CHAPTER VII.

THE CONDITIONS.

While this was occurring in the dining-room, Jean sat in the antechamber, holding himself in readiness to answer his mistress's bell, if it should ring. But no bell rang, and all was so still, the air so warm and sultry in the little chamber, and the soft twilight had so tranquillizing an effect, that Jean could no longer resist the temptation to close his eyes, and indulge in his dreams of the future. And perhaps he was dreaming, when a tall figure, completely enveloped in a black mantle, stood before him, laid his hand on his shoulder, and pronounced his name in a low voice. Perhaps it was only a dream when he saw this, and heard the veiled figure utter these words in a low voice:

"You belong to the third circle of the Invisible lodge?"

And he replied--whether in a dream or in reality, he was himself not perfectly satisfied--"Yes, I belong to that circle."

Furthermore, the veiled figure said: "You were sent here with orders to make an exact report of all that occurs, to the circle director, and to submit to his will, in all things. Do you bear this in mind?"

"I am the obedient servant of the Invisible," replied Jean, respectfully. "I will never forget my oath; if I did, punishment would overtake, and the just anger of the Invisible destroy me."

"Did the circle-director show you the symbol of the brotherhood?"

"Yes, he did."

"Behold the symbol," said the veiled figure, and for a moment a little triangular plate of metal shone in his open hand.

"I see it," replied Jean, rising, "and I know by this triangle that a brother of the higher degrees stands before me; I therefore salute you with reverence, brother superior." He bowed profoundly, but the veiled figure merely nodded in return.

"Do you know the sign by which the master of the order, the grand kophta is recognized?" said he, in low and piercing tones.

"I do," replied Jean, his voice almost inaudible, from inward agitation.

The veiled figure thrust forth his hand from under the concealing mantle, and a large solitaire sparkled on his finger. "See, this is the sign," said he.

Jean uttered a cry of astonishment, and sank on his knees. "Command me, almighty one," he murmured, "your slave has no will but yours."

"Arise, and be my guide," commanded the veiled figure, and Jean stood up immediately.

"Where shall I lead, my exalted master?"

"Conduct me to the little room adjoining the laboratory of the present king, but by such a way that no human eye shall see, and no human ear hear me."

"Then, I must first beg permission," said Jean, hurrying towards the door, "to assure myself that no one is in the hall."

But the veiled figure followed, and held him back. "Why go that way?" he asked. "Why through the hall, when we can go through the door in the wall into the little passage that leads to the secret staircase?"

"That is true; I had forgotten that," said Jean, trembling, and looking with surprise and terror at his superior, who was so well acquainted with this strange house that he knew the secret doors and staircases.

"As my master pleases; here is the door." He pressed a small, almost imperceptible knob in the wall, and a little door sprang open.

"Go before, and lead me," said the veiled figure, pushing Jean through the entrance. "We must walk softly, and without uttering a word; the passage runs by the dining-room, where your mistress is conversing with the king's privy-chamberlain, and we might be heard. I will, therefore, give you my command here. You will lead me through the passage and down the staircase. With the key which you carry, you will then open the door and let me into the laboratory. You will then lock the door again, take the key from the lock, and hurry back to the antechamber. You will observe the most profound silence in regard to what has occurred; and, if life and your eternal welfare are dear to you, you will betray having seen me by neither word, look, nor gesture."

"Exalted master," whispered Jean, "I am nothing more than your slave and creature, and I know that my life is but dust in your hands. I fear the Invisible, and I adore you in your sublimity. Graciously permit me to embrace your feet, that the touch may impart to me eternal health and strength."

And he knelt down and kissed the feet of the veiled figure with impassioned tenderness.

The veiled figure bowed down to him and said: "Grace will be shed upon you; you are a good and obedient servant. At the next assembly you will learn that you have been elevated a degree, and have come a step nearer to the inner halls of the temple. Be silent, no word of thanks, but arise and conduct me!"

Jean arose and stepped forward, the veiled figure following him, and conducted him, as he had been directed, to the laboratory; he let him in, closed and locked the door again, and returned hastily to the antechamber.

