This done, it was restored to its place.

We must hasten over what followed. On the king's return his first
greeting to his wife was, "Your good-for-nothing son is dead." He
immediately demanded the portfolio, tore it open, and carried away the
letters which had been so recently concocted. In a few minutes he
returned, and on seeing his daughter broke out into a fury of rage, his
eyes glaring, his mouth foaming.

"Infamous wretch!" he shouted; "dare you appear in my presence? Go keep
your scoundrel of a brother company."

He seized her as he spoke and struck her several times violently in the
face, one blow on the temple hurling her to the floor. Mad with rage, he
would have trampled on her had not the ladies present got her away. The
scene was a frightful one. The queen, believing her son dead, and
completely unnerved, ran wildly around the room, shrieking with agony.
The king's face was so distorted with rage as to be frightful to look
at. His younger children were around his knees, begging him with tears
to spare their sister. Wilhelmina, her face bruised and swollen, was
supported by one of the ladies of the court. Rarely had insane rage
created a more distressing spectacle.

In the end the king acknowledged that Frederick was still alive, but
vowed that he would have his head off as a deserter, and that
Wilhelmina, his confederate, should be imprisoned for life. He left the
room at length to question Katte, who was being brought before him,
harshly exclaiming as he did so, "Now I shall have evidence to convict
the scoundrel Fritz and that blackguard Wilhelmina. I shall find plenty
of reasons to have their heads off."

But we must hasten to the conclusion. Both the captives were tried by
court-martial, on the dangerous charge of desertion from the army. The
court which tried Frederick proved to be subservient to the king's will.
They pronounced sentence of death on the prince royal. Katte was
sentenced to imprisonment for life, on the plea that his crime had been
only meditated, not committed. The latter sentence did not please the
despot. He changed it himself from life imprisonment to death, and with
a refinement of cruelty ordered the execution to take place under the
prince's window, and within his sight.

On the 5th of November, 1730, Frederick, wearing a coarse prison dress,
was conducted from his cell in the fortress of Cuestrin to a room on the
lower floor, where the window-curtains, let down as he en