liam."

"The Electoral Prince?" asked the painter in astonishment. "Your
excellency will send me to the Electoral Prince at The Hague?"

"On the contrary, you shall act before him as if you hated me, and
belonged to the party of my opponents. But you must by all means reach the
Electoral Prince, must seek to remain in his neighborhood, and to gain his
confidence. You are a lively fellow, and have studied life at its
fountains in Italy. The Electoral Prince loves gay company, and you may
impart to him a little of your knowledge of life, and teach him that youth
must enjoy without scruple or reserve. Be his _maitre de plaisir_, Master
Gabriel; lead him into the temple of art, and teach him that each fair
woman is a Venus, a goddess, and therefore deserving of his worship. You
are a clever painter, and also, as I have heard from Rome, know well how
to sip of life's sweets; and these are two fine talents, which you must
convert into money. For this purpose I send you to Holland. You are to buy
pictures for me and to help the Electoral Prince to while away the hours
and enjoy life. I shall rejoice if you succeed, and it would be agreeable
to me for you to transmit to me exact accounts, every week, of your
efforts, and of the life you lead there with the Electoral Prince. You
can write, Master Gabriel Nietzel?"

"Yes, I can write; but--"

"Well, what signifies that _but_, and wherefore do you look all at once so
gloomy and so cross? Peradventure my commission does not please you?"

"No, your excellency, it does not please me, and I can not undertake it!"
cried Master Gabriel, indignantly. "You send me to The Hague, not as a
painter, but--let me call the thing by its right name--but as a spy, and,
what is yet more, as the corrupter of the Electoral Prince!"

"And that pleases not your virtue and your honesty?" asked the count,
shrugging his shoulders. "Well, good then, dear master! Stick to it! Let
all that we have said to one another be unsaid. Remain an honorable,
independent hero of virtue, paint pictures, and see to it that you sell
them, and if you do not succeed, then be contented to paint signboards
for merchants and their walls for burghers, and console yourself with
this, that you have refused a higher career from principles of virtue and
magnanimity. Take your Venus, Master Champion of Virtue; I had not
commissioned the purchase, and she is too dear for me. We are released
from our mutual obligations, and have n