"
"Ah, you are in truth a magician, your excellency!" said St. Marsan,
gayly, "for you understand both how to take away and give sleep. So
long as I am near you, I forget all weariness; and after you have
left me I shall, thanks to your words and promises, be able to sleep
more quietly than I have done for a long time. You have quieted my
soul, and my body therefore will also find rest. Bid me good-night
again, for when you say so I will be sure to have it."
"Good-night, then, my dear count," said Hardenberg, shaking hands
with his friend, and withdrawing, with a smile, from the room.
This affectionate smile was still playing round the lips of the
chancellor when he entered his carriage. But no sooner had its door
closed and the carriage was moving, than an expression of gloomy
hatred overspread his features. "I hope I have quite succeeded in
misleading St. Marsan and arousing his suspicions in regard to the
king," he said to himself. "As the king refuses to listen to my
warnings and supplications, and does not believe it to be possible
that France should dare seize him, it is time to give him some
irrefutable proofs. Perhaps he may then make up his mind to leave
Berlin. I may sign this longed-for betrothal at some other place,
too, and then fasten on my breast the order for which I am longing.
In truth," he added, laughing, "it is no fault of mine that dear
Count St.
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