Had this all really happened, or had Jean only been dreaming? He asked himself this question, and looked inquiringly and anxiously around in the little chamber. He was entirely alone; the secret door was closed. No one was with him, all was still around him, and profound silence seemed to reign in the dining-room also. Jean stepped softly to the door and listened. He could now hear a subdued murmur, and could even distinguish the voices of his mistress and the privy-chamberlain. They seemed to be conversing eagerly; but they spoke in such low tones that it was impossible for Jean to understand a single word.

And they were really engaged in a very earnest conversation; in a conversation which absorbed Wilhelmine's attention wholly. Rietz had not only related his interview with the maid of honor, but had also given her a faithful account of the king's visit to Schönhausen, and of the conversation between Charles von Voss and his sister, in which he persuaded her to receive the king.

"How do you know this?" asked Wilhelmine, with a shrug of her shoulders. "I imagine it could have needed no persuasion, that this young lady would have done so willingly enough."

"There you are in error, my beautiful countess; I know better, because I listened to the whole conversation between the maid of honor and her brother."

"How? You were present?"

"Not exactly present, but I heard it, nevertheless. The doors of the dilapidated old castle in Schönhausen are full of cracks and crannies, and if you get near enough you can see and hear very readily."

"And you were near the door of the maid of honor's chamber?"

"So near that a sheet of paper could hardly have been slipped in between us."

"And there was no one there to order the bold eavesdropper to leave?"

"Yes, there was a human being in the little dressing-room in which I stood, but this human being made no opposition whatever to my listening at the door, for the simple reason that I had paid well for the privilege. The young lady's chambermaid loves money, and is of a speculative disposition. She wishes to open a millinery establishment, and for that money is necessary; and she takes it whenever she can get it. I pay her in my gracious master's name for singing the king's praise in her mistress's ear; and I pay her in my own name for reporting to me the result of this singing, and permitting me to listen at the door when there is anything to be heard. To be sure, it cost me a considerable sum yesterday. This shrewd little kitten made me pay her twice: once for the conversation between the maid of honor and her brother, and the second time for the conversation between the king and the maid of honor."

Wilhelmine sprang up, and an exclamation of astonishment escaped her lips. "You have listened to the conversation between the king and the maid of honor, and now tell me of it for the first time. I conjure you, Rietz, my dear Rietz, my best friend, tell me of it. Speak--what did the king say, and what did she reply?"

"After dinner, and for nothing?" asked Rietz, as he stretched himself comfortably, poured the last few drops of champagne into his glass and carried it slowly to his lips.

"Speak, my dear Rietz. Say what I shall do. What will you have?"

"The little love of a house at the entrance of the park of Sans-Souci. It was built on speculation; that is to say, I had it built, hoping that the old king would be dead, and our Frederick William seated on the throne by the time of its completion. My hope is now realized, and I ask you, my adorable wife, will you use your influence to persuade the king to give me this house as a reward for my long and faithful services?"

"I will do so; I will storm the king with entreaties to give you this house."

"Then it is as good as mine already, and I thank my noble patroness. And now that I am paid in advance, I will impart to you the substance of that important conversation--that is, you will certainly not require me to repeat the king's protestations of love and vows of eternal fidelity."

"No, I do not require that of you," sighed Wilhelmine, with trembling lips; "that I can readily imagine. It can only have been a repetition of what he told me. Out upon men! They are a perfidious and faithless race!"

"Yes, they imbibe these qualities with their mother's milk; and King Frederick William also is only the son of his mother. Therefore, nothing of the king's protestations of love, and the noble indignation and conflict between love and virtue on the part of the young lady. To the king's intense gratification the young lady finally admitted, with many tears and sighs, that she would love him if he were not, unfortunately, already married, and if Madame Rietz were not in existence. If the king were no better than a poor nobleman, the young lady would esteem it perfect bliss to become his. She would joyfully undergo hardships and suffer want at his side; but she was not willing to occupy a position that would expose her to scorn and contempt. She could not cause the noble queen additional sorrow and pain; and finally, it would be quite impossible to tolerate a despised and hated rival like Wilhelmine Rietz at her side. But--good heavens! what is the matter with you? You turn pale, and wail and moan fearfully! Poor woman, if you are so sensitive, I must of course be silent."

