Therefore, farewell, your excellency!"
Hardenberg gave him his arm, and conducted him with kind and
friendly words into the anteroom.
"Does your excellency think," said St. Marsan, on taking leave,
"that I may venture to-morrow to go to Potsdam and personally
inquire about his majesty's health?"
"Your excellency had better wait two or three days," said
Hardenberg, after a moment's reflection. "By that time I shall have
succeeded in overcoming the king's displeasure, and if the French
troops in the mean time have made no further attempts to occupy
Potsdam, but, on the contrary, have withdrawn still farther from the
city, it will be easy for me to persuade the king that the whole
occurrence was a mere misunderstanding. Have patience, then, for
three days, my dear count!"
"Well, then, for three days. But then I shall see the king at
Potsdam, shall I not?"
"Ah," exclaimed Hardenberg, smiling, "how can I know where it will
please his majesty to be three days hence? The king is his own
master, and I should think at liberty to go hither and thither as he
pleases, provided he does not go to the Russian camp, and I would be
able to prevent that."
"It is certain," muttered Count St. Marsan, when he was alone in his
carriage, "it is certain that the king will no longer be at Potsdam
three days hence, but intends to remove secretly, and establish his
court at a greater distance.
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