Count Piper tried the name that had roused him to such passionate violence before.
“Is the son of Karl XI going to permit the Czar of Muscovy to add so easily to his laurels?”
Karl remained calm.
“Why are these three princes at war with me?” he asked slowly.
“Because they think that you are a foolish boy,” replied Count Piper instantly. “Because they believe that in such hands as yours Sweden can do nothing against them. Denmark is your hereditary enemy—Saxony is an adventurer, keeping on foot an army at all costs—and the Czar—is the most ambitious man in Europe.”
“What does he want?” asked Karl.
“All the land between the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea, Poland, and Muscovy,” replied the councilor laconically.
Karl laughed; it had a meaningless sound.
“Precisely, sire.”