ince, angrily.

"Yes, I desire and expect it. I can truthfully say that I have given my
brothers a good example in this particular."

"But you did not do this willingly. You were cruelly forced to
submission, and you now wish to drive us to an extremity you have,
doubtlessly, long since forgotten. Now, you suffered and struggled
before declaring yourself conquered."

"No," said the king, softly, "I have not forgotten. I still feel the
wound in my soul, and at times it burns."

"And yet, my brother?"

"And yet I will have no pity with you. I say to you, as my father said
to me: 'You must submit; you are a prince, and I am your king!' I have
long since acknowledged that my father was right in his conduct to me.
I was not only a disobedient son, but a rebellious subject. I richly
deserved to mount the scaffold with Katte."

"Ah, my brother, there was a time when you wept for this faithful and
unfortunate friend," cried the prince, reproachfully.

"The sons of kings have not the right to choose their own path, destiny
has marked it out for them; they must follow it without wavering. I
neither placed the crown upon my head, nor the yoke upon your neck. We
must bear them patiently, as God and Providence have ordained, and wear
them with grace and dignity. You, my brother, have acted like a wild
horse of the desert--I have drawn the reins tight, that is all!"

"You have caught, bound, and tamed me," said the prince, with a faint
smile; "only I feel that the bit still pains, and that my limbs still
tremble. But I am ready to submit, and I came to tell you so. You desire
me to marry, I consent; but I hold you responsible for the happiness of
this marriage. At God's throne, I will call you to justify yourself, and
there we will speak as equals, as man to man. What right had you to rob
me of my most holy and beautiful possession? What right have you to lay
a heavy chain on heart and hand, that love will not help me to bear? I
hold you responsible for my miserable life, my shattered hopes. Will you
accept these conditions? Do you still wish me to marry?"

"I accept the conditions," said the king, solemnly. "I desire you to
marry."

"I presume your majesty has chosen a bride for me?"

"You are right, mon cher frere. I have selected the Princess Wilhelmina,
daughter of Prince Max, of Hesse-Cassel. She not only brings you a
fortune, but youth, beauty, and amiability."

"I thank you, sire," said the prince, coldly and for