“Ah, my son!” cried the Stadtholder, smiling, “you go too far.  Never will the Elector resort to such expedients.  He is too pious and good a Christian for that!”

“Father, are not you, too, a good, pious Christian, and yet—­Believe me, the Elector has forgotten nothing.  He remembers the man found under his bed once, with a murderous weapon in his hand and much gold in his pocket.  He remembers the sickness which so suddenly seized him two years ago at the banquet which you had prepared for him. Then you invited him, now he invites you, and if sickness seizes you, you will probably not have the good fortune to recover as he did.”

“That is true; my God! he may be right,” muttered the count, turning pale.  “It may be that they suspect me; they may have told him I meant to poison him at that banquet.  I have proofs of it which make it seem probable, and that woman—­Hush, hush! nothing of that—­that has no place here!  But I believe myself that you are right, and will therefore ignore the Elector’s invitation.”

“God be praised, father, that you have taken this resolution!” cried the young count joyfully.  “Now at last the crisis is upon us—­open enmity and a rupture, regardless of consequences!  Waver and hesitate no more.  The Elector would ruin you; you must ruin him.  Nay, look not so amazed and shocked, father!  I have long foreseen this moment, and have prepared everything for meeting the emergency with dignity.  As soon as the first news of the Elector George William’s death reached here, I gathered about me my friends and yours, and held a long consultation with them, which satisfied me of their fidelity and devotion.  Oh, most gracious sir, you have indeed no reason to bewail your lot, for you have many and reliable friends, who are ready for your sake to confront the most imminent dangers, to undertake what is most difficult and hazardous!  All of our friends were convinced with me that the Electoral Prince is your implacable enemy, and that he only watches for an opportunity to accomplish your ruin.  In spite of his few years, however, he is much too wise and cautious a man to attempt to act against you with open, swift determination.  He knows the Emperor loves you, and that he would regard each act of enmity against you as directed against himself.  Therefore he would quietly remove and undo you.  Here, in the midst of your faithful friends, surrounded by soldiers and officers who have taken an oath of fidelity to you and the Emperor, in the midst of your adherents and retainers, the Elector would not dare to arrest and accuse you.  He begins much more prudently, much more circumspectly!  In the first place, you are to swear the governors and officers into the Elector’s service.  That is to say, in other words, they are no longer to recognize the Emperor as lord paramount or you as the Elector’s representative, but their oath is to bind them to the Elector alone, and only on his will are they to be dependent.  After having