“Wilhelm von Sigismark, Chancellor.
“Christian Silbur, Clerk.”
The reading of this act was received in absolute silence, except when the Chancellor came to the name Karl Fink, when the King uttered a stifled cry, and glanced over the throng in search of his attendant. But Karl had slunk away, unable to endure the exposure of his baseness.
The Chancellor, with several others of the Council, had anticipated a fearful explosion on the part of their victim, and a body of guards had been ordered into the ante-room, in case of any forcible resistance. But their apprehensions were disappointed. As the Count folded up his parchment, a strange, baffled, hunted look spread over the King’s features. He gazed at the array of countenances before him with a sickly smile for one moment, and then, bursting into a vacant laugh, leant back in his chair, and exclaimed—
“Wolf! Wolf! Won’t some one bring Wolf to me?”
The dog, which had been left behind by Prince Ernest, crept forward at the sound of its name, and licked the King’s hand.
While these events were passing in the Castle of Seidlingen, Johann was approaching the capital as fast as the train could carry him.
On his arrival at Mannhausen, the first sound that struck upon his ear as he emerged from the station was the voice of a newsboy shouting out the deposition of the King. The telegraph had been quicker than the train.
Without giving a moment to rest or refreshment, he sprang into a carriage, and drove off to the house of his old friend and comrade, Schwartz, the man with the red beard. Schwartz was completely taken by surprise at his appearance. Indeed, his manner was so embarrassed that if Johann’s mind had been free to take in anything but the fate of the King, he must have perceived that something was wrong.
“I have come here straight from Seidlingen,” he burst out, without waiting for Schwartz, “to rouse the revolutionary party on behalf of King Maximilian. He is the victim of a vile plot, solely on account of his sympathy with us. They are scheming to depose him as a madman, though he is no more insane than you are.”