The whole inheritance!  Not the smallest part of it should be abstracted from him!  In his father’s lifetime he had been appointed his coadjutor in the Order of the Knights of Malta; now, since his father was dead he must be his successor, must be Grand Master of the Order of St. John.  He sent orders to Sonnenberg, summoning a solemn chapter of the order to hold its sitting, and to send in the oath of service due him.  In his father’s lifetime he had been his associate in the office of Stadtholder; now, his father being no more, he claimed the stadtholdership in the Mark as his lawful heritage.  And his friends and adherents strengthened the ambitious young count in these pretentions.  As soon as John Adolphus had taken up his residence in Berlin, Commandant von Kracht placed guards before the gates of his palace, and every evening demanded a watchword from the young nobleman.

Commandant von Rochow of Spandow placed himself and his garrison wholly at the disposal of the “young Stadtholder,” and Colonel von Goldacker swore that he would obey the orders of none other than Count John Adolphus, Grand Master of the Order of St. John and Stadtholder in the Mark.

Count John Adolphus allowed himself to be rocked in these olden dreams of power and ambition, believed in their realization, and was firmly determined to do everything to prove their truth.  He accepted the guard, gave the watchword, and sent orders to Sonnenburg, as if he were already elected grand master; he required an oath of fealty from all those places which had been pledged to his father by the Elector George William.  He also issued his mandates in Berlin, and toward magistrates and judiciary he assumed the attitude of Stadtholder in the Mark.  And nobody ventured to contradict him, no court had the spirit to oppose him, for the young count stood at the head of a host of powerful and influential friends; the courts were weak and powerless, and as yet no instructions had been received from the Elector at Koenigsberg.

Count John Adolphus husbanded his time well.  He sent messengers in all directions, corresponded with all his father’s friends and adherents, summoning them to rally around him, and to come sword in hand.  He held correspondence also with the father confessor Silvio at Vienna, nay, even with the Emperor himself.  Restlessly active was he from morning till night, his whole being absorbed in this one effort—­to ruin the Elector, and to win for himself his rank and power!  His friends seconded him in striving to attain this great end.  Everywhere they were active, everywhere they sought to work for him and to procure him adherents.  At Spandow and Berlin the Commandants von Kracht and von Rochow declared themselves ready to place garrison and fortress entirely under his direction; Colonel von Goldacker, commandant of Brandenburg, had betaken himself to his post, and only awaited the count’s word to sound the tocsin of war.  In Koenigsberg