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"Perhaps to go to Potsdam? Shall I be less watched there by the
spies? Shall I there be less a prisoner?"

"No, your majesty ought to leave Berlin in order to deliver yourself
at one blow, and thoroughly, from this intolerable espionage. Your
majesty ought to make up your mind to go to Breslau. There you would
be nearer your army; there your faithful subjects and followers
would rally round you, and the Emperor Alexander perhaps would soon
come thither. At all events, your majesty would there be secure from
the French spies, and your adherents would be delivered from their
anxiety for the personal safety of your majesty."

"To Breslau!" exclaimed the king, anxiously. "That is impossible!--
that would be pouring oil into the fire--that would be to advance on
the path into which York has entered."

"It would be another step toward the deliverance of your majesty,
the salvation of the country, and the annihilation of the tyrant!"
said Hardenberg, raising his voice.

The king made no reply; he stepped to the window, and, turning his
back to the chancellor, looked out musingly into the night.
Hardenberg looked now at him, and then on the queen's portrait.
Suddenly his features grew milder, and an indescribable, imploring
expression was to be seen in his eyes. "Help me, queen," he
whispered, in a fervid tone. "Direct his heart, guardian angel of
Prussia; render it strong and firm, and--"

The king turned again to the chancellor and approached him. "I
cannot comply with your request," said Frederick William, "for, if I
should go to Breslau, it would be equivalent to a declaration of
war, and we are, unfortunately, not in a position to justify that. I
must not rashly plunge myself and my country into a danger which
probably would bring about our utter ruin. But I pledge you my word
that, if your apprehensions should really be verified--if I really
obtain proofs that my person and liberty are menaced, I shall then
deem it incumbent on me to escape from this danger, and remove the
seat of government to a safer place--perhaps Breslau."

"Is your majesty in earnest?" exclaimed Hardenberg, joyously. "You
really intend, after having satisfied yourself that dangers are
threatening you here, to leave Berlin and place yourself beyond the
reach of the French?"

"I pledge you my word of honor that such is my intention," said the
king, solemnly. "And now, enough! I believe both of us need a few
hours' rest. In the course of the forenoon I will write the letter
which Prince Hatzfeld is to take to Paris. Good-night, M.
Chancellor!"

"Drive me home as fast as your horses can run," shouted Hardenberg
to his coachman, on entering his carriage.

"We shall be there in five minutes," muttered the coachman, whipping
his horses into a gallop.

Precisely five minutes afterward the carriage stopped in front of
the chancellor's residence, and a well-dressed young man, hastily
pushing aside the footman, opened the coach door.

"Ah, is it you, my dear Richard?" said Hardenberg, surprised. "Why
have you not yet gone to bed?"

"Because I could not sleep while your excellency had not returned,"
said the young man, assisting the minister in alighting. "It is
nearly four o'clock; the whole house was greatly alarmed."

"Well, and what were you afraid of, you dear fools?" asked
Hardenberg, smilingly, while ascending the staircase.

"That your enemies had found means to kidnap you, and that the
French had resorted to such an outrage to get rid of their most
dangerous and powerful adversary."

"Ah, you big children!" exclaimed Hardenberg, laughing. "How could
you give way to such senseless apprehensions while I was supping in
a friendly way at the house of the French marshal?"

"Just for that reason, your excellency," said Richard, smiling. "We
may know well how to get into a mouse-trap, but we do not know how
to get out again. A panic prevailed among your servants, and the
footmen had already made up their minds to arm themselves, go to the
house of Marshal Augereau, and forcibly deliver your excellency."

"I was lucky, therefore, in escaping from such ridicule," said
Hardenberg, gravely. "A minister who is taken home by his servants
vi et armis, because he takes the liberty not to return at an early
hour--what a splendid farce that would be! Pray be kind enough to
tell my servants that their anxiety was very foolish. The greatest
cordiality prevails between myself and the French gentlemen, and
never before has there been such a friendly understanding between
France and Prussia. My servants should always remember that, and
commit no follies."

He intentionally said this in so loud a tone that the two footmen
who preceded him with lights, as well as the two servants who
followed, heard and understood every word he uttered. Hardenberg
knew, therefore, that all his servants, fifteen minutes afterward,
would be informed of the new entente cordials between Prussia and
France; that all Berlin would be aware of it on the following day,
and that he would thus have attained his object.

