mall olive leaf," replied
Leuchtmar, with a gentle smile. "I come to announce to your grace that I
have at last succeeded, after a four months' contest, in wringing from the
Swedish lords a few concessions, and concluding an armistice, which is to
be binding for two years."

"A two years' cessation of hostilities is equivalent to ten years of
refreshment, of reinvigoration!" cried the Elector with radiant looks.
"Tell me, Leuchtmar, what concessions did these hard-headed Swedes make at
the last moment?"

"Your highness, they have pledged themselves not to allow their soldiery
to enter the Mark, unless unavoidably compelled to march through on their
way elsewhere, and that then they shall be quartered and fed only under
the direction of an Electoral commissary; and that, moreover, separate
agreements shall be entered into with regard to the maintenance of the
Swedish garrisons of forts in Pomerania and the Mark." [49]

"Yes," murmured the Elector, with dejected mien, "so low are we reduced
that if they even acknowledge our natural rights, it strikes us in the
light of a concession, a grant, and we must esteem ourselves happy in
having obtained it! Ah! Leuchtmar, when will the time come when I can take
my revenge for these humiliations, the time when they will bow to _me_,
and when it will be for _me_ to concede and grant favors? Hush, ambitious
heart, be soft and still! Go on, tell me what further settlements you
concluded with the Swedes."

"Gracious sir, I have no other concessions to mention, except that
something has been done for the protection of our mutual traffic by sea
and land. But that is as much to the advantage of the Swedes as of
ourselves. The demands of the Swedes are truly far greater than their
concessions!"

"What do they demand?"

"They demand in advance that they be left in undisturbed possession of the
fortresses they are now masters of."

"I have not the power to take them by force of arms!" cried the Elector,
shrugging his shoulders. "Let them keep what I can not force from them!
What else?"

"They demand, besides, that the Werben fortress be delivered up to them."

"I will not deliver it up to them!" cried the Elector; "but I will have it
destroyed, that it be not seized by the Imperialists. What else?"

"The Swedes further desire that the Kuestrin Pass be closed to imperial
troops."

"To that I willingly consent, for it is in accordance with my own
interests," said Frederick Willia