“Oh, not so, your majesty; I am far too religious to fall into such errors.”

“Yes, you are too religious; or, rather you have to many religions.  To which, for example, do you now profess to belong?”

“Sire, I have become a Protestant.”

“From conviction?”

“So long as I believed in the possibility of marrying several millions—­yes, from conviction.  These millions would have made me happy, and surely I might allow myself to become a Protestant in order to be happy.”

“Once for all, how many times have you changed your religion?” said the king, thoughtfully.

“Oh, not very often, sire!  I am forever zealously seeking after the true faith, and so long as I do not find that religion which makes me content with such things as I have, I am forced to change in justice to myself.  In my childhood I was baptized and brought up a Lutheran, and I had nothing against it, and remained in that communion till I went to Rome; there I saw the Holy Father, the Pope, perform mass, and the solemn ceremony roused my devotional feelings to such a height that I became a Catholic immediately.  This was, however, no change of religion.  Up to this time I had not acted for myself; so the Catholic may be justly called my first faith.”

“Yes, yes! that was about the time you stole your dying bride’s diamonds and fled from France.”

“Oh, your majesty, that is a wicked invention of my enemies, and utterly unfounded.  If I had really stolen and sold those magnificent brilliants—­worth half a million—­from my dying love, it would have been sufficient to assure me a luxurious life, and I should not have found it imperative to become a Catholic.”

“Ah, you confess, then, that you did not become a Catholic from conviction, but in order to obtain the favor of the cardinals and the Pope?”

“Nothing escapes the quick eye of your majesty, so I will not dare to defend myself.  I came back to Berlin then, a Catholic, and the ever-blessed king received me graciously.  He was a noble and a pious man, and my soul was seized with a glowing desire to imitate him.  I saw, indeed, how little I had advanced on the path to glory by becoming a Catholic!  I made a bold resolve and entered the Reformed Church.”

“And by this adroit move you obtained your object:  you became the favorite of my father the king.  As he, unhappily, can show you no further favor, it is no longer prudent to be a reformer, so you are again a Lutheran—­from conviction!”

“Oh, all the world knows the great, exalted, and unprejudiced mind of our young king,” said Pollnitz.  “It is to him a matter of supreme indifference what religious sect a man belongs to, so he adopts that faith which makes him a brave, reliable, and serviceable subject of his king and his fatherland.”