One morning, when the trees on either side of the long avenue leading from Hanover to the royal residence were still clad in their brightest, freshest green, a carriage rolled rapidly along, and approached the gilded iron gate which shuts off the outer entrance to the castle.
The carriage drew up before the entrance to the inner courtyard.
A slight man, somewhat under the middle height, alighted; he was about thirty-six years of age, very fair, with a long drooping moustache upon the upper lip, and he was dressed in black with a grey overcoat.
This man walked in at the side gateway in the corner of the principal building of the old electoral and royal palace, built by the renowned Le Nôtre, and resembling a miniature of Versailles; he passed through a long passage which led directly to King George V.'s Cabinet.
Before the door of this cabinet, which was on the ground floor, with a small entrance from the park and garden, sat the king's groom of the chambers. Close to the entrance of the royal apartments was the waiting room for the gentlemen summoned by the king, chiefly adorned by the portraits of celebrated Prussians. There were represented in life-size Blücher and Ziethen, and there was an exquisite painting of Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, who fell at Saalfeld.
The gentleman who had left the carriage, and reached the entrance to the royal apartments, asked the groom of the chambers:
"Is his majesty alone?"
He had risen and taken the visitor's overcoat, and he replied in broken German with a strong English accent:
"Privy Councillor Lex is with his Majesty."
"Will you announce me!"