"The Emperor Alexander gave me this
information; he had just received from a perfectly reliable source
the news that Marshal Augereau had been instructed to seize the
person of your majesty. The emperor was greatly alarmed, and told me
he would be unable to find any rest until he had heard that you were
safe, and had left Berlin and Potsdam. [Footnote: Droysen's "Life of
York," vol. ii., p. 120.] I myself set out at once in the greatest
consternation, and as I left the emperor on the 13th of January, I
would have arrived here much earlier if I had not heard at Landshut
that Murat had issued an order to all the authorities to have me
arrested and conveyed to the French headquarters, [Footnote: Ibid.]
This compelled me to take a roundabout course, and now I rejoice the
more heartily as I have arrived at the very time to caution your
majesty, in the name of the Emperor Alexander, against the insidious
designs of the French."
The king made no reply. He paced the room slowly and with his head
bent down; the four gentlemen stood in silence on both sides of the
cabinet. Suddenly standing in the middle of the room, with his
countenance full of determination, he said: "Gentlemen, I will tell
you a state secret. Will you pledge me your word of honor, all four
of you, that you will keep it?"
"We will!" they all shouted at the same moment.
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