"Our paths in life lie apart, and I trust that we shall never be forced to look upon each other again," said Joseph in reply.
"Since we can never meet as brothers, I am compelled to echo the wish," returned Leopold. "Farewell!"
"Farewell—and let it be farewell forever!"
The grand duke crossed the room and opened the door, while Joseph watched his disappearance with glaring eyes and stormy brow, and Lacy in anguish of heart looked first at one brother, then at the other. The door closed, and the jar it made caused Lacy of start. He recovered himself and hastened to the emperor's side.
"Call him back, sire," implored he. "Call him back. He is your brother and the son of your mother. He is also the hope of those who tremble with apprehension of your majesty's reign."
"Oh, yes—he is the leader of my enemies, the head of the pious conspirators who have cursed my life by their diabolical opposition. But a day will come when I shall crush the whole brood in their owl's nest, and put my house in order. In that day I shall remember this interview with the Grand Duke of Tuscany." [Footnote: The two brothers never met again. Although Leopold was next heir to the crown, Joseph would not allow him to receive the title of King of Rome, but bestowed it upon Leopold's son and heir, Francis. Even upon his death-bed the emperor refused to see his brother. By his explicit commands, it was only when his death had taken place, that a courier was sent to inform Leoold of his accession to the throne.]
"Sire," insisted Lacy, "I entreat of you, recall him—if not as your brother, as the envoy of your sovereign. Before it is too late, retract those fearful words, which in a moment of—"
"Lacy!" interrupted the emperor, in a loud, angry voice, "I have this day lost a brother and a battle. Am I also to lose a friend?"
The tears rose to Lacy's eyes. "Sire," said he in a voice of emotion, "forgive your truest friend if he has presumed to oppose you. I have no kindred to love: my heart is bound to you, and if I lose your regard, I am desolate and alone in the world!"
"You shall not lose it, my dear, dear friend," exclaimed Joseph, throwing his arms around Lacy's neck. "O God, you do not know how I suffer I I feel as if I had lost some beloved friend. And is it not so? Have I not buried to-day the hopes of a whole life? The hopes which from my youth I had cherished of winning glory and fame through Frederick's humiliation!—I would give years of my life to have measured swords with him, for—let me tell you a secret, Lacy—I hate that man as much as I once fancied that I loved him. He is the cause of every misfortune that has befallen our house for forty years past. His fame is our shame, his splendor our obscuration. I might forgive him his robbery of Silesia, but that he has reduced me to the role of an imitator, I can never forgive! Every thing on earth that I imagine, he executes before me. If I desire to free my people from the dominion of the clergy, he has already liberated his; if I seek to advance art, literature, or manufactures, he has just afforded them protection in Prussia; if I recommend toleration, lo! he has removed the disabilities of the Jews, and has pronounced all sects equal before the law. Would I excel in music, or yearn for military glory, the world has long since pronounced him a hero, and his flute was heard before I learned the violoncello. Oh, I hate him, I hate him, for his greatness is the rock upon which my originality is fated to split; and his shadow projects forever before me and my unborn deeds. He forces me to pass for a counterfeit of his true coin, and yet I feel that my individuality is as marked as his! He is the evil genius of my destiny, vanquishing me even in that which I would have done for the good of my subjects and the advancement of the world!"