“Oh, Madam, is it true what they are saying?” the girl faltered out. “Do people really think that the King is going mad?”
Hermengarde’s face instantly grew black.
“Who has been telling you that?” she demanded, so wrathfully that Dorothea was frightened afresh.
“The Lady Gertrude von Sigismark said so,” she responded, trembling.
She did not add anything as to Gertrude’s ill nature towards herself, but Hermengarde was quick to perceive what had taken place.
“The vain, insolent minx!” she muttered between her teeth. Then, speaking more gently, she replied to Dorothea—
“I am ashamed of Lady Gertrude. Her jealousy completely blinds her. You must pay no attention to what she says. I have seen for some time that she was irritated at the friendship the King and I have shown you, but I did not think she would dare to indulge her ill feeling in such a manner. What she has said is high treason, and I shall rebuke her severely for it, and so will the Chancellor. As for you, my dear child, depend on me. Whatever happens, always remember that Hermengarde of Schwerin-Strelitz is your friend, not because the King admires you, but in spite of it.” She stooped to bestow a caress on the agitated girl, and then added, “Now go, and tell the Lady Gertrude I desire her attendance immediately. And be careful not to breathe a word of this to any one else.”
She dismissed Dorothea, who found Gertrude outside and conveyed Hermengarde’s message to her. Gertrude received the summons in silence, and sullenly proceeded into the presence of the Princess, feeling no slight dread as to her reception. Her dread was amply justified, and before she re-emerged she was made to feel that it would have been better for her to have bitten her tongue than made her ill-timed display of spite.
But, as the Princess feared might be the case, the incident did not end there. A few hours after, Dorothea, wandering in the gardens by herself, came upon Johann Mark.
Her first impulse was to turn and avoid him, as she had done ever since their quarrel on the night of the ball; but the next moment she made up her mind to sacrifice her own personal feelings in the interests of Maximilian. She therefore walked straight up to her cousin, and at once began—