“Your highness may be well assured that I return home just as I went away,” said Leuchtmar earnestly—­“that is to say, an upright Protestant, a true Brandenburger, and a determined opponent of those who concluded the peace of Prague, and thereby separated the Elector of Brandenburg from the Swedes, and made him wholly and solely subservient to the Emperor’s interests.”

“You will not name him, the evildoer, who has brought this to pass,” cried the Electress, “but I will name him:  it is Count Schwarzenberg!  It is the Stadtholder in the Mark, who has brought upon us all this mischief and disgrace, who has sundered us from our nearest blood relations, the family of the Swedish King, and has leagued us with and subjected us to those who are our sworn enemies and adversaries, the Imperialists, the Austrians.  Oh, my son! promise me that you will some day take vengeance for the ignominy and humiliation which we must now undergo.  Swear in this first hour of your return home, solemnly joining hands with me, that as soon as you come into power the first act of your government shall be to renounce allegiance to the Emperor and to ally yourself again with the Swedes, our natural allies.”

She stretched out her right hand to her son.  “Swear, my son!” she cried, solemnly, “give me your hand upon it!”

But Frederick William did not lay his hand within hers.  He drew back, declining her proffered hand.

“Forgive me, my dearest mother,” he said, “forgive me; but I can not swear, for I do not know whether I could keep my oath!  May the good God long preserve my gracious father’s life, and grant him a glorious reign.  But if hereafter, and surely to my deepest regret, duty and the right of Succession deliver into my hands the reins of government, then I must guide them, as circumstances direct, as determined by the contingencies of the times and the good of the country; and I dare not bind myself beforehand by any given word or by promises.”

“You refuse, my son, to promise me that you will make amends for all the evil done by that wicked enemy of your house, your family, and your country?”

“Dearest mother, I know not of whom you speak, and who it is that has burdened himself with so heinous a crime.”

With impulsive movement the Electress laid her hand upon his arm, and looked him steadily in the eye.

“Are you dissembling, or is that the truth?” she asked.  “You do not know of whom I speak?  You do not know who is the enemy of your house and family?”

“I am trying in vain to study it out, mother, and I beg you not to be angry with me on that account, for your grace must reflect that I have been absent almost four years, and am therefore a little unacquainted with the situation of affairs here.  If you had addressed that question to me before my departure, most assuredly I should have replied without hesitation, ‘It is Count Schwarzenberg!’ But I have