The miserable Karl cast himself grovelling at full length upon the floor.
“No, no,” said Maximilian, raising him gently, “do not distress yourself so much for me, Karl. I have been a kind master to you, have I not?—but you have served me well. You, at least, have nothing to reproach yourself with. Come, let us act. I will know the worst at once. Go instantly to the Chancellor, and tell him I command his presence without a moment’s delay.”
Karl bowed his head, unable to speak, and fled from the room.
The King walked to an iron cupboard in a corner of the cabinet, unlocked it, and took out a golden circlet, which represented the crown of Franconia on all occasions except the coronation ceremony itself. He placed the diadem upon his head, closed the cupboard, and seated himself at the head of the table, on which the map, with its parti-coloured pins, was still spread.
There he sat silently, awaiting his doom.
Maximilian’s agony was not of long duration. The tramp of many feet was heard in the ante-room, the door swung back, and the Chancellor von Sigismark entered, clad in his official robes, and bearing in his hands a great parchment scroll, blazoned with the arms of the State, from the foot of which swung, by a silken cord, a huge round of wax stamped by the Great Seal of the Franconian kingdom.
After him filed in, in solemn procession, nearly the whole of the members of the Privy Council, the only notable absentee being the Count von Eisenheim, the distant kinsman of the King. The other Ministers and high officers of State followed; and in the rear stole the Princess Hermengarde, with Auguste Bernal and a third figure whose presence destroyed the last doubt in Maximilian’s breast as to his fate—the sombre-coated Court physician.
“On your allegiance,” exclaimed the King, as the party filed in before him, “I order every one except the Chancellor to retire.”
Not a soul obeyed. All cast looks at the young monarch, in which he read pity or horror. Without waiting, the Count proceeded to read from the parchment in his hands.
“Whereas it has pleased Almighty God,” the document began, “to afflict his Majesty, Maximilian Charles Leopold Joseph Marie von Astolf, King of Franconia, Grand Duke of Thuringia and Swabia, Prince of Astolf, Marquis of Este and Ferrara, Count of Lech, Meyer, and Ratisbon, Lord of Hohenlingen, Lord of Stürn, Lord of Neustadt, Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, etc., etc., with unsoundness of mind: Now we, the members of the Privy Council of Franconia, having received and considered the testimony of Herman Krauss, doctor of medicine, physician to his said Majesty, and of her Royal Highness, Hermengarde of Schwerin-Strelitz, Princess of Franconia, aunt to his Majesty, and of the illustrious Count von Sigismark, Chancellor of Franconia, and of Herr Paul Moritz, Minister of the Interior, Herr Auguste Bernal, his Majesty’s intimate friend, Karl Fink, his Majesty’s confidential attendant, and divers others, do hereby pronounce his said Majesty to be incapable of governing; and whereas his Royal Highness, Prince Ernest Leopold Friedrich Hugo Marie von Astolf, heir-presumptive to the throne, has not yet attained the age of eighteen, we furthermore hereby appoint her Royal Highness, the Princess Hermengarde aforesaid, mother of the said Prince Ernest Leopold, to be Regent of the kingdom until his Royal Highness shall attain the said age of eighteen, and we do hereby invest her with all the powers, rights and prerogatives of his Majesty for such period, and entrust her with the custody of his Majesty’s person. Done by the Privy Council at Seidlingen this fifth day of June, 18—.