they are put on summer allowance. It
will stir up a fine hub-bub, I am sure of that."

"I, too, believe that the end will not be perfect peace," said the
Stadtholder, smiling. "Let the Elector learn that governing is not such an
easy matter as he supposes, but that a man may know a good deal, and yet
be an unskillful ruler. Go then, gentlemen, issue your orders, but forget
not that in an hour our entertainment begins, and that we must not allow
our feast to be disturbed by such little follies of the new _regime_."

"No, we will not allow ourselves to be disturbed!" cried Herr von Rochow.
"In one hour expect us here again, and you shall see, most gracious sir,
that we have brought with us our cheerfulness, our fine appetites, and our
thirst."

"Yes, yes, your excellency, guard well your keys and bottles; we shall
take the field against them."

"Do so, gentlemen," said the count. "But go now, to return the sooner."

He nodded kindly to the officers and followed them with his eyes until the
door closed behind them. Then the composure of his features, the smile on
his lip, vanished, and his whole being seemed to express agitation and
bitterness of wrath.

"He will insist upon war," he said fiercely. "He smiles upon and strokes
me with one hand, while with the other he stabs me, inflicting wound upon
wound. Yes, yes, stone by stone he would crumble to dust the tower of my
strength, and thinks to crush me to atoms, supposing that I will
voluntarily bend to avoid being bent by him. Oh, you are mistaken, little
Elector; I am not afraid of you, I shall not bend before you! The Emperor
alone I serve, to him alone I am subject. But to me the Emperor is a
gracious master. He will ruin you and exalt me; he will protect me against
your arrogance. To me belongs the future, presumptuous young Prince! who
would rule here, where I have held undisputed sway for twenty years. To me
alone belongs the Mark, and I shall hold it for my lord and Emperor! The
crisis has come, and finds me prepared and resolute. The troops will
revolt, and then shall I step out among them, appease them in the
Emperor's name, with lavish hand scatter money among them, and again bind
them by oath to the Emperor! Oh, my heart leaps for joy, for the hour of
action has come. Only one thing I lack. I would just like to have certain
news from my son, to be sure that the Emperor approves of my plan, that he
will lift me up where the Elector would cast me down. But t