echamber of the illustrious patient.
The crown princess received letters which informed her that Prince
Bismarck had submitted to the old emperor, then himself near death, a
decree for signature, transferring the succession of the throne from
Crown Prince Frederick to the latter's son, Prince William, a decree
which, by the by, the old emperor could not bring himself to sign.
Furthermore, she learnt through the same sources that one of the
principal members of her household at San Remo, in fact, one of the
chamberlains in attendance, was sending daily reports of the most
venomous character to Berlin, and to Prince Bismarck particularly,
about everything that went on around the unhappy crown prince. Not a
thing was said, not a thing done, not a change for the worse or the
better in the condition of the hapless crown prince, that was not
instantly reported to the chancellor, in a sense most detrimental and
inimical to the imperial couple at San Remo. This traitor in the camp
owed his appointment to the imperial household to Prince Bismarck, but
by his charming manners, his professions of loyalty and of devotion,
and his denunciations of Prince Bismarck, and of the latter's policy
and ways, had completely captured the confidence of both the crown
prince and crown princess.

Empress Frederick has inherited from her mother, Queen Victoria, a
singularly fiery temper. Her passionate anger when she realized
the base treachery to which her sick husband and herself had been
subjected in their time of cruel tribulation and trouble can only be
imagined by those who have the privilege of knowing her, and the scene
that took place between herself and the offending chamberlain was not
merely dramatical, but tragical in its fierce intensity.

It was very shortly after this that the old emperor died. If Prince
Bismarck entertained any further hopes of preventing the accession of
Crown Prince Frederick to the throne, they were frustrated by Prince
William, who declined to be a party to any such conspiracy. Indeed, in
spite of all that has been said to the contrary, I am firmly convinced
that William at no time took any part, either directly or indirectly,
in the Bismarckian plot to oust his so sadly afflicted father from his
rights to the crown. But, on the other hand, it is certain that he was
suspected by his parents and relatives of being privy to the scheme,
and that he was treated with still greater hostility and lack of
affection