"Well, I hope all this may be so, yet I scarcely dare believe my ears. Does your woman know the king's face?"
"Every one knows a monarch who is always on horseback. Besides, a page had preceded the king five minutes, to see if there was any one at her house. During that time, the king, cloaked and wrapped up, waited, as he is wont to do, at the end of the street."
"Then, Von Kleist, the secret of this mystery and solicitude is love, or I am mistaken. And have you come, in spite of the cold, to tell me this! My dear friend, how good you are."
"You may add, in spite of ghosts. Do you know that for several days there has been a panic in the palace? My chasseur trembled like an idiot as he accompanied me through the passages."
"What is the matter? Is the white lady come again?"
"Yes. The woman with the broom."[5]
"My dear Von Kleist, we are not playing the trick now. Our phantoms are far away. God grant they may return!"
"I thought at first that perhaps the king wished to play the ghost, for now he has a good cause to desire all curious servants out of the passages. What astonished me very much, however, was the fact that the ghost does not appear near his rooms, nor on the road to Porporina's. The spirits hover around your highness; and as I have nothing to do with the matter, I will say I am not a little afraid."
"What are you talking of, my dear. How can you, who I know so much, have any faith in spectres?"
"That is the reason why. It is said when they are counterfeited they become offended, and do all they can to punish one."