Courtiers and lacqueys were running about and jostling each other in
confusion and alarm, when colonel Brenner with Arwed mounted the broad
stone steps of the royal palace upon the Ritterholm. With great trouble
they found a valet-de-chambre, who announced them to the princess
Ulrika. As they entered the ante-chamber, the folding doors of the
princess' room opened, and Siquier, with shy glances, brushed past
them. At a motion of the valet they entered the audience room. Ulrika
was standing by a pier-table, upon which lay the king's perforated and
bloody hat, holding, with a decent appearance of grief, a handkerchief
before her dry eyes.
'I have the melancholy honor,' said Brenner, drawing his despatches
from his bosom, 'to present to your royal highness these letters from
your princely husband.'
'Siquier has already informed me of the sad occurrence,' answered
Ulrika, taking the despatch with great coolness: 'nevertheless I thank
you for the zeal with which you have executed the commission of the
hereditary prince.'
'This officer,' continued Brenner, pointing to Arwed, 'was one of the
first who found the hero's corpse. He can inform your royal highness of
all the circumstances accompanying this so wholly unexpected death.'
'Wherefore the details?' cried Ulrika, 'which serve no purpose but to
lacerate my heart. If my maternal love for this land forces upon me the
conviction that this death is fortunate for Sweden, yet will the ties
of blood claim their holy rights--and although I could never boast of
my royal brother's love, yet my heart feels his loss with a sorrow
which needs no additional poignancy.'
At this moment the chief governor, baron Taube, entered the room with a
face in which alarm, feigned sorrow, and ill-concealed joy, struggled
for mastery.
'You know it already, governor?' cried Ulrika, advancing hastily to
meet him.
He silently bowed assent.
'I am confident that in you I have a truly devoted friend,' said she to
him with a gracious stateliness, extending her hand for him to kiss.
'My life for your royal highness!' cried Taube with graceful
enthusiasm, tenderly kissing the proffered hand.
'What should be done first, think you?' she asked him confidentially.
'I advise that the senate should be assembled this evening,' answered
Taube. 'To be sure its numbers are not complete. Three of its members
are with the army as generals, but in their stead the royal counsellors
are devoted to your royal highness with their lives and fortunes.'
'If ever I have a voice in these lands,' said Ulrika, warmly, 'these
good gentlemen shall not much longer wear these titles. I have never
approved of my father's course in making them servants of his own will,
instead of counsellors of the empire.'
'The senate know the gracious intuitions of your royal highness,'
answered Taube; 'and I am certain of the happy consequences. If any
thing could make me fear, it would be the cabals which baron Goertz
will not fail to set on foot for the young duke.'
'Goertz is taken care of!' cried Ulzika, with a look of hate. 'While we
are now speaking here, all power to do further mischief is, as I hope,
taken from him. Let only his house be promptly occupied and his papers
and property secured.'
'Then there are his Holstein accomplices,' added Taube: 'Dernath,
Ecklef, Paulsen, Sallern----'
'They must all be arrested this night,' decided Ulrika; 'all at the
same hour, so that no one may be warned by the fate of the others. See
to it, dear governor.'
'I will have the whole garrison under arms,' answered Taube, bowing.
'This business must be carried through with rapidity and decision, as
every thing depends upon the proper employment of the present moment.'
'And tell me, dear baron,' asked Ulrika, grasping both of his hands
with the most winning kindness, 'the senate will not compel me to buy
the crown at too high a price, will they?'
'In relation to that,' answered Taube, with a warning glance towards
the officers, who in the heat of the conversation had been overlooked
until now; 'in relation to that, I will lay my humble opinions before
your royal highness at a more private audience.'
Somewhat alarmed, Ulrika turned towards Brenner, and her glance fell
directly upon Arwed's large blue eyes, sparkling with displeasure,
which were fixed steadily upon her. She started back, and, with
difficulty summoning composure, asked, 'who is that moody young man?'
'My companion, the captain count Gyllenstierna,' answered Brenner for
his silent friend. 'A brave soldier. He was the first upon the walls of
the Golden Lion, and won the particular approbation of our late blessed
king.'
'Gyllenstierna?' asked Taube, eagerly. 'He is then the son of the
senator, and was sent by his father to Armfelt's army.'
'The worthy old man was always one of our truest friends,' said Ulrika,
interrupting him, and bowing graciously to Arwed. And it will be most
agreeable to us to learn that the son follows in the father's
footsteps. We shall remember to bestow upon him some peculiar mark of
our favor.'
She held out her hand for him to kiss. But Arwed, highly incensed at
all he had heard, would not be compelled to show this mark of reverence
to a woman whom he hated. He stood stiff and motionless, and the hand
of the queen remained in expectancy, unclasped and unkissed, suspended
in the air.
Shocked at the gross impropriety, the chief governor hemmed
emphatically. Colonel Brenner anxiously endeavored to push Arwed
forward, but he would not move a limb, and the hand of the princess
finally sank down by her side.
'The young man is certainly not well!' said Ulrika, with much
bitterness.
'After his long and forced journey it would not be strange,' said
Brenner, apologetically. 'He has need of rest. Is it the pleasure of
your royal highness that we now retire?'
'You can receive your despatches early in the morning from the
governor,' answered Ulrika with displeasure; 'and for your companion,
may he in time learn the courtesy due from every gentleman to a lady,
even though she were not the sister of his king.'