"Your excellency will not yet retire?" asked Richard, when the
minister, instead of going down the corridor to his bedroom, now
halted at the door of his cabinet.

"No, M. Private Secretary," said Hardenberg, smiling. "As you are
still awake, and apparently not sleepy, let us hold a little
business conference. Come!"

No sooner had the servants put the lights on the table and left the
room, than the face of the chancellor suddenly assumed a grave air.
Ordering, with an imperious wave of his hand, his private secretary
to be silent, he hastened to his desk and quickly wrote a few lines.
"Richard," he said, casting the pen aside, and turning his head
toward the young man, who witnessed his mysterious proceedings in
great surprise, "Richard, come here!"

The young man hastened to him, and when Hardenberg gave him his
hand, with a kind smile, Richard stooped down and pressed a tender
kiss on it.

"Ah, lips as glowing as yours are, should kiss only beautiful
girls," said Hardenberg, smiling.

"But these lips like better to kiss the hand of my benefactor, my
protector," exclaimed the young man, "the kind hand of the man who
extricated me from poverty, distress, and despair; who caused me to
be fed, educated, and instructed; and who (until I myself, by his
liberal kindness, was enabled to discharge this sacred duty) secured
to my poor sick mother an existence free from cares."

"Do not allude to these trifles," said Hardenberg, carelessly. "Tell
me, rather, do you regard me with respect and love?"

"Indescribably, your excellency; with the tenderness of a son, with
the devotedness and fidelity of an old servant."

"Will you give me a proof of it?"

"I will, your excellency, and should you demand my heart's blood, I
would willingly spill it for you!"

"Listen to me, then! In five minutes you must be on horseback and
ride at a gallop, night and day, until you reach the Russian camp."

"In three days," said Richard, gravely, "but the journey will kill
my horse."

"I will give you two horses for him, provided you arrive sooner than
Major Natzmer at the headquarters of Prince Wittgenstein, commander-
in-chief of the Russian troops!"

"Has Natzmer left Berlin already?"

"Yes, about an hour since, and you know that he is considered the
most dashing and reckless horseman among all our officers. He has,
moreover, another advantage. He will ride through the French camp,
and will thence go to the Russian array, which is in the rear of it;
but you must ride around the French camp, and go by way of
Gumbinnen, unnoticed by the French, to the Russian headquarters. But
the main point is, that you arrive there sooner than Major Natzmer."

"I will arrive there sooner. Your excellency knows that I have often
been in Konigsberg and its surroundings; I know all the by-ways and
short cuts, and am, moreover, a good horseman."

"I know all that. I presume, therefore, that you will be with
Wittgenstein before Natzmer reaches him. But you will tell no one
that it is I who sent you. It is your task to find means to speak to
him alone. But wait--I will give you your credentials. Take this
ring. General Wittgenstein knows it; he has often seen it on my
finger, and he is familiar with my coat-of-arms. Send him this ring
by his aide-de-camp, and he will admit you."

"He will admit me, should I have to shoot down the sentinels."

"As soon as you are face to face with the general, deliver to him
this little note, which I have penned. Read it, and then I will
direct and seal it." He handed the paper to the young man. "Read it
aloud," he said.

"In one or two hours Major Natzmer will arrive at the headquarters
of your excellency, and beg leave to pass through the Russian camp
in order to repair to General York. If your excellency should grant
his request, and allow him to reach York's headquarters, the hopes
of Prussian patriots would be annihilated at one fell swoop. But if
York remains at the head of his troops, so enthusiastically attached
to him--if the whole nation and the whole corps may from this fact
derive the hope that York acted in compliance with the secret
instructions of his king, then we may hope for a speedy change in
our affairs. The fate and the future of Prussia therefore lie in the
hands of noble General Wittgenstein."

"Now read over the letter twice for yourself," said Hardenberg,
"that you may engrave it on your memory. For in case you should
happen to lose the letter, or if it should be stolen from you, you
must verbally repeat its contents to Prince Wittgenstein."

"I shall not lose it, and no one can steal it from me, for I shall
carry it in my heart. I have nothing further to do than to deliver
this letter to him?"

