alone were to be ascribed the disasters of Prussia. Since
then, Frederick William, like Alexander, was a daily guest at Napoleon's
table, but he sat there in silence, sad, and absorbed in his
reflections, taking but little part in the conversation, and, when he
did so, assuming a cold, formal manner, while Alexander and Napoleon
chatted unreservedly and pleasantly.

The king had also been constantly at the side of the two emperors in
their long rides, and at the reviews, but always as an ominous shadow in
the light of their new friendship--always as the mournful and warning
spirit of memories which Alexander would have forgotten, because now
they were a reproach and an accusation against him. And Frederick
William took no pains to palliate this reproach, or to disguise his
sadness with a veil of politeness. Abrupt in his whole bearing, he did
not condescend for a moment to play the part of courtier. Accompanying
the emperors, the king was by no means ready to comply with their whims;
if they wished to ride at a full gallop, he moved only at a quick trot,
and politeness compelled them to remain with him. When they returned
from their excursions, Napoleon and Alexander vaulted quickly from their
horses, and walked hand-in-hand toward the door, but Frederick William
alighted slowly, and thus obliged Napoleon, whose guest he was, to wait
for him. The king frequently made his crowned companions stand,
regardless of the rain; and it happened more than once that the
emperors, while waiting for him, were thoroughly drenched. When he was
conferring with Napoleon as to the future frontiers of his states,
Frederick William did not assume a suppliant tone, but spoke with the
bearing of an incensed and insulted sovereign, whom his adversary was
robbing of his rights, and who scarcely succeeded in restraining his
indignation.

And the king had sufficient reasons to be sad and irritable. He saw that
the storm which had so long cast its bolts upon Prussia, would utterly
destroy her. Napoleon was about to revenge himself for the unpleasant
hours she had latterly caused him. He was willing, indeed, as he had
pledged himself to Alexander, to leave Frederick William his crown, but
he did not intend to restore him his states. He needed Prussia for the
new kingdom of Westphalia, and for rewarding his friends and allies. The
king was to retain nothing but a small part of the province of Prussia,
and Koenigsberg was to be his capital.

Fre