The Electress had listened to her son with tears in her eyes, and the two Princesses also had been deeply moved by the vehement and painful recital of their brother’s love.  Now, upon his invitation, spoken with so much ardor and enthusiasm, the Electress rose from her seat and took her glass in her hand; the Princesses followed her example.

“To the health of the Princess Ludovicka Hollandine of the Palatinate!” said the Electress, with full, distinct voice, and the young ladies repeated it after her.

“Here is to her health!” cried Frederick William, with animated features and beaming eyes.  “May she be great, happy, and blessed forever!”

At one draught he emptied the chalice, then, in the fervor of the moment, forgetting all discretion, he threw the glass backward over his shoulder into the hall, so that it fell, with a crash, shivered to atoms, upon the floor.

The Elector rose, his face flushed with passion, and violently rolled his chair back from the table.  “Dinner is over,” he said.  “May this meal be blessed to all!”

The court officials bowed low and withdrew.  Herr von Leuchtmar also made a motion as if to go, but George William’s call detained him.  “Come here,” he said imperiously; “I have still a couple of words to speak with you.  Just tell me, Baron Leuchtmar von Kalkhun, is it you who have taught the Electoral Prince such singular manners, or are those the fine fashions which he has been used to at the Orange court?  Is it the custom there to make scandal at table, and to throw glasses behind them?”

“Your Electoral Highness,” replied Leuchtmar hesitatingly, “I do not know—­”

“Permit me, most gracious father,” interposed the Electoral Prince, while he most respectfully drew near to his father—­“permit me to answer you on that point myself.  No, it is not the fashion to behave so strangely at the Netherland court, and God forbid that my former tutor, Baron von Leuchtmar, should have taught me such ill manners.  It was only my heart, which for the moment was stronger than any form or fashion, and I pray you to forgive it, for henceforth it shall be right good and quiet, and not even cause it to be remarked that it still beats.”

The Elector only answered by a silent nod of the head, and then turned again to the baron.

“Leuchtmar,” he said, “I have now a few words to address to you, and, had you not appeared here to-day, I should have been obliged to have had you summoned to-morrow to tell you what I have to say.  You have brought the Electoral Prince back to us, a young gentleman, who has outgrown the schoolroom and needs no tutor; let life then receive him into its school and play the tutor for him.  But he has outgrown you and your protection, and your office is herewith at an end.  I might wish, indeed, to retain you still near the person of my son, and so I could have done if the Electoral Prince had married, and we had set up a princely establishment for him,