"It is nothing--nothing at all," murmured Wilhelmine. "It was only a momentary pang, and it is now past. Speak on, I am quite composed. Speak! What did the king reply?"

"He begged her to name the conditions on which she could consent to be his; and the beautiful and wise maid of honor stated her conditions, assuring him that they were irrevocable--her ultimatum, as the diplomatists say. And truly these conditions were ridiculous. I almost burst out laughing when I heard them."

"And what were they? I pray you tell me," murmured Wilhelmine, clasping her hands tightly together to keep them from trembling.

"There were three conditions, and the maid of honor swore by the memory of her mother, who had died of grief caused by her love for the king's father, Prince August William, that she would neither see his majesty nor speak with him until he had promised to fulfil her conditions; and, that if he could or would not fulfil them, the young lady would leave the court forever, and retire into the deepest seclusion."

"She is cunning; oh, she is very cunning," murmured Wilhelmine, clasping her hands yet more firmly together. "And her three conditions?"

"Are as follows: firstly, the young lady exacts of the king that she be married formally and rightfully to his left hand, by a Protestant minister; secondly, she demands that, above all things, the consent of the queen, the wife of the right hand, be first obtained; and thirdly, and finally, she demands that Wilhelmine Rietz, together with her two children, be banished, and that an estate be given her in Lithuania, and she be compelled to remain there and never return to Berlin or Potsdam."

"And the king?" cried Wilhelmine, in piercing accents.

"The king stipulated for four weeks' time in which to consider the matter, kissed the proud lady's hand, and retired. Now, my queen, you know all, and it is also time for me to retire. I must ride to Potsdam at the king's command, and confer with the queen as to the conditions on which she would give her consent to this absurd marriage. But I cannot comprehend you, my beauty! You look as mournful as if you were on the point of starting for Lithuania already, and as if it were another than you who sways the king's heart and soul. I, for my part, place implicit confidence in your power, and am satisfied that the king will never give you up or desert you. Would I otherwise have courted your alliance? Would I have based my hopes of obtaining the little house at Sans-Souci on your intercession? No, my beauty; you are, and will remain, queen, in spite of all the wives of the right and the left hand. Only you must not be discouraged, and must not look so sad. For you well know that our good master cannot abide mournful faces, and invariably runs away from weeping women."

"It is true; you are right," said Wilhelmine. "I will wreathe my face in smiles. I will laugh."

And she burst out into a loud and vibrating peal of laughter, in which Rietz heartily joined.

"That is right," he cried; "now I admire you! You look like a lioness defending her young. That is right, my beauty! 'He who trusts in God, and strikes out boldly around him, will never come to grief,' my good old burgomaster Herr Funk used to say. Strike boldly, my queen, deal out heavy blows, and we shall never come to grief, and all will yet be well. And now, my charming wife, I must take leave of you, as I hear a carriage driving up that I wager brings no other than his majesty. It is not necessary that he should still find me here. I will, therefore, slip out of the back door and beat a retreat through the garden. Addio, carissima, addio!"

He bowed respectfully, threw her a kiss with the tips of his fingers, opened a window, and sprang out upon the terrace, from which a small stairway led down into the garden.

Wilhelmine frowned, and cast an angry look in the direction he had taken. "How degraded a soul! how base a character!" she murmured; "but yet I must cling to him, and be very friendly with him. He is my only support, my only friend; for without him I would be lost! And I will not be lost! I will maintain my position; while I live, I will bravely battle for it!"

"The king!" cried Jean, throwing the door open. "His majesty has arrived, and awaits my lady in her parlor."

"I am coming," said Wilhelmine, calmly. "Hurry down into the park, and tell my son and daughter that their father is here. They are down on the river; they must come at once to greet his majesty."