"You have to say yet to the general a few words which I dare not
intrust to paper, but only to your memory. You will say to him:
'Every thing is ready, and the period of procrastination and
hesitation is drawing to a close. In a few days the king will leave
Berlin, where he was in danger of being arrested by the French, and
repair to Breslau. At Breslau he will issue a manifesto to his
people and call them to arms.' Hush, young man, hush! no joyous
exclamations, no transports! You must set out! It is high time!
Beware of the bullets of the French, and the thievish hands of the
Russians! You must reach Wittgenstein sooner than Natzmer does; do
not forget that!"

"I shall not. Farewell, your excellency!"

"Farewell, my young friend. For a week at least, then, I shall not
see your dear face greeting me every morning in my cabinet. You must
indemnify me for it."

"In what way, your excellency?"

"You must embrace me, my young friend," exclaimed Hardenberg,
stretching out his arms toward the young man.

"Oh, how kind, how generous you are!" exclaimed Richard, encircling
the minister with his arms, and then reverentially kissing his
shoulders and his hands.

"Now, your excellency," he said, rising quickly, "now I am ready to
brave all dangers. Farewell!" He waved his hand again to the
minister, and left the room.

"He will outstrip Natzmer," said Hardenberg, gazing after him; "it
is an arrow of love which I have discharged, and it will not miss
its aim. And now let us see how it is about the other arrow of love,
which mes chers amis mes ennemis would like to discharge at me!" He
rang the bell. Conrad, his faithful old footman, entered the room.

"Has there no note come for me?" asked Hardenberg.

"Yes, there has, your excellency," said Conrad, in a low and anxious
tone. "Two letters, your excellency."

"Give them to me."

Conrad cast a searching glance over the room; he then drew two tiny,
neatly-folded letters from his bosom and handed them to the
minister. "She herself was here," he whispered, "and seemed very sad
when I told her his excellency was not at home, and at first she
refused to believe what I said. Only when I swore to her it was
true, she gave me the first note. She returned afterward and brought
the second letter."

"But why do you tell me all this in so mysterious and timid a
manner? Are you afraid lest some one has concealed himself, and
plays the eavesdropper?"

"Not that exactly, your excellency," whispered Conrad; "but--the
walls might have ears!" He pointed furtively at the ceiling of the
room.

"Ah, we are here under my wife's bedroom," said Hardenberg,
laughing. "You are afraid lest she should be awake, and overhear our
words through the floor of her room."

"Madame von Hardenberg sees, hears, and divines every thing," said
Conrad, with an air of dismay.

"It is true," muttered Hardenberg to himself, "her jealousy gives
her a thousand eyes, and the events of her own life have
familiarized her with all sorts of cabals and intrigues. In this way
she succeeded in becoming my wife and in bearing my name before the
world. But, no matter! I am not afraid of her Argus eyes, nor shall
she prevent me from pursuing my own path, and adorning my dreary
private life with a flower or two of pleasure."

"I believe and fear, your excellency," whispered Conrad, "Madame von
Hardenberg has found out that the young lady was here, and that I
received these letters from her."

"What makes you believe so?"

"Madame von Hardenberg sent for me at eleven o'clock tonight, and
asked me when your excellency would return, and whither you had
gone. When I told her I could not inform her, because I did not
know, she was pleased to box my ears and threaten that she would
before long turn me out of the house."

"These are, indeed, very valid reasons for your suppositions," said
Hardenberg, smiling. "But do not be alarmed. I know how to protect
you from being turned out, and as to having your ears boxed, it is
no insult, by the soft little hands of a lady. Any other news?"

"Yes, your excellency, the physician of the young lady was here at a
late hour in the evening, in order to tell me that she had again
fallen asleep, and, before doing so, had announced she would be
clairvoyant at eight o'clock in the morning."

"At eight o'clock!" exclaimed Hardenberg. "Do you hear, Conrad?--I
must be there at eight o'clock. That is to say, you must awaken me
at seven o'clock."

"But, your excellency, you will then have slept scarcely two hours,"
said Conrad, sadly.

"My old friend," said Hardenberg, "shall we not have time enough for
sleeping in our graves? Let us be awake here on earth as long as
possible. You will awaken me at seven o'clock. And now, come and
assist me in retiring."

