vant and subject
of my own son! Before me shall he bow--me shall he acknowledge to be his
lord so long as I live, and never while I breathe shall I cease to lay to
his charge these hours of pain and vexation. I am Elector and ruler, and
he is nothing further than my son and subject, my successor when I die,
but not my coregent while I live! Count Adam Schwarzenberg, I charge you
to stand courageously at my side, to remain zealous in my service, and to
direct your attention especially to unraveling all the arts and wiles, the
plots and schemes of my son and his abettors; to give me always
information on these points, to keep nothing in the background, and not to
conceal anything from me merely to save me from vexation. Will you promise
and swear so to manage and act, my Adam?"

"I swear and promise it, and in affirmation will my Prince allow me to
give him my hand upon it?" asked Schwarzenberg, laying his own right hand
in the outstretched one of the Elector. "You will find in me a true
servant and guardian of your sacred person and your throne, and he who
would supplant or harm you must first step over the corpse of Count
Schwarzenberg! But now, most gracious sir, I beseech you not to be
overpowered by your feelings of indignation, and to be amiable and
condescending toward the home-coming Electoral Prince; for it is sometimes
very necessary to wear a mask and assume an appearance of harmlessness and
unconcern in order the better to fathom the designs of one's enemies, and
to make them feel secure, that they may the more easily betray themselves."

"Yes, I will do so," said George William, sighing. "I will swallow down my
rage, although it would be a relief to me to vent it a little, and to show
my son that I know him and am not deceived by him. But what noise is that
without, and who is knocking so violently at the door?"

This door was now impetuously torn open, and the Electress Sophy Elizabeth
entered, with beaming eyes and features lighted up by joy, while on high
she held an open letter in her hand.

"George!" she exclaimed--"George, our son is coming! Our dear Frederick
William is coming!"

"Well, I rather think he ought to have been here a half year ago," growled
the Elector, "and we have been expecting him several months already."

"But he is here now, my husband, he is actually here now. Only see what a
good, affectionate son he is! He has halted at the inn of the Spandow
suburb, merely to forewarn us of