"
"Ah, you big children!" exclaimed Hardenberg, laughing. "How could
you give way to such senseless apprehensions while I was supping in
a friendly way at the house of the French marshal?"
"Just for that reason, your excellency," said Richard, smiling. "We
may know well how to get into a mouse-trap, but we do not know how
to get out again. A panic prevailed among your servants, and the
footmen had already made up their minds to arm themselves, go to the
house of Marshal Augereau, and forcibly deliver your excellency."
"I was lucky, therefore, in escaping from such ridicule," said
Hardenberg, gravely. "A minister who is taken home by his servants
vi et armis, because he takes the liberty not to return at an early
hour--what a splendid farce that would be! Pray be kind enough to
tell my servants that their anxiety was very foolish. The greatest
cordiality prevails between myself and the French gentlemen, and
never before has there been such a friendly understanding between
France and Prussia. My servants should always remember that, and
commit no follies."
He intentionally said this in so loud a tone that the two footmen
who preceded him with lights, as well as the two servants who
followed, heard and understood every word he uttered. Hardenberg
knew, therefore, that all his servants, fifteen minutes afterward,
would be informed of the new entente cordials between Prussia and
France; that all Berlin would be aware of it on the following day,
and that he would thus have attained his object.
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