Suddenly Potemkin, ashamed of his raptures, closed the casket with a click and pushed it aside.
"You can tell your emperor," said he, "that you were an eyewitness of the gratification I have received from this superb addition to my scientific collections. And now, count, without circumlocution, how can I serve you, and what does the emperor desire of me? Such gifts as these indicate a request."
"Frankly, then, the emperor seeks your highness's friendship, and wishes you to further his majesty's plans."
"What are these plans?"
"Oh, your highness is too shrewd a statesman not to have guessed them, and not to understand that we merely shift the scene of the war. We pitch our tents at St. Petersburg with the object of winning Russia to our side."
"But here Prussia holds the battle-field; you will have to fight against superior numbers."
"Not if Prince Potemkin be our ally," replied Dobenzl, courteously.
"True, Prussia has Orloff, Panin, and the grand duke—"
"And who tells you that Prussia has not Potemkin also?" cried the prince, laughing. "Do you not see that I wear the Black Eagle?"
"Yes; but your highness is too wise to be the ally of Prussia. You are too great a statesman to commit such a bevue. Orloff, who has never forgiven you for succeeding him in Catharine's favor, Orloff asks no greater triumph than that of harnessing your highness to the ear of HIS political proclivities."
"He shall never enjoy that triumph," muttered Potemkin.