! still! do not stamp so impatiently with your feet; you need not shake yourself like a young lion.  He who goes upon such adventures must, above all things, be self-possessed, cautious, and cool.  Believe me, I have had a long range of experience, and in this species of love adventure I think I might possibly rival the famous King Charles the Second, of England.”

“But here there is no question of love adventure, Baron Pollnitz,” said his companion impatiently, almost fiercely.

“Not of love adventure, Baron Trenck! well, may I dare to ask what is the question?”

“A true—­an eternal love!”