"Is he not a man like ourselves?" asked the king, with dignity. "Does Count Bismarck believe," he continued, "that I shall in the field, at the head of my army, accept conditions which I rejected in my cabinet at Herrenhausen, and that I shall now allow my army to march against Austria?"
"Could not a short time be granted for consideration?" suggested Count Platen.
"I have no orders for granting time," said Colonel von Döring.
"And I do not need it," said the king, "in giving you my answer. It is the same as before; it is to these propositions simply 'No.' I have listened to negotiations in the hope of preventing useless bloodshed and diminishing the burdens of our countrymen, but upon this basis I cannot negotiate; events must take their course, I can do nothing more to restrain them. I thank you, colonel, and I wish I had made your acquaintance on a happier occasion. Take care, gentlemen," he added, turning to Count Platen and General Brandis, "that the colonel is led in safety to our outposts."
Colonel von Döring made a military salute and left the king's room, accompanied by the two ministers.
Count Ingelheim walked thoughtfully to and fro before the house, and looked up from time to time with an anxious expression at the king's windows. Groups of officers stood around in animated conversation. They knew that a Prussian envoy was with the king, and all these brave young officers, thirsting for the battle, feared nothing more than that they should capitulate without fighting.
"We could never again be seen in a Hanoverian uniform," cried a young officer of one of the Guard regiments with a rosy childish face, as he stamped with his foot, "if we were ensnared without drawing the sword, as in a mousetrap. We have been marching a fortnight, now here, now there; now waiting for the Bavarians, then for the Hessians, and never going forwards. So much was expected from this new commander; and now ..."
An eager young officer on a swift horse galloped up in the Guard Jäger uniform, the star of a commander of the order of Ernest Augustus on his breast. He threw himself from the saddle, gave his horse to his servant, who had hastened after him, and walked up to the group of officers.
"Well, prince," cried the lieutenant in the Guards, "where do you come from so hastily?"
"I have ridden out a little amongst the troops," replied Prince Hermann von Solms-Braunfels, the king's youngest nephew, as he endeavoured to seize the down just shading his upper lip with his fingers. "I am in despair, for in spite of my earnest request the king has commanded me to be here at head-quarters, but from time to time I must escape into the free life of the camp, and enjoy a little fresh air. Where are you stationed, Herr von Landesberg?" he inquired of the young lieutenant.