“He will not venture to attempt that, for he knows public opinion would accuse and denounce him as the murderer.”

“What cares he for public opinion, what asks he about it—­he who has power to repress it, he who stands so secure that it can not touch him?”

“Nobody stands so high, Prince, that public opinion can not reach him and dash him into the depths below, for public opinion is the voice of the nation, and the voice of the nation is the voice of God!  And believe me, Prince, this voice will one day accuse and sentence him.”

“Yes, one day perhaps, when he has thrust me out of the way and murdered me, when my father has gone to his last home, when the Emperor has pronounced the Mark of Brandenburg an unincumbered fief, and bestowed it as an act of grace upon Count Schwarzenberg or his son.  Oh, I know all his plans, and I know that no moment of my life is henceforth secure—­know that I am a victim of death if prudence and cunning do not save me!  I thought of all this during my long journey to this place.  I have weighed all, pondered all, and my whole future lay before me like a white sheet of paper.  I saw a hand unroll it, and with bloody letters inscribe the word ‘Death’; but I saw this word blotted out by a cautious finger, and, ere it was written to the end, replaced by the word ‘Life’ in characters small and hardly visible.  Yes, I will live, will reign, will have fame, honor, and influence, will make a name for myself!  Leuchtmar, I have left behind in Holland my youth, my hopes, my dreams, my heart!  I come here as a man, despite my eighteen years, as a man who from the wreck of his youth will save only this:  the future and fame!  A man, who has suffered so much, that he can say of himself:  I defy pain, and it has no longer any power over me!  I defy life, and will conquer it!  Yes, Leuchtmar, I will conquer it; and although I no longer love it, I do not mean to allow it to be snatched away from me.  Hear me, friend, for to-day is the last time for a long while that I may speak openly and candidly to you.  I entreat you, guide of my youth, to preserve for me your friendship and your faith.  I beseech you never to lose confidence in me, and, if ever a doubt should intrude itself with regard to me, to remember this hour, in which I have laid bare to you my heart, and in which you have been a witness to my indignation and grief, my excitement and hatred!  You are familiar with my countenance, friend; impress it upon your memory, in order that you may never forget it, even if you should not see it for a long time again.  Look once more in my eyes, and read in my glances my love and reverence for you!”