Old Fritz and the New Era Part 54

"Your majesty," answered Herzberg, smiling, "these gentlemen are Colonel Bischofswerder and the councillor of the exchequer, Woellner, whom your majesty has commanded to appear before you."

"You are the two gentlemen who work miracles, and have the effrontery to summon the spirit of our ancestor, the great elector, and the Emperor Marcus Aurelius?"

"Sire," stammered Bischofswerder, "we have tried to summon spirits."

"And I too," cried the king, "only they will not come; therefore I wished to see the enchanters, and would like to purchase the secret."

"Pardon me, most gracious sire," said Woellner, humbly, "you must first be received in the holy order of the Rosicrucians."

"Thanks," cried the king, "I am not ready for the like follies, and whilst I live the Invisibles must take heed not to become too visible, or they will be taken care of. I will not permit Prussia to retrograde.

It has cost too much trouble to enlighten the people, bring them to reason, and banish hypocrisy. Say to the Rosicrucians that they shall leave the crown prince in peace, or I will chase them to the devil, who will receive them with open arms! It could do no harm to appeal to the prince's conscience to lead an honorable life, and direct his thoughts more to study than to love, but you shall not make a hypocrite of him and misuse his natural good-nature. If the Rosicrucians try to force the prince and rule him, I will show them that I am master, and will no longer suffer their absurdities, but will break up the whole nest of them! I have been much, annoyed at the deep despondency of the crown prince. You shall not represent to him that baseness and virtue are the same, and that he is the latter when he betrays those to whom he has sworn fidelity and affection. An honorable man must, above all, he cognizant of benefits, and not forsake those who have sacrificed their honor and love to him, and have proved their fidelity. Have you understood me, gentlemen?"

"It will be my holy duty to follow strictly your majesty's commands,"

said Bischofswerder.

"And I also will strive to promote the will of my king," a.s.serted Woellner.

"It will be necessary to do so, or you two gentlemen may find yourselves at Spandau. I would say to you once for all, I will not suffer any sects; every one can wors.h.i.+p G.o.d in his own way. No one shall have the arrogant presumption to declare himself one of the elect. We are all sinners. The Rosicrucians are not better than the Illuminati or Freemasons, and none are more worthy than the tailor and cobbler who does his duty. Adieu!"

The king nodded quickly and pointed to the door out of which the two brothers were about to disappear, when he called them back.

"If the prince is not at the palace on your return, I advise you not to pursue him, but reflect that the Invisibles may have summoned him to a communion of spirits; I believe, too, that I kept you waiting; but without doubt you were comforted by the Fathers, who bore you away upon their wings, and gave you food and drink! Those who are protected by the spirits, and can summon them at pleasure, can never want. If you are hungry, call up the departed Lucullus, that he may provide for you to eat; and if you have no earthly seat, summon Semiramis that she may send you her hanging gardens for the quiet repose of the elect! I am rejoiced that you have enjoyed such celestial refreshments in the corridor.

Adieu!"

The king gazed sadly after them. Approaching Herzberg, he said: "I felt, as I looked at the two rogues, that it was a pity to grow old. Did you think that I would let them off so easily?"

"Sire, I really do not understand you," replied Herzberg, shrugging his shoulders. "I know not, in your most active youthful days, how you could have done otherwise."

"I will tell you that, if I were not an old man, void of decision and energy, I would have had these fellows taken to Spandau for life!" said the king, striking the table with his staff.

"Your majesty does yourself injustice," said Herzberg, smiling. "You were ever a just monarch in your most ardent youth, and never set aside the law. These men were not guilty of any positive crime."

"They are daily and hourly guilty of enticing away from me the crown prince, and making the future ruler of my country an obscurer, a necromancer, and at the same time a libertine! I was obliged to overlook his youthful preference for Wilhelmine Enke, and wink at this amour, for I know that crown prince is human, and his affections are to be consulted. If he cannot love the wife which diplomacy chooses for him, then he must be permitted the chosen one of his heart to console him for the forced marriage. At the same time this person was pa.s.sable, and without the usual fault of such creatures, a desire to rule and mingle in politics. She seems to be unambitious and unpretentious. These Rosicrucians would banish her by increasing the number of favorites, that they may rule him, and make the future King of Prussia a complete tool in their hands. They excite his mind, which is not too well balanced, and rob him by their witchcraft of the intellect that he has.

They promise him to find the philosopher's stone, and make a fool of him. Am I not right?"

"I must acknowledge that you are," sighed Herzberg.

"And admit also that it would be just to send these in, famous fellows as criminals to Spandau."

"Sire, unfortunately, there are crimes and offences which the law does not reach, and which cannot be judged."

"When I was young," said the king, "I tore up and stamped upon every weed that I found in my garden. Shall I now let these two grow and infect the air, because the law gives me no right to crush them?

Formerly I would have torn them leaf from leaf, but now I am old and useless, my hand is weak, and lacks the strength to uproot them, therefore I suffer them to stand, and all the other abominable things which these rogues bring to pa.s.s. A cloud is rising, from which a storm will one day burst over Prussia; but I cannot dissipate it, for the little strength and breath that remains I have need of for the government; and, moreover, I have no superfluous time for the future, but must live and work only for the present."

