Hush, Jock, hush! do not shout," he said, loud enough to be heard by
everybody. "It is enough that I read my welcome in your eyes, and not
necessary for your lips to pronounce the words aloud. Our much-loved and
gracious father is sick and suffering, and we must not therefore allow his
rest to be disturbed by loud noises. Be quiet and silent, therefore, and
only believe me when I say that I know I am welcome to you all!"

He gave them one more friendly nod, and stepped out upon the long corridor,
on the other side of which lay his own apartments. Quickly he went on,
opened the door of the antechamber with a vigorous pressure of his hand,
and entered. The trunks and other baggage lay in wild disorder, heaped up
in the outer hall, and old Dietrich, with a few other servants and
lackeys, was busied in untying parcels and unpacking. The Electoral Prince
went hurriedly past, and entered his sleeping room. Here, too, he found
all in confusion; the dust lay thick upon the unwieldy old furniture,
whose cushions were covered with faded and even here and there ragged
tapestry. From the walls, hung with discolored papering, a few old
ancestral portraits looked gravely and gloomily down upon him, and their
melancholy eyes seemed to ask him what he wanted here, and why he had come
to awaken them from their repose, and disturb the dust which had been
collecting for years. It seemed to the Prince as if he heard this
inhospitable question quite clearly uttered by the lips of his ancestor
Albert Achilles, before whose picture he was just passing, and whose
large, glittering eyes seemed to look out in defiance. Frederick William
stopped and looked at his forefather with a sad smile. "I have come much
against my will, Elector Albert Achilles," he said. "I assure you, very
much against my will, and if I did not think of the future, I would go
away again and _never_ come back. But for the sake of the future the
present must be endured; therefore forgive me, my great, valiant ancestor,
and believe me I will do you honor!"

He nodded to the picture and strode on, advancing into the next room,
which was to be his study. Here everything was still exactly as he had
left it almost four years ago. The old furniture stood unmoved in its
familiar places; there was still the brown varnished writing table at
which he had formerly applied himself to his studies, in company with his
tutor Leuchtmar von Kalkhun; beside it stood the simple, rude book
shel