The next two days in the Castle passed without incident. Dorothea was still kept secluded to some extent from the Court, but as she grew more accustomed to her new sphere, she gradually enlarged the number of her friends. Enemies she had none, with perhaps a single exception, for her gentleness and simplicity won over all who approached her. Even the Count von Stahlen was conquered, and announced in confidence to his satellite that he himself stood in serious danger of becoming the Poacher’s Son-in-law.
The fondness for her society shown by the young Prince was not long in exciting remark, a fondness which his mother seemed doubtful whether to encourage or restrain. All the awkwardness and constraint which marked his intercourse with the ladies of the Court vanished when he found himself in the company of the peasant girl. He came to her on all occasions, took her into his confidence about everything, and would have asked her to ride out with him if the Princess had not interfered.
In the mean time, Hermengarde was anxiously awaiting intelligence from Mannhausen. From time to time she sent for the Chancellor and questioned him, but found he was still without news. At last, early on the Monday morning he came to her, bringing the following laconic message—
“I have carried out the arrangement. K. will arrive at noon.
“P. Moritz.”
CHAPTER XV
NO. 79
Maximilian had submitted quietly to his arrest and subsequent incarceration in cell No. 79. More from shame than from prudence, he was careful to avoid betraying his identity to those around him, whether the Socialists, in whose eyes he must have appeared a deceiver, or the police, to whom his presence might seem too much like a freak of madness. His wisest course was evidently to wait till he was alone in his cell, and then endeavour to communicate privately with his Ministers. Nevertheless, it was with a feeling of deep disquietude that he heard the iron-bound door clang to upon him, and the key grate in the lock.
No sooner did he find himself left alone than he gave way to a burst of anger.
“This ends my submission to the Chancellor!” he cried, striding wildly up and down the narrow limits of the chamber. “The moment I am out of here I will get rid of him, and have a Minister who will obey me instead of thwarting and defying me. Why not Moritz? He seems to have brains, and not to be a mere fossil like Von Sigismark. I must sound him on the first opportunity, and find whether he is willing to act.”
For some time he continued to pace the floor, storming against his captivity, and revolving the means of procuring his release. Deep down in his heart there was a faint, undefined dread as to whether release would be so much a matter of course as he had assumed; whether the cell in which he found himself might not prove the ante-room to another and a more terrible prison. But the presence of this shadowy dread he would not recognise, curbing his thoughts and forcing them to dwell on the punishment he should award his disobedient Chancellor.