that I
have the consolation of seeing him before I go. I absolutely will
have it; I will embrace with my two arms the Abbe and the Marquis. The
Marquis sha'n't be kissed, any more than you; nor the King either. But
I shall perhaps fall blubbering; I am weak, I am a drenched hen. I shall
make a foolish figure: never mind; I must, once more, have sight of you
two. If I cannot throw myself at the King's feet, the Plombieres waters
will kill me. I await your answer, to quit this Country as a happy or
as a miserable man. Depend on me for life.--V." [Ib. 308.]--This is the
last of these obscure Documents.

Three days after which, "evening of March 18th", [Collini, pp. 55, 56.]
Voltaire, Collini with him and all his packages, sets out for Potsdam;
King's guest once more. Sees the King in person "after dinner, next
day;" stays with him almost a week, "quite gay together," "some private
quizzing even of Maupertuis" (if we could believe Collini or his master
on that point); means "to return in October, when quite refitted,"--does
at least (note it, reader), on that ground, retain his Cross and Key,
and his Gift of the OEUVRE DE POESIES: which he had much better have
left! And finally, morning of March 25th) 1753, [Collini, p. 56; see
Rodenbeck, i. 252.] drives off,--towards Dresden, where there are
Printing Affairs to settle, and which is the nearest safe City;--and
Friedrich and he, intending so or not, have seen one another for the
last time. Not quite intending that extremity, either of them, I should
think; but both aware that living together was a thing to be avoided
henceforth.

"Take care of your health, above all; and don't forget that I expect
to see you again after the Waters!" such was Friedrich's adieu, say
the French Biographers, [Collini, p. 57; Duvernet, p. 186;--OEuvres de
Voltaire,--lxxv. 187 ("will return in October").] "who is himself just
going off to the Silesian Reviews", add they;--who does, in reality,
drive to Berlin that day; but not to the Silesian Reviews till May
following. As Voltaire himself will experience, to his cost!

Chapter XII. OF THE AFTERPIECE, WHICH PROVED STILL MORE TRAGICAL.

Voltaire, once safe on Saxon ground, was in no extreme haste for
Plombieres. He deliberately settled his Printing Affairs at Dresden;
then at Leipzig;--and scattered through Newspapers, or what port-holes
he had, various fiery darts against Maupertuis; aggravating the humors
in Berlin, and provoking Mauper