"And to these disgraceful propositions we are not permitted to make the only answer of which they are deserving—that is, to wipe them out with blood! Oh, Lacy, Lacy, is it not fearful to be compelled like a schoolboy to submit to the punishment which my tormentor judges fit to inflict?"
"It is a painful duty, sire; but it is a duty, and your majesty must submit."
"I must not submit!" exclaimed Joseph in bitter anguish, while he sprang from the sofa. But suddenly his eager, fluttering glances were turned toward the window where stood the grand duke quietly surveying his movements.
"Have you not gone?" asked the, emperor. "I thought that your mission being fulfilled, your imperial highness had nothing more to do here."
"I await your majesty's answer," replied the grand duke. "Oh, you wish to mock me, do you?" cried Joseph, trembling with passion, "for well you know there is but one answer to the empress's commands, and that is—obedience. But since you are anxious to take a message, here is one, and mark it well. Say to the empress that I submit as becomes her subject, and so long as it suits her without my knowledge and behind my back to hold conferences with the enemy, I will abstain from engaging him in battle, although by so doing I shall ruin my reputation forever. Tell her furthermore that should she accept the dishonorable proposals made by Frederick and conclude a peace upon the basis of his conditions, she need never expect to see me again in Vienna. I never shall go near her so long as I live, but shall take up my abode in Aix la Chapelle, or in some other free city, as it was once the custom of the Emperors of Germany to do."' [Footnote: Joseph's own words. See Dohm's Memoirs vol. i., p. 143.]
"Oh, sire!" exclaimed Lacy, shocked, "retract those words, I implore of you!"
"I will not retract them," replied Joseph, imperatively; "I order the envoy of the empress to repeat them faithfully."
"I shall obey your majesty, the co-regent of the empress," said the
Grand Duke of Tuscany. "Has your majesty any other commands?"
"Yes!" shouted the emperor, fiercely. "When you shall have accomplished your mission in Vienna, go home to your priests in Tuscany, and bid them say a mass for the repose of your brother's soul, for from this day you have lost him who was called Joseph. He is dead to you forever."
The grand duke returned his brother's look with one of equal hatred. "I can scarcely lose that which I have never possessed," replied he with composure. "Had the affront which your majesty has put upon me to-day come from a brother, we should have measured swords together before the sun had set upon the insult. But he who stands before me is my emperor, and of him I am prohibited from demanding satisfaction."