This document contained the confession of a certain Bauer, who had died a game-keeper in the service of the Grand Duke of Rudolstadt, and who, twenty years earlier, had been employed at the Herrenhausen. In his last moments this man, a Catholic, had asked a priest to confess him. The latter, who had heard of the Queen of Prussia's investigation, made his absolution subject to a formal statement of the events in which Bauer had taken part. It was that very confession, bearing the signatures of the dying man, the confessor and two witnesses, that I was engaged in examining.
You will understand that, with that proof of authenticity before me, it chained my attention.
Bauer had been one of the ten men who assisted Countess von Platen to assassinate Count Königsmark on the tragic night of July 1st, 1694.
His confession related how Countess von Platen prepared punch for her men while they were waiting for the Count to come out of the Princess's apartments.
He denies being among those who actually attacked him with their swords and daggers, but admits that he held him down while Countess von Platen, with her foot on his head, tried to extort a confession from him that he had been Sophie-Dorothea's lover.
I was familiar with most of these details. They can also be found in Blaze de Bury's book. But the statements following definitely settled the famous controversy as to what happened to the Count's corpse.
When Count Königsmark was quite dead, said Bauer, Countess von Platen ordered us to carry him to the great fireplace at the back of which is a bronze plaque six feet wide. Countess von Platen touched a spring. The plaque divided in two, revealing a little chamber. I just caught a glimpse, for I was very much perturbed in mind, of a whitish heap which looked like lime. We laid the corpse down there. Countess von Platen then sent us away, after telling us to wash off the blood which had stained the clothes of some of the men. She remained in the Baron's Hall with her attendant, a certain Festmann....
You see now that I had my reasons when I told you, casually, that Königsmark's corpse is concealed behind the fire-back in the Knight's Hall of the Herrenhausen. Moreover, Bauer's document had, in my eyes, a further importance beyond settling the spot once and for all. To me it was also a proof of the complicity either of Ernest-Augustus or his son. Remember that Countess von Platen had worked a secret spring, and also bear in mind that German princes in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were exceedingly jealous of their secret lock-systems. If that secret was communicated to Madame von Platen it was only for some vital purpose.
Before starting work I had made some coffee and had three cups, one after the other. This coffee began to have its effect, by which I mean that, excited by my first discovery, my mind was absolutely clear at that moment. Please note this detail as it has its importance.
To discover something is nothing. To establish the truth of your discovery is everything. Now how was I to go to Hanover, obtain permission to visit the Herrenhausen and be alone in the Knight's Hall for the necessary time. You can imagine I had no intention of putting some palace curator on the track I had just found.