kneel before you and with outstretched
hands entreat you, as I do now, 'Pity our distress, future Elector of
Brandenburg, have compassion upon the lands and provinces which shall one
day constitute your state. Turn not a deaf ear to the prayers, the hopes
of your future subjects.'"

Marwitz had sunk upon the floor, and stretched his clasped hands out to
the Prince, who looked thoughtfully into his excited face.

"And what would my future subjects have, what do they desire of me?"

"That you forthwith, without delay, return to the Mark by the speediest
way possible."

"I?" cried the Electoral Prince, with a mocking smile. "Your wishes and
entreaties, and those of the Brandenburgers, coincide very exactly with my
father's orders!"

"Yes, they do coincide, but spring from different motives. Prince, we
implore, we entreat you to return; no longer give us over to the caprice,
the villainy, the tyranny and avarice of Count von Schwarzenberg. He is
the evil demon of your father, of your country. Come home and frighten him
away!"

The Prince started, and for a moment a deep glow suffused his pale
countenance. His look penetrated deeper into the baron's uplifted,
beseeching eyes, as if through them he would read into the very depths of
his heart.

"Stand up, Marwitz," he said, after a long pause--"stand up, for you are
too old and too venerable to kneel before so young a man as myself. Else,
sit down near me, and explain your words more clearly. What good can my
return home do, and how think you that I can benefit the land? And first
and foremost, why do you call Count Schwarzenberg the evil demon of my
father and his country?"

"Permit me, your highness, to answer the last question first, and thus
will you understand the rest. Count Schwarzenberg is answerable for all
the distress, wretchedness, and misery which envelop the Mark, Prussia,
indeed all parts of your devastated and distracted land, for he acts
contrary to the true interests of the Elector and his land, being wholly
devoted to the interests of his own master, the Emperor of Germany. To
this end all is worked and manoeuvred, with this aim all efforts are
undertaken, to ruin Brandenburg, and take from it all power and
consideration, yea, all hope, in order that it may be rendered dependent
upon the Emperor and empire, and become less dangerous. For the benefit of
the Emperor, and to the detriment of the Elector and his land, has Count
Schwarzenberg conclude