"Gentlemen," said the servant, "his majesty will become impatient, and then woe unto all of us."
"But, my God," said Count von Goltz, "who will dare go forward?"
"I will," said Councillor Eckert; "I owe every thing to his majesty, therefore I will place my back or even my life at his service."
He approached the door with a firm step, and opened it quickly.
The others saw the flashing eyes of the king, as he raised his stick still higher. They saw Eckert enter, with his head bowed down and then the door was closed, and nothing more was heard.
"Against which of us is the anger of the king directed?" faltered Pollnitz.
"Against one and all," said the servant, with a most malicious expression.
"Who will go now?" the gentlemen asked each other, and, after a long struggle, the grand chamberlain, Von Pollnitz, concluded to take the bitter step. Once more, as the door opened, the king was seen waiting, crutch in hand, but the door closed, and nothing more was seen. Four times was this scene repeated; four times was the king seen in this threatening attitude. But as General Schwerin, the last of the six gentlemen, entered the room, the king no longer stood near the door, but lay in his armchair, laughing until the tears stood in his eyes, and Baron von Pollnitz stood before him, giving a most humorous account of the scene which had just taken place in the ante-room, imitating the voices of the different gentlemen, and relating their conversation.
"You all believed in my rage," said the king, almost breathless with laughing. "The joke succeeded to perfection. Yours, also, Schwerin. Do you at last know what it is to be afraid, you who never experienced the feeling on the field of battle?"
"Yes, sire, a shot is a small thing in comparison with the flashing of your eye. When the cannon thunders my heart is joyful, but it is very heavy under the thunder of your voice. I do not fear death, but I do fear the anger and displeasure of my sovereign."