As for Dorothea, she was completely carried away by all she saw. Shaking off the sense of her strange position, with the elastic spirit of youth, she seemed to regain in the air of Seidlingen the gayety and lightness of the old days when Maximilian first came seeking her in the forest lodge. The King gave every moment he could spare to her society, and when he was elsewhere, she roamed about the gardens under the protection of her cousin, whose harsh nature softened insensibly under the influence of the girl’s sweet temper.
Nor was the young Prince Ernest behindhand in offering her his company. Whether in despair of obtaining the old Chancellor’s support for her schemes, or actuated by some deeper motive, his mother had all at once ceased to thrust him into the arms of Gertrude von Sigismark, and the vain girl again found herself obliged to fall back on the homage of such lesser lights of the Court as the Von Stahlens and Von Hardenburgs. Deeply mortified at this second failure to retain a royal admirer, she set herself to fathom the nature of the intrigue between her father and the Princess. Aided by the reluctant hints which she had the art to extract from Herr Moritz, who came to and fro between Seidlingen and the capital, she was not long in reaching the conviction that her father was to blame for her present disappointment, and that it only rested with him to make her the future Queen of Franconia. The result was just such as Hermengarde had anticipated all along: Gertrude became her secret ally, and persistently urged the Chancellor to do everything in his power to conciliate the Princess.
In the mean time nothing was seen outwardly but sports and pleasures. In the midst of this magnificent picnic the Kaiser arrived to glorify the festivities with his patronage.
After King Maximilian had received him in state at the entrance of the demesne, and conducted him to the Castle, the two monarchs with their Chancellors retired to an inner room to hold a consultation on the political questions which the Kaiser desired to discuss. As soon as the affairs of Wurtemburg and other minor matters were disposed of, the Emperor took Maximilian familiarly by the arm, and asked him to walk with him round the gardens.
The King assented politely, and the two sovereigns strolled out together, while Von Sigismark led the Imperial Chancellor, General von Bernerstauf, into his own apartments.
At first the talk between King and Emperor turned upon the various objects which they were viewing, but by degrees it drifted round to more personal matters. The Kaiser inquired as to the truth of the reports which had reached him of the attempt on Maximilian’s life, and in response Maximilian related almost exactly what had taken place, down to the release of Johann Mark by his orders, and his reception as a familiar guest in the palace.
The Kaiser, who had contrived by some of his measures to incur the reproach of Socialism, from old-fashioned statesmen, without having earned the confidence of the Socialists themselves, was not an unsympathetic listener to Maximilian’s account.
“If I had been in your place I should have knocked the fellow down first, and talked to him afterwards,” he remarked, with the rough frankness which he affected. “But all the same, I am interested in your Herr Mark. Of course, the man ought to be hanged, but I don’t blame you for listening to what he had to say. I hold that in these days a king ought to be his own prime minister, and not suffer the dictation of a set of officials. I don’t think much of that Chancellor of yours. The man is past his work; why don’t you get rid of him and have a younger man, who understands modern ideas?”
Maximilian was much pleased at receiving this measure of encouragement from so influential a quarter.
“I have been considering my position lately,” he answered. “Up to the present, as I dare say you know, I have not taken much interest in the practical work of government. But Herr Mark has convinced me that I ought, as you put it, to be my own prime minister. I do not want to treat Von Sigismark harshly, but I have certainly found him very much disposed to thwart me when I ask him to listen to any new views. If it is not taking a liberty to make the suggestion, you would confer a great obligation on me by saying a few words to him privately while you are here, just to show him that my ideas are not so unreasonable as he seems to suppose.”