"I am going out," said the king, buttoning his uniform.
The attendant handed him his cap and gloves.
"Does your majesty wish for a cigar?"
"No. Inform the equerry on duty that I shall not want him. The prince will accompany me."
The king took the prince's arm and walked through the corridor, passing various bowing lacqueys in their scarlet livery, to the principal entrance. In the hall leading to the door an animated conversation was heard.
"Who is that?" asked the king.
"Count Alfred Wedell and Devrient."
The persons mentioned stood close together in the vestibule engaged in so engrossing a conversation that they did not perceive the king's approach.
Count Alfred Wedell, the king's chamberlain, and governor of the castle, was a tall, strongly-built young man of about thirty years of age, with a healthy complexion, and handsome, though decidedly marked features. He was in undress uniform, a blue coat with a red collar, and he stood opposite the famous Hanoverian actor, Devrient, a man well past sixty, who had taken part in the German wars for freedom, but who felt so little the burden of his years that he still played Hamlet with great success. Neither when off the stage did his animated face, his sparkling eyes, nor his upright figure, show any sign of age.
"Good morning, Devrient," said the king in his clear voice, stopping in the middle of the hall.