But when the King arrived in Dresden, he had not a single look for Fürstenberg, instead, he went straight to the Palace of the Four Seasons, where again he found Cosel just leaving her room after another confinement. She was more beautiful than ever, and, although weeping, received him most affectionately.
"Ah! my lord!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms round his neck, "you know that I am always eager to see you as soon as possible, yet, perhaps, never have I longed so much for your return as at the present time. Deliver me from persecution! Am I still the mistress of your heart or not, that these men humiliate me so cruelly?"
"Who?" inquired the King.
"Your best friends; that drunkard, Flemming, and that perverse hypocrite, Fürstenberg, have made me a laughing-stock. My lord! deliver me from them."
After long separation, Cosel had regained her power over the King, who had begun to cool towards her.
"I will scold Fürstenberg and Flemming severely," said he.
By the time he left the palace, he was once more under the influence of her charms, and when Fürstenberg and Flemming came to him with an accusation against her, he told them both to go the next day and beg the Countess's pardon.
"You are both wrong. I dislike quarrels, and you must make it up with the Countess."
"Your Majesty, it would be too humiliating for me," said Flemming.
"It must be done, otherwise you would be obliged to leave the Court."