"From whom is this letter?" demanded the king.
"Sire, it is from Baron von Trenck, the colonel of the pandours."
The king appeared relieved, as he replied, with a smile: "This pandour is a cousin of our lieutenant."
"But he is in the enemy's camp; and I do not think it proper for a Prussian officer to request one in the Austrian service to send him a present of horses, or for the Austrian to invite the Prussian to join him."
"Is this in the letter?" asked the king in a threatening tone; and when Jaschinsky answered in the affirmative, he said: "Give me the letter; I must convince myself with my own eyes that this is so."
"I have not the letter, but if your majesty desire, I will demand it from Lieutenant von Trenck."
"And if he has burnt the letter?"
"Then I am willing to take an oath that what I have related was in the letter. I read it myself, for the lieutenant showed it to me."
"Bring me the letter."
Jaschinsky went, and the king remained alone and thoughtful in his tent. "If he were a traitor, he would surely not have shown the letter to Jaschinsky," said the king, softly; "no, his brow is as clear, his glance as open as formerly. Trenck is no traitor—no traitor to his country—I fear only a traitor to his own happiness. Well, perhaps he has come to his reason, I have warned him repeatedly, and perhaps he has at length understood me.—Where is the letter?" he asked, as Colonel Jaschinsky reentered.