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'I missed a greater and the only bliss,' said Brühl, sighing.
'Oh! don't deny it. It's difficult to conceal anything at court. You
and the Countess Moszynski are better friends than if you were
married.'
'Her mother herself will propose her to you. And it is time that
Frances was married, for her eyes shine strangely.'
'Count,' said he, 'do not forget me and speak in my favour to the
Prince. I fear whether I sufficiently showed my respect and
attachment to him, as well as towards the pure and saintly Princess.-
--Tell him--'
'You speak for us to the King,' interrupted the Count, 'and I will
do the same for you with the Prince. And then, my Brühl, you will
not be without protectors. Padre Guarini tries to convert you, the
Countess thinks of you as her future son-in-law, and I should not be
surprised if you had still another friend at court.'
'All that is nothing if you are not with me,' said Brühl.--'I would
give up Guarini and Kolowrath in your favour.'
'Yes, should some of them ask after me--but I doubt it. I prefer
German women.'
Sulkowski stood opposite him. From time to time the Prince would
look at his friend, smile, and smoke on in silence.
The friend and servant looked with pleasure on his happy master,
sharing his happiness silently.
The Prince's face beamed, but it was his habit, when in a happy
mood, to speak very little and to think. Nobody knew what about.
Sometimes he would raise his drooping head, look at Sulkowski and
say:
'H'm! Sulkowski?'
'I am here.'
Then he would nod and that was the end of it. A quarter of an
hour would elapse and the Prince would call him again by his
Christian name, or caressingly in the Italian language. The Count
would reply as before that he was there and the eloquent silence
would follow.
The Prince spoke but little and only when obliged to do so. He
disliked anything unexpected. His life must flow quietly,
monotonously. The afternoon hours, when he only received his most
familiar friends, were those he enjoyed best. In the forenoon he was
obliged to give audience, to listen, to talk, to sign papers. After such
efforts the afternoon siesta was delightful to him. When there was
no opera he would go to Princess Josepha, listen to some music, and
the day would end with a supper.
Never before did the courtiers have a lord more easy to entertain.
He was satisfied though one day resembled another as two drops of
water.
That day the afternoon siesta had just begun; the Prince was
smoking a second pipe, when Sulkowski, noticing something through
the window, hesitated a moment and then went towards the door.
The Prince's eyes followed him.
'I return at once,' answered the Count, opening the door and
disappearing through it. In the anteroom two pages and some
servants were waiting.
Sulkowski went out, rushed down the stairs, and stopped in the
doorway petrified.
Brühl did not answer: he made him understand by his look that
he wished to enter and to rest. This sudden arrival had something so
mysterious about it, that Sulkowski, being very much troubled about
it, led the way to a room situated on the ground floor. The servants
recognised Brühl, and pressed forward, but he dismissed them with
a wave of the hand and entered the room with Sulkowski. Brühl
quickly divested himself of his furs. The Count stood waiting.
Brühl rose and sighed, looked around, wrung his hands and cried:
'Nobody.'
'Cut it short,' cried Sulkowski. 'Someone might tell the Prince that
you have arrived.'
'My advice is,' said Brühl, 'that we should do nothing without first
consulting Padre Guarini and the Princess.'
Sulkowski looked at him with ill-disguised discontent.
'But it seems to me,' said he, 'that the Prince needs neither the
Princess's help nor the spiritual consolation of his confessor.'
'Eviva il re!' answered the Jesuit quietly, raising his eyes. 'God's
designs are impenetrable. Does the Prince know it?'
'My wish,' said Brühl, 'is to spare the Prince's feelings and take the
advice of the Princess.'
'I can't go as I am,' said he. 'You both go to the Princess; I shall
order my clothes to be brought here and dress first.'
Sulkowski agreed in silence to the proposition, Guarini nodded in
the affirmative, and they turned towards the door. Brühl threw
himself into a chair, as though unable to stand on his feet.
This resting and thinking did not last very long; as soon as the
two disappeared in the dark corridor of the castle, Brühl rose quickly,
hurried to the door, opened it, and looked into the ante-room.
The servant went off and five minutes later a boy, wearing the
uniform of the King's pages, rushed in out of breath.
Brühl, standing near the door, put his hand on the boy's shoulder.
The intelligent boy looked into Brühl's eyes, did not say a word,
and went out. Brühl again sat at the table and covered his face with
his hands.
'I bring to Your Majesty the saddest news, but first bow down at
the feet of the new King. Our most gracious lord, the King, is dead.'
'On the first day of February, the King Augustus the Great died in
my arms and entrusted me with his last will, with the jewels of the
Crown and secret papers. I, myself, brought the jewels and the
papers and I deposit them at the feet of your Majesty.'
Frederick again gave him his hand to be kissed; Brühl bent very
low and pretended to be crying; covering his eyes with a
handkerchief, he sobbed. The new King also took out a handkerchief
and began to weep for his father, whom he loved and respected.
'Brühl, tell me, how did this misfortune occur?' he said quietly.
The letter was still lying on Frederick's knees, when the door
leading to the Princess's rooms opened, and there entered Josepha
dressed in black, Sulkowski and Guarini.
Frederick, still sobbing, threw himself into his wife's arms; she
began to cry also, according to the Spanish etiquette prescribed to
rulers and their courtiers as the form of sorrow and expression of
grief.
Padre Guarini bent his head, closed his eyes, and twitched his
face with an expression well assumed for the moment. Brühl while
not forgetting that he should appear to be overwhelmed by sorrow,
could not abstain from glancing from time to time at those present,
especially at Sulkowski. He seemed to see an adversary.
Those who remained were silent for a time. Brühl waited for
orders which the new King did not dare to give; Sulkowski gave
Brühl to understand that he had better leave them.
