I am, most gracious sir, here I am!" cried Burgsdorf's rough voice,
and with clashing sword and glittering corselet Conrad von Burgsdorf
entered the room. The Electoral Prince nodded to him, and then turned to
the painter, who humbly and with lowered head had crept away toward the
door. "Master Nietzel," he said, with a condescending wave of the hand,
"go now, and be careful to carry out my instructions. I will request my
mother to do me the kindness to sit to you every day for her portrait,
which you are to paint for me. Make all your preparations, and come early
to-morrow morning with the canvas stretched."

"Your highness's commands shall be punctually executed," said Gabriel
Nietzel, and, after reverentially bowing, he left the room.

"And now for you, my dear Burgsdorf!" cried the Electoral Prince,
advancing a few paces to meet the colonel, and kindly offering him his
hand. "You are heartily welcome, and let me hope that I, too, am welcome
to you and your friends."

"Your highness, you are more than welcome to us--you have been longed for
by us, and we thank God from the depths of our souls that he has finally
given you back to us. All had already abandoned hope of your return to us.
All really believed that you would forsake us in our wretchedness and
want, and would never more return to the unhappy Mark of Brandenburg. But
here you are at last, my dearest young sir, and blessed be your coming and
your staying."

"I thank you, colonel, thank you with my whole heart for your good
wishes," said Frederick William kindly; "and trust me, my dear colonel, I
know how to treasure them, and will never forget you for these. You are
one of the faithful ones, on whom our house can count in evil as in good
days, and on whom an Elector of Brandenburg would never call in vain, if
he had need of him."

"Call upon us, most gracious sir," said the colonel briskly and
joyfully--"call all your faithful ones, and you shall see they will all
come, for they are only waiting for your summons."

The Electoral Prince smilingly shook his head. "I am not the Elector of
Brandenburg, and I have not the right to summon you."

"You shall and must be Elector of Brandenburg, and that you may be so, you
must gather your faithful ones around you."

"I do not understand you," said the Electoral Prince slowly. "Whether I
will ever be Elector of Brandenburg, God only can decide, for in his hands
lies my father's life as well as my own. May the