The Historical Nights Entertainment, Second Series

smark and the Prin

it condoned the lack of virtue in Count Philip Christof K?nigsmark for the sake of his personal beauty, his elegance, his ready wit, and his magnificent address. The court of Hanover made him warmly welcome, counting itself the richer for his presence; whilst he,

which it offered to men of quality and spirit. He had fought bulls in Madrid, and the infidel overseas; he had wooed adventure wherever it was to be met, until romance hung about him like an aura. Thus Sophia met him again, a dazz

e handsome promise of her maidenhood. But her beauty was spiritualized by a certain wistfulness that had not been there before, that should not have been there now had all been well. The sprightliness inherent in her had

ectoral Prince George the whole of the Duchy of Luneberg might be united. Thus, for political reasons, she had been thrust into a union that was mutually loveless; for Prince George had as little affection to bring to it as herself. Yet for a prince the door to compen

ld dislike on his, a dislike that was fully shared by his father, the Electo

advancement-the acknowledged mistress of Ernest Augustus. She was a fleshly, gauche, vain, and ill-favoured woman. Malevolence sat in the creases of her paint

semble the loathing which that detestable woman inspired in her, but she had actually given it such free and stinging expression as had provoked against Madame v

ntic K?nigsmark took place. He found the stage set for comedy of a grim and b

him. When the precise significance of the fond leer of that painted harridan's repellent coquetry was borne in upon him he felt the skin of his body creep and roughen But he dissembled craftily. He was a venal scamp, after all, and in the court of Hanover he saw opportunities

ntimate friendship had ripened between himself and Prince Charles-the Elector's younger son-sufficiently to ensure his future, he plucked off the mask and allied himself with Sophia in her hostility towards Madame vo

rage was the greater for being stifled. It was obviously impossible for her to appeal to her lover, the Elector, to avenge her. From the Elector, above all others, must the matter be kept concealed. B

ed Duchess of Kendal, had not yet attained to that completeness of lank, bony hideousness that was later to distinguish her in England. But even in youth she could boast of little attraction. Prince George, however, was easily attracted. A dull, undignified libertine, a

r contempt of him now left her, yet in the affront thus publicly offered her, she felt that the limit of endurance had be

ondemned as unbecoming the dignity of her rank; recommended her to use in future greater prudence, and

pect for him. She must learn what was due to her station, and to her husband. He would thank her to instruct herself in these matters

in his white, flabby, frog-face and in the

, bearing hate of her with him, a

tolerable, soul-destroying fate. And at her elbow, against this dreadful need, Destiny had placed her sometime playmate, her most devoted friend-as

t to him very fully, allowed him, in her overwhelming need of sympathy, to see things which for very shame she had hitherto veiled from all other eyes. She kept nothing back; she dwelt upon he

of his emotions, and the deep sapphire eyes blazed with wrath w

. "I swear to you, as Heaven hea

ked at him with a smile of sad incredulity. "It is not

truck the cut-steel hilt of his sword. "You shall be rid of this lout

eeks, her sensitive lips fell ap

u do? What do you m

th of my sword, and so ma

ces do not fight," she sa

ont on him one evening in his cups, when drink shall have made him valiant enough to commit himself to a meeting. If even that will not

the poor lady, who had so long been chilled for want of sympath

ered and broke. "You are mad-wonderfully beautifully m

u. I was born for your service, my princess, and the service being rendered..." He shrugged and smiled, threw out his hands and let them

beautiful face. If ever she wanted to kiss a man, she surely wanted to kiss K?nigsmark in that moment, but as she might

n the wounds of my soul, you would understand my utter lack of words in which to t

elf that you should have come to me in the hour of your

. She saw his blue

rve me if you will-God knows I need the service of a loyal

ervice can exist?" he a

from this horrible place-to q

o go w

t not been for the thought of my children, I should have fled long ago. For the sake of those two little ones I have suffered patiently through all these years. But

cheeks, there was a sudden kindling of the eyes that looked down into her own piteous ones. These se

s lapels, but still holding them, he bowed low over them, so low that his heavy golden mane tumbled forward o

her hands. It was little enou

nd now I must think-I must consider w

horse, and so ride out into the wide world to carve a kingdom for her with his sword. Her sober words dispelled the dream, reveal

the windows of a palace. And, as it happened, behind one of those windows lurked the Countess von Platen, watching them jealously, and without any disposition to construe the meeting innocently. Was she not the d

ss purposefully sought

a," quoth she. "Who guards

otion of guarding something whose existence was not easily discerned. He had no sense of humour, as his appearance suggested. He w

adventurer, K?nigsmark, an

ost met the line of his ponderous peruke. His face

Bah!" Her very virtue w

of her worldly wisdom. "Listen a moment now." And she related, with interest

ards her for her recent trip to Zell. Then, too, being a libertine, and the father of a libertin

