"Have my carriage
brought to the front door in half an hour," he said to Conrad, as
soon as he entered the room. "But my own horses are tired. Send for
four post-horses. A courier is immediately to set out for Potsdam,
and see to it that relay horses be in readiness for me at Steglitz
and Zehlendorf!"
CHAPTER XX.
THE ATTACK.
It was six o'clock in the afternoon. The gloomy January day had
already yielded to a dark, cold night, enshrouding the city and
vicinity of Potsdam. The king was, as usual, to go to Sans-Souci
toward nightfall. There, far from the turmoil of the world, he liked
to spend his mornings and evenings, retiring from intrusive eyes
into the quiet of his simple domestic life. Like his august grand-
uncle, Frederick II., the king laid down his crown and the splendor
of his position at the gates of the small palace of Sans-Souci, and,
at this country-seat, consecrated by so many historical
recollections, he was not a king, but a man, a father, and a friend.
At Sans-Souci his children gathered around him every evening, and,
by their mirth and tender love, endeavored to dispel the clouds from
the careworn brow of their father; at Sans-Souci, Frederick William
received the small circle of his intimate friends--there old General
von Kockeritz, Field-Marshal Kalkreuth, Count Dohna, Chancellor von
Hardenberg, and the few who had remained faithful to him, were
allowed to approach without ceremonial or etiquette.
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