"I am prepared to listen, colonel," replied the king.
The colonel opened a paper which he held in his hand.
"I must first remark to your majesty," he said, "that I consider myself freed from my charge, as I find negotiations are broken off, and General Vogel von Falckenstein already meditating an attack."
"Your communication then will be useless?" asked the king coldly.
"Nevertheless, if your majesty permits, I will carry out my orders."
"Even yet----" began Count Platen.
"Read, colonel," said the king.
The colonel slowly read the despatch. It was an exact repetition of the ultimatum received through Prince Ysenburg on the 15th, and proposed a treaty on the foundation of the Prussian project of reform.
"Does this man believe," cried the king, as the colonel ended, "that I shall now----"
"Your majesty," said Colonel von Döring in a firm voice, "I humbly beg you graciously to consider that I, as a Prussian officer, cannot hear any derogatory expression applied to the minister-president."