"
He was about to seize the letter, but Gneisenau drew hack a step,
and, bowing deeply said, "Your excellency has done me the honor of
writing to me. Permit me, therefore, to read." He stepped quickly
into the window-niche, and opened the letter.
"Well, stand back there, doctor," cried Blucher, "let me out! Do not
make me angry; leave the door!"
"I do not care if you are angry, your excellency," said the surgeon-
general, folding his arms, "but in order to get me out of this
doorway you will have to kill me."
At this moment, Gneisenau uttered a cry of terror, and hastened
toward Blucher. "What! your excellency," he exclaimed, "you intend
to leave us? To set out secretly?"
"What do you say?" thundered the physician. "What did my patient
intend to do?"
"He intends to forsake us--his army that worships him, his friends
who idolize him, his king who hopes in him--he intends to leave us
all!" said Gneisenau, mournfully. "It is written here, doctor; I may
mention it to you, for you are one of our most devoted friends."
"And he intends also to leave his physician; he will go, and get
blind!" exclaimed Voelzke, reproachfully.
"Well, it is precisely because I do not wish to get blind that I
must move from here," said Blucher, who had now recovered his
firmness, and felt relieved, since his secret had been disclosed.
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