Fifteen minutes afterward Hardenberg was in bed. A neat little
table, with a night-lamp burning on a golden plate, was standing at
his bedside. Before falling asleep, the chancellor read the two
notes which Conrad had delivered to him. "Protestations of love!" he
whispered, smiling and folding them up. "Protestations of love--that
is to say, falsehoods. But I must confess that this arrow, which mes
chers amis mes ennemis have discharged at me, is at least very
finely feathered and very attractive. At eight o'clock in the
morning, then! Well, I shall see whether I do not succeed in playing
my hostile friends a little trick, and in returning the arrow to
their own breast."

CHAPTER XVII.

THE CLAIRVOYANTE.

For some time past the inhabitants of Berlin had paid a great deal
of attention to the doings of Doctor Binder, and told each other
wonderful stories of the new medical system of this strange
physician. He treated his patients in an entirely novel way, and
performed his cures in a manner bordering strongly on the romantic
and miraculous. He neither felt the pulse of his sick friends, nor
did he examine their tongue; he only gazed on them for a minute with
his sombre, flaming eyes, and the patients then felt as if
fascinated by them. Their pain ceased, their blood burned less
ardently, and an indescribable feeling pervaded their body for a
moment. When the doctor perceived this, he would raise both his
hands, and with the palms softly and repeatedly stroke his subject's
face. Then the sufferer's cheeks colored; a wondrous, long-forgotten
smile played round the lips which, for many months, had opened only
to utter prayers, or sighs and complaints; the dimmed eyes began to
brighten, and fixed themselves with a radiant expression on the face
of the doctor, whose steadfast, piercing glances seemed to penetrate
the sick one's countenance, and reach down into his soul, in order
to divine, in its innermost recesses, his most secret feelings and
thoughts. By and by a sweet peace pervaded the soul of the patient;
his aching limbs relaxed; he folded his hands, which had hitherto
moved convulsively and restively on the counterpane; the eyes, which
had steadfastly rested on the face of the wonderful physician,
closed gradually, and soon his long and regular breathings indicated
that he had at length found the slumber which, during his sickness,
he had so long sought and yearned for.

It is true, the patient awoke after a time, and his sufferings
returned; the end of his slumber was often accompanied by painful
convulsions, an indescribable feeling of depression, and the most
profound sadness, but Dr. Binder was present; his eyes exorcised the
patient's pain, his hands quieted the quivering limbs, and chased
away the tears, and the sufferer fell again into a sweet and
refreshing slumber. This lulling the patient to sleep, this
fascinating gaze, and laying on of hands, were the only medicines
which the doctor administered, and by which he succeeded in freeing
them from their sufferings and diseases. People related the most
wonderful cures which he had performed; they spoke of persons who
had been blind ever since their birth, and whom he had caused to
see--of deaf-mutes, to whom he had given the power of speech and
hearing after a few days' treatment--of lame men, who suddenly,
after being touched by the doctor's hands, had thrown away their
crutches, and walked freely and easily.

But the public's attention was particularly riveted by the case of a
young girl who had been for some time past under Dr. Binder's
treatment. She had come from a distant city to seek a cure at the
hands of the famous physician and pupil of Mesmer. A bad cold had
brought about a paralysis of all her limbs; she was unable to move
her hands and feet, and had for months lain on her bed as
motionless, rigid, and dumb, as a marble statue. Her parents had, in
the anguish of their heart, at length applied to Dr. Binder. The
doctor received her into his house. He publicly invited all the
physicians of Berlin to visit his patient, to examine her condition,
and to satisfy themselves of the efficacy of his cure, he also
requested the public to watch the progress of it, and to come to his
house at the hours when he lulled his patient to sleep. The
physicians had disdainfully refused to have any thing to do with the
"quack doctor," who pretended to cure diseases without medicines;
but the public appeared the more eagerly.

And this public enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing that the
motionless form of the young girl, who at first had lain on the bed
as rigid as stone, very slowly commenced to move. It was seen that,
a few days afterward, she raised her right hand, and, shortly after,
her right foot; gradually life and motion were restored to her
limbs, and at length, at a truly solemn hour, the young girl, at the
doctor's loudly-uttered command, arose from her couch and paced the
room with firm and steady steps. It is true she uttered a piercing
cry, and fell at the feet of the doctor, her limbs quivering as
though she were seized with convulsion, but gradually she grew more
quiet; a peaceful expression beamed from her features, and she
commenced talking in a tone of joyous enthusiasm. She spoke of the
wonderful world on which she was gazing with her inward eyes, of the
visions which burst on her soul, and her lips whispered strange
prophecies. This condition of the patient repeatedly occurred every
day, and with unfailing regularity followed every "crisis."

