Lex's face became puckered with anxiety.
Count Platen entered. The indifferent, self-satisfied calm which his face formerly wore had given place to an expression of thoughtful anxiety.
Lex looked at him attentively and uneasily.
"What brings you here in such haste, Count Platen?" cried the king.
"A note," replied the minister, approaching the king's writing-table, "has just been given to me by Prince Ysenburg, on which I am obliged immediately to beg your majesty's gracious decision."
"Well!" said the king anxiously, "what do they want in Berlin? I was just talking about our neutrality, and it appears to me that since the Confederation, alas! is virtually burst asunder, the treaty commenced by verbal negotiations should be at once concluded."
"Your majesty," said Count Platen, as he drew a folded paper from his pocket, "it seems they now require much more in Berlin."
"More!" exclaimed the king, while an expression of surprise and pain was seen on his contracted brows; "what can they require more?"
"They now demand an alliance on the foundation of the Prussian reform project; in return, the sovereignty and possessions of your majesty are to be guaranteed."
"But this is something quite new!" cried the king.