Brühl hesitated, and then he left the room. Frederick did not
notice him go out. They remained alone, till suddenly Frederick took
the handkerchief from his eyes and said:
'Where is Brühl?'
'He must not leave me. Pray command him to stay here.'
'One must bear God's will as a man and king,' said he familiarly.
'The King has no time for sorrow.'
'Then go and preside at it; I can't,' said the King. 'Call Brühl here.'
'They have sent for him,' Sulkowski said shrugging his shoulders
impatiently.
The splendour with which the operas were put upon the stage, a
hundred horses and camels appearing with numberless artistes in
gorgeous oriental costumes, and the fairy-like effects produced by
elaborate machinery, combined to attract as large an audience as did
the charming voice of Signora Faustina Bordoni.
Faustina, the first singer of those times, famous for her victory
over the equally famous Cuzzoni, was prima donna in the full
meaning of the word, on the stage, behind the scenes, and beyond.
Signora Bordoni, although married to the great composer, Johanet
Hasse, could forget him. The marriage had been broken the next
day by command of the King, who sent the musician to Italy to
study there.
As the carriage bringing Brühl and the sad news of the death of
Augustus the Strong neared the castle Faustina was sitting in the
small drawing-room arranged for her near the stage, and having
removed her furs was about to issue her orders.
The prima donna was not very young, but notwithstanding her
Italian beauty, which blossoms and withers quickly, she preserved
her voice, the charm of her figure, and the beauty of her face, the
features of Juno with which nature had endowed her.
She was not a delicate woman, but strong and majestic, with the
form of a statue, as though made from one block by the energetic
chisel of Michael Angelo.
Her beauty was equal to her voice. Everything was in harmony
with her character; her head of a goddess, bosom of a nymph, hand
of a Bacchante, figure of an Amazon, hands and feet of a princess,
abundant black hair like the mane of an Arabian horse. In her face,
notwithstanding the classical beauty of her features, there was more
strength than womanly sweetness. Not infrequently her black
eyebrows contracted in a frown, her nostrils dilated with anger, and
behind her pink lips her white teeth gleamed angrily.
Three servants stood at the door waiting for orders. One could
recognise that two of them were Italian women, for they had not
given up their national coifure. Faustina glanced at the clock, threw
herself on the sofa, and, half leaning and half sitting, played with the
silk sash of her large, silk robe de chambre.
There was a knock at the door. Faustina did not move, but
glancing towards a good-looking young man who appeared in the
doorway, greeted him with a smile.
It was the tenor, Angelo Monticelli. It was easy to see that he was
also Italian; but while Faustina was the personification of Italian
energy and liveliness, he was the embodiment of almost womanly
charm. Young, remarkably handsome, with long black hair falling
over his shoulders, he seemed to be born for the rôles of innamorati,
of lovers and gods. The classical Apollo, playing the lute, could not
have been more charming. Only he lacked the pride and energy of
the god.
'Signora!' said Angelo, placing one hand on his chest and looking
into a mirror, for he was in love with himself. 'Signora, non è vero!'
'Not that either; I am longing for the Italian sky, Italian faces, and
the heart of an Italian woman--I wither here--'
'Ingrato!' whispered she. 'We all pet you, and yet you complain.'
'When you are talking to me! But I am neither jealous of her nor
your Apollo-like beauty; only I hate her, and I can't bear you.'
'Why not?'
'Because you are a doll. Look at the clock and go and dress.'
'We sing duets only on the stage,' said she. 'You are all late to-
day. Go and dress.'
She jumped down from the sofa; Angelo moved towards the door;
Puttini laughed and remained where he was.
The door opened noisily and in rushed a man dressed in black; his
round face, with small nose and low forehead, expressed fear.
'Where? Where?'
The new-comer, much surprised, stood still. His name was Klein, a
member of the orchestra, Faustina's great admirer, a friend of the
Italians, and an enthusiastic musician.
'Piccolo! are you mad? What is the matter with you?' she cried.
But they did not obey her; frightened, they stood as though
rivetted to the spot.
He coughed softly.
'You have guessed almost right,' answered the composer. 'I was
wondering if the mass: Sulla morte d'un eroe, which I composed
some time ago, would be suitable for the funeral service. I am a
musician, and even grief turns with me to music.'
'Chi lo sa?'
They were both silent; Hasse walked to and fro, then stopped in
front of his wife.
'I think we need not fear,' said he, 'for there is hardly anyone who
could be put in my place, not even such a one as Popora, and there
is absolutely no one to rival Faustina.'
'Not very soon,' answered the thoughtful German, 'you know that
better than I do.'
Hasse laughed.
'He may have looked like a hero, when from his box in the opera,
covered with diamonds, he smiled upon you, but the whole country
paid for those diamonds with tears. Joy and singing resounded
through Dresden, moaning and crying throughout Saxony and
Poland. In the capital there was luxury, in the country misery and
woe.'
'Tace! I will not permit you to say anything against him; your
words betoken horrid jealousy.'
'No,' said Hasse quietly, looking at her. 'My love was absorbed by
the music, I loved the beautiful Faustina for her voice, and was
entranced when I heard it or even thought of it.'
At that moment the door opened a little way, and then closed
again immediately, but Faustina had perceived who was there and
called him in. It was Watzdorf, the same who had called Brühl to the
Prince. His figure and movements resembled those of the bandit of
the fancy dress ball. For a courtier the expression of his face was
unusual, an ironical smile, merciless and biting, overspread his
features, which were illumined by piercing eyes.
'I thought,' said he, entering and smiling to Faustina, 'that you
had not yet heard what had happened.'