"But the blessing of your exertions will be felt in the future. The deeds of a great man are not extinguished with his death, but s.h.i.+ne like a star, disseminating light beyond his grave!"

"This light is just what the Rosicrucians will take care to extinguish like a tallow candle with too long a wick, and it is good fortune that the astronomers have awarded me a little glorification in the heavens, and accorded me a star, for the Rosicrucians would not let it s.h.i.+ne here below. I must console myself with this, and recall that when it is dark and lowering here, I have a star above in the sky!"

"This star is Frederick's honor," cried Herzberg. "It will beam upon future generations, and become the guiding light of the sons and nephews of your house, and they will learn to be as sagacious and wise as the Great Frederick."

"There you have made a great error, Herzberg," replied the king, quickly. "Future generations are newer taught by the past--grandchildren think themselves wiser than their grandparents. The greatest of heroes is forgotten, and his deeds buried in the dust of ages. You have given me a glorious t.i.tle of honor, and I know how little I deserve it."

"A t.i.tle which will be confirmed in centuries to come, for every history will speak of Frederick the Second as Frederick Great."

"In history it may be, but the people will speak of me as 'Old Fritz'--that will be on the lips of those who love me, and expression of endearment; on the lips of those who hate me, one of disaffection. I am, indeed, 'Old Fritz,' which the Bischofswerders and Woellners also call me, and try to make the crown prince believe that I have outlived my period, and do not understand or esteem the modern time. In their eyes I am a dismantled s.h.i.+p of state, which the storms of life have rendered unseaworthy. They would refit the vessel, and give it a new flag, sending Old Fritz, the helmsman, to the devil! The day of my death they will hoist this flag, with 'Modern Time' inscribed upon it in large letters. I shall then be united in Elysium with Voltaire, Jordan, Suhm, and all my other friends, as we were wont to be at Sans-Souci, and look down with a pitying smile upon the Modern Time and Old Folly!--Vale!"

CHAPTER x.x.xVII. THE ESPOUSALS.

Both Bischofswerder and Woellner hastened to avail themselves of the commanding "adieu," and quit the royal presence. Without, the carriage was ready to reconvey them to the new palace. They were so exhausted that neither of them uttered a word, the last injunctions of the king ringing in their ears.

Silently they alighted upon arriving, but as the footman came out to meet them they asked, simultaneously, if his royal highness had dined.

"His highness is not here, having departed immediately after the two gentlemen, and is not yet returned," he answered.

"You may serve us something to eat as quickly as possible in the little dining-room. Let it be ready in a quarter of an hour," commanded Bischofswerder.

"Now that we are alone, what do you think of this affair?" asked Woellner.

"I cannot vouchsafe a reply until I have eaten a pheasant's wing, and drunken my champagne," replied Bischofswerder.

He kept his word, preserving a solemn silence until a good half of the bird had disappeared, and many gla.s.ses of iced champagne.

Then Bischofswerder leaned back in his comfortable armchair with infinite ease, whilst his friend occupied himself with the most pious zeal with the pheasant, rejoicing at this revelation of the Invisibles.

Bischofswerder let him enjoy it, and ordered the footman to serve the dessert and withdraw.

"Now I am prepared to reply to you, my dear friend, that we are alone. I believe the king would have sent us to Spandau at once if we had opposed his free-thinking opinions."

"I am convinced of it," sighed Woellner, eyeing the remains of the bird with a melancholy glance. "We shall have much to endure for the holy cause which we serve."

"That is to say, we will have much to suffer if we, in fanatical indiscretion, do not submit to circ.u.mstances," said Bischofswerder.

"You cannot traduce the sublime Fathers!" cried Woellner;--"for the body's security, we cannot endanger the salvation of our souls, and, like Peter, deny our master."

"No, my much-loved and n.o.ble friend. But we must be wise as serpents, and our duty to the holy order is to preserve its useful tools that they may not be lost. You will agree with me in this?"

"Indeed, I do admit it," replied Wollner, pathetically.

"Further, you will acknowledge that we are very useful, and I might say indispensable tools of the Sublime Order of the Rosicrucians and the Invisible Fathers of the Order of Jesus? It is our task to secure an abiding-place to the proscribed and, cursed, to plough and sow the field, which will yield good fruit for humanity entire, and particularly our order, when the crown prince ascends the throne. We will here erect a kingdom of the future, and it is all-important to lay so secure a corner-stone in the heart of his highness that nothing can shake or dislodge it. Who could perfect this work if we were not here? Who would dare to undertake the difficult task if we should fail? Who would carry on a secret and continued warfare with this artful and powerful seductress if we were conquered?"

"No one would do it," sighed Woellner, "no one would sacrifice themselves like Samson for this Delilah."

"We will together be the Samson," replied Bischofswerder, drawing a gla.s.s of sparkling champagne. "We will be the Samson which the Philistines drove out, but this woman shall not practise the arts of Delilah upon us in putting our eyes out or cutting off our hair. Against two Samsons the most artful and beautiful Delilah is not wary enough; and if we cannot conquer her, we must resort to other means."

"What may they be, dear brother?"