The young woman had become a clairvoyante; and it was a truly
wonderful fact that she, who, according to the statements of her
relatives, had never cared for politics or public affairs, and to
whom it was entirely indifferent whether Napoleon or any other
sovereign ruled Germany, suddenly, in her clairvoyant state, devoted
her whole attention to political questions, and that she had, as it
were, become a prophetess of the destinies of states.

It was not very strange, therefore, that this phenomenon excited
even the attention of statesmen, and that they too went to see the
clairvoyante in her political ecstasy, and to put to her questions
on public affairs, which she answered always with truly wonderful
tact, and with the most profound insight into all such questions.

Among those who took an interest in her was the chancellor of state,
Minister von Hardenberg. Curiosity had at first induced him to call
upon her; then her clever and piquant remarks struck him as
something very strange, and at last he became a regular visitor. Of
late, at his special request, the room of the patient, during her
crises and clairvoyant trances, had been shut against all other
visitors, and only the chancellor and the physician were present.

The young woman, who, during her trances, regularly announced at
what hour of the following day she would relapse into this
condition, had predicted that she would awake from her magnetic
slumber at eight o'clock in the morning, and would then be in a
state of clairvoyance. This hour had not yet arrived; the clock
which stood in her room on the bureau under the looking-glass
indicated that about ten minutes were still wanting to the stated
time. A profound silence reigned in the room of the young patient.
The physician sat reading on a high-backed chair at her bedside--his
book contained the history and revelations of Swedenborg, the great
Swedish ghost-seer. From time to time, however, he turned his large,
flashing eyes toward the young woman, and seemed to watch her
slumber with searching glances.

The patient was motionless and rigid. A white, neat negligee
enveloped her slender figure, which was stretched out on the bed
without being covered with a counterpane. Her small, beautifully-
shaped hands were folded on her breast, her head was thrown back
sideways, and rested on a pillow of crimson velvet, which contrasted
strangely with her pale face, and black hair, that overhung her
marble cheeks in long tresses. The clock was striking eight. The
doctor cast a quick glance on the patient, and then slowly closed
his book. She began to stir and opened her lips, from which issued a
long, painful sigh. At this moment there was heard the roll of a
carriage on the street. The noise ceased, the carriage seemed to
stop in front of the house. The clairvoyante shuddered, and joy
kindled her countenance. "He is coming! he is coming!" she said, in
a deep, melodious voice. "I see him ascending the staircase. He is
pale and exhausted, and his eyes are dim, for he has slept but
little. Government affairs have kept him awake. Oh, now I am well,
for there he is!"

In fact, the door softly opened, and the chancellor cautiously
entered. By a quick wave of his hand, he ordered the doctor not to
meet him, and then approached the bed softly and on tiptoe.

The young woman did not change her position; her eyelashes did not
quiver, nor did she open her eyes, and yet she seemed to see
Hardenberg, for she said in a mournful and tremulous voice: "Well,
doctor, was I not right? Just see how pale he looks, and how the
sweet smile with which he formerly used to come to us is to-day very
faintly playing round his lips like a little will-o'-the-wisp! But I
told you already he has slept only two hours; he had to be so long
minister of state as to find scarcely two hours' rest for the poor,
exhausted man."

The physician cast an inquiring glance on the chancellor. Hardenberg
nodded smilingly. "You are right. Frederica," he said. "I was
minister of state all day long yesterday."

"No, no," she exclaimed, "not all the day. At the commencement of
Marshal Augereau's supper you were merry, and succeeded in
forgetting your onerous business; and had not the secretary of Count
St. Marsan made his appearance and brought the dispatches, you would
have finished your pheasant's wing with good appetite and in the
best of spirits."

The minister's face assumed an air of astonishment, and almost of
terror. "Ah," he said, "it seems you were present at that supper?"

"Certainly I was, for my soul is accompanying you all the time, and
my soul is the eye of my body. I see all you do, and know all your
thoughts."

"Well, then," said Hardenberg, smiling, "tell me what you saw last
night. Look backward, Frederica, and tell me where I was, and what I
did."

"Then you doubt my words?" she asked, reproachfully. "You want to
see whether I am able to tell you the truth? You know that it makes
my eyes ache to look backward, and that my spirit soars with easier
flight into the future than the past!"