is deep chair. "How far ha

ence and vigilance would presently afford her all the evidence required to damn the pair. She said as much, and promised the Elector that she would exercise hers

eport. And almost daily now she had for the Elector a tale of whisperings and hand-pressings, and secret stolen meetings between the guilty twain. The Elector enraged, and would have taken action, but that the guileful Countess curbed him. All this was not enough. An

st be able to take action. The Countess was flushed with triumph. Be that meeting never so innocent-and Madame von Platen could not, being what she was, and having seen what she had seen, conceive it innocent-it was in an Electoral Princess an un

culars. She would seek a refuge at the court of her cousin, the Duke of Wolfenbuttel, who, she was sure-for the sake of what once had lain b

make all dispositions, and advise him when she was ready to set out. But they must use caution, for they were being spied upon. Madame von Platen's over-eagerness had in part betrayed her. It was, indeed, t

burst furiously in, the Countess von Platen lingering just beyond the threshold. The Elector's face was apoplectically purple from rage and h

Princess?" h

the scent of mischief very strong. But he preserved an air of i

eeking her? Shall I

d a moment, then flung a glance

her Highness wa

have been misinformed." And his quiet glance and g

eling at a disadvantage, the Elector avoid

hour at

e you have not s

brows were knit perplexedly. "I

ubstance. He looked down, then stooped, and r

quoth he. "Whos

it may have done-he did not betray it outw

at my expense by asking me questio

picious glance, when quick steps approached. A serving-maid, o

nt?" the Electo

id answer, innocently precipitating the very discovery

was a creak of evil laughter from him. When sh

an honest man. Will you now tell me without any more of this,

y up, looking squarely into th

n he insults a lady whose spotless purity is beyond his understanding. But your Highness can hardly expect

, sir?" The Elector sho

not think that wor

the heavy nether lip was thr

ard, and as that is the only tie binding you to Hanover, w

your Highness, as soon as I can make the necessar

ddled out, leaving K?nigsmark to breathe freely again. The thr

t it was not well at all, the consummation being far from that which she had desired. She had dreamt of a flaming scandal, that should utterly consume her two enemies, Sophia and K?nigsmark. Instead, she saw them both escaping, and the f

would happen, she boldly went to work. She forged next day a brief note in which the Princess Sophia urgently bade K?nigsmark to come to

y of departure, and begging her so to arrange that she could leave Herrenhausen with him on the morrow. He imagined the note now brought him to be in answer to that appeal of his. Its genuineness he never doubted, being unacquai

as reproaching her lover with hav

row he goes his ways, and we are

goes, he goes not too

be hinting?" he a

ark has an assignation with the Princess Sophia this very night at te

with an oath. "That is not tr

," quoth Jezebel, and

hall. How do y

fice you that I do know it. Consider now whether in banishing this

" He choked with rage, stood shaking a m

tersaal, and await his coming forth. But you had best go attended, for it is

tired to bed, and the amazing announcement of the Count's presence there startled her into a fear of untoward happenings. She was overwhelmed, too, by the rashness of this step of his, coming after the events of yesterday. If it s

demoiselle de Knesebeck fol

breathlessly. "What brings

rprised at that reception. "Wh

er? What

denly awoke in him. He plucked forth t

way some thing that obscured her vision. "That is not mine. I never wrote it. How could you

work of our friend, Madame von Platen. I had best begone. For the rest, my travelling chaise will wait from noon until sun

will come. But

ance against the worst befalling him. Then he took h

t looking round the vast apartment. If he was too late to avoid the springs of the baited trap, it was here that they should snap upon him. Yet all was still. A single lamp on a table in the mid

themselves from the tall stove, resolved th

rs had walked amid perils, and learned to depend upon his blade. That swift action sealed his doom. Their orders were to take him living or dead, and s

olden hair, and staining the priceless Mechlin at his throat, y

ess von Platen materializing out of the surrounding shadows as it seemed, and behind her the squat, ungraceful figure of the Elector. He fought for breath

or hoarsely. "Then what di

t for us by this

. Thereafter the halberts finished him off, and he was buried there and then, in lime, under the floor of th

tering K?nigsmark, a martyr to h

ed his fate that night. She was placed under arrest next morn

the matter drop, content that they should remain in the forbidding relations which had existed be

of you," she told him. "If in

since with the best intentions there was no faintest evidence of her adultery, thi

She was carried off into the grim captivity of a castle on the Ahlen,

King George was on his way to his beloved Hanover, that letter was placed in his carriage as it crossed the frontier into Germany. It contained Sophia's dying declaration of innocence, and her solemn summ

that letter brought on the apoplectic seizure of which he died in h