"Will not your majesty do me the favor to mount my horse?" said Trenck, calm and unembarrassed, and without alluding by word or smile to the adventure of the day.
The king looked at him searchingly. "From whence come you?" said he sternly.
"From Glatz, where the pandours carried me as a prisoner, and delivered me to Colonel Trenck."
"You were then a prisoner, and were released without ransom?"
"Colonel Trenck laughed merrily when his pandours delivered me to him, and declared I was the King of Prussia."
"Colonel Trenck knows you?"
"Sire, I saw him often in my father's house."
"Go on: he recognized you, then?"
"He knew me, and said laughingly, he had sent to take Frederick, King of Prussia, and not Frederick von Trenck, prisoner. I was free, I might go where I wished, and as I could not go on foot, he presented me with one of his best horses; and now I am here, will not your majesty do me the honor to mount this horse?"
"I mount no Austrian horse," said the king in a harsh tone.