"
"I know all that. I presume, therefore, that you will be with
Wittgenstein before Natzmer reaches him. But you will tell no one
that it is I who sent you. It is your task to find means to speak to
him alone. But wait--I will give you your credentials. Take this
ring. General Wittgenstein knows it; he has often seen it on my
finger, and he is familiar with my coat-of-arms. Send him this ring
by his aide-de-camp, and he will admit you."
"He will admit me, should I have to shoot down the sentinels."
"As soon as you are face to face with the general, deliver to him
this little note, which I have penned. Read it, and then I will
direct and seal it." He handed the paper to the young man. "Read it
aloud," he said.
"In one or two hours Major Natzmer will arrive at the headquarters
of your excellency, and beg leave to pass through the Russian camp
in order to repair to General York. If your excellency should grant
his request, and allow him to reach York's headquarters, the hopes
of Prussian patriots would be annihilated at one fell swoop. But if
York remains at the head of his troops, so enthusiastically attached
to him--if the whole nation and the whole corps may from this fact
derive the hope that York acted in compliance with the secret
instructions of his king, then we may hope for a speedy change in
our affairs.
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