"I should be obliged to defend my enemy, and to release him," exclaimed Augustus.
"That is very noble and knightly," said Schulenberg sarcastically, "but--"
He did not finish, but saluted respectfully.
The King took his hand.
"My dear General, give up that idea, and do not say another word about it. I do not wish for victory at such a cost."
Schulenberg looked at him with his pale blue eyes, as though he would ask whether the imprisonment of Imhoff and Pfingstein, and the surrender of Patkul, about which Augustus had not hesitated, were nobler deeds than this. The King must have understood the mute reproach, for he blushed. After a moment of sad silence, Schulenberg said,--
"We must try and get out of this difficulty by some act of despair. We must risk our lives. We have nothing else to lose. We have lost a crown that has cost us millions; the other is almost broken--what can happen further?"
"What can happen?" said Augustus. "The arrogant youth will go further. A few victories have given him a mad boldness, and he will be crushed in some crazy enterprise for which he has not properly calculated his strength. Why should we stain our name by trying to hasten that which must most surely come to pass? Why should we not bear our adversity patiently, so that in the end we may profit by that which some one else has accomplished?"
"But in the meantime, Saxony suffers dreadfully," said the General.
"Yes, the poor people suffer," exclaimed the King. "But the people are like the grass that is trodden down by the cattle; it is greener the next year."