The Queen shivered and became silent for a moment.
'I shall not give in,' she added, 'you must act also. Brühl cannot.'
'I will act, only at the last moment,' said Guarini, 'and very carefully. For good work one must use all possible means. God will help us. When does he return?'
'His wife expects him every day; he wrote to the King that he would be back this week. We must hasten,' said the Queen.
Guarini bowed humbly and went out.
The next day in the morning, Brühl was in the King's room. His duties were not fatiguing but tiresome. Usually Augustus was silent; one was obliged to stand looking at him and to bow when he smiled or cleared his throat.
Brühl had additional trouble in watching the King so closely that no one could unexpectedly approach him; at all audiences, without any exception, Brühl was present. If the King was going to Mass the way was cleared of all persons who did not belong to the court. Nobody could approach him without the minister's permission or in his absence. It seemed that Augustus III, who above all things was fond of quiet and afraid of surprises, was glad of this, for he never tried to get free and was grateful to his guardians.
After the Mass and audiences, during which the silent King did not waste many words, Brühl remained with him alone.
He could guess that the King wished to converse about something, for he walked uneasily about, stopped opposite him, blinked his eyes, smiled sadly, but could not begin the conversation. At length he stopped, put his hands on the minister's shoulders and asked:
'Brühl, what do you think of Sulkowski?'