"That"s love," said the Baron, shooting significant glances at me.
"Henry _Quatre_ did the same to Marie de Medici--an Italian like you, Imperial Highness."
Anna didn"t know what to make of it, and as for me, my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth.
The impudent fellow seems to have misinterpreted our silence, for, brazen like the _Duc de_ Richelieu, who boasted of sleeping in the beds of queens, he continued:
"Catharine the Great, too, knew what love was. One fine afternoon when she wasn"t a day older than you, Imperial Highness, she looked out of the window of her room at Castle Peterhof. In the garden below a sentinel, very handsome, very Herculean, very brave, was pacing up and down. Catharine, then Imperial Grand-d.u.c.h.ess and only just married, made a sign to the soldier. The giant, abandoning his rifle, jumped below the window and Catharine jumped onto his shoulders from the second story.
"That"s real love," concluded the Baron.
Anna got frightened and fled down the avenue, but I had the weakness to remain at the Baron"s side until we reached the palace.
Alas, Frederick Augustus wasn"t as good a talker as the Baron.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FREDERICK AUGUSTUS, REIGNING KING OF SAXONY
Louise"s Ex-Husband]
CHAPTER X
MY POPULARITY RENDERS GEORGE DYSPEPTIC
The Cudgel-Majesty--Prince George"s intrigues--No four-horse coach for Princess--Popular demonstration in my favor--"All-highest"
displeasure.
DRESDEN, _September 1, 1893_.
I haven"t lived up to my promise to keep a daily record, or even a weekly one. Those tales of my girlhood days disgusted me with diary keeping as far as my early experiences at home went and I reflected that many of the subsequent happenings in my life might be safer in the shrine of memory, than spread over the pages of a blank-book, even though no one sees it and I carry its golden key on a chain around my neck.
We are back in the capital now and things are moving. Great doings had been planned for our reception, for the re-entry of the little prince, my baby, and his mother who is expected to give another child to Saxony at the end of the year. Two babies in one year! I am going to beat the German Empress, and if Wilhelm doesn"t send me a medal I will cut him dead the next time I see him!
Well, about that reception. Flags, triumphal arches, speeches by the burgo-master, white-robed virgins at the station and all that sort of thing!
But Father-in-law George said "no." Anything that gives joy to others goes against his royal grain, gives him politico-economic dyspepsia. He doesn"t want me to be popular,--neither me, nor Frederick Augustus, nor the baby.
George will be the next king, and if the Dresdeners or the Saxons want to "_Hoch the King_," they must "_Hoch_" George. They MUST. "It"s their d.a.m.ned duty," says George the Pious, who never blasphemes on his own account, but allows himself some license concerning his subjects. His att.i.tude recalls the story told of Frederick William the First of Prussia, whose appearance on the streets of Berlin used to cause pa.s.sers-by to run to save their back. Upon one occasion His Majesty caught one of these fugitives, and whacking him over the head with his Spanish reed, cried angrily: "What do you want to run away from me for?"
"Because I"m afraid of your Royal Majesty," stuttered the poor devil.
"Afraid?" thundered Frederick William, giving the fellow another whack with his cane. "Afraid?"--the beating continuing--"when I, your King, commanded you to love me. Love me, you miserable coward, love G.o.d"s Anointed." And the loving Majesty broke his cane on the unloving subject"s back.
Two days before our arrival Prince George sent his adjutant, Baron de Metsch-Reichenbeck, to the Mayor of Dresden, stopping all reception arrangements contemplated.
To have children was a mere picnic to Her Imperial Highness, lied George"s messenger,--if the physicians hadn"t used chloroform I would have perished with the torture. Ovations intended as a sort of reward or recognition of my services to the country, then, would be entirely out of place, and must not be thought of.
The munic.i.p.ality thereupon officially abandoned preparations. I was a little vexed when I first heard about George"s meanness, yet again felt tickled that he went out of his way to intrigue against me, the despised little princess of a House that ceased to reign. And I had an idea that the Dresdeners would give us a good welcome anyhow.
I had contemplated ordering my special train to leave in the early morning or at noon, but the Ministry of Railways informed me that it was impossible to accommodate me at the hours mentioned.
"We will take the ordinary express, then, and will be in Dresden at four in the afternoon," I suggested.
"According to the new schedule, the express doesn"t stop in Dresden,"
protested Frederick Augustus.
"We will command it to stop," I cried.
Frederick Augustus looked at me as if I had asked him to borrow twenty marks from the Kaiser. "For G.o.d"s sake!" he cried, "don"t you know what happened to John the other day?"
I confessed my ignorance.
"Well," said Frederick Augustus, "John ordered the Continental express to pick him up at his garrison, and he had no sooner arrived in Dresden than he was commanded by the King to appear before him. His Majesty walked all over John, accusing him of "interfering with international traffic" and forbidding him to issue another order of that character."
"Pshaw!" I said, "John is merely a childless princeling. I am the mother of Saxony"s future king. The regeneration, the perpetuation of your race depends on me."
It was a mere waste of breath, for at that moment came a telegram, announcing that our special was billed to leave at 3:30, getting us to Dresden at half-past five--King"s orders.
"Did you command the _Daumont_ coach-and-four to meet us at the station?" I asked.
"My dear child, you are dreaming," replied Frederick Augustus. "The State carriages are the property of the Crown and we don"t own a four-horse team in Dresden. They will send the ordinary royal carriage, I suppose."
I was mad enough to wish my husband"s family to Hades, the whole lot of them, but the people of Dresden took revenge in hand and dealt most liberally. Of course, having fixed our arrival at a late and unusual hour, George expected there would be no one to welcome us, but the great concourse of people that actually a.s.sembled at the station and in the adjacent streets, lining them up to the palace gates, was tremendous instead.
One more disappointment. George had sent an inconspicuous, narrow _coupe_ to the station,--the Dresdeners shouldn"t see more than the point of my nose. I saw through his scheme the moment I clapped eyes on that mouse-trap of a vehicle standing at the curb.
And then I remembered the brilliant stagecraft of August the Physical Strong--he of the three hundred and fifty-two--and how he always managed to focus everybody"s eyes on himself. And I stood stockstill on the broad, red-carpeted terrace when I walked out of the waiting room and held up my baby in the face of the mult.i.tude. You could hear the "_Hochs_" and Hurrahs all over town, they said. Hats flew in the air, handkerchiefs waved, flags were thrust out of the windows of the houses.
"What are you doing, Imperial Highness?" whispered _Fraulein von_ Schoenberg, my lady-in-waiting.
"Never mind, I will carry the baby to the carriage," I answered curtly.
"But the King and Prince George will be angry,--everything will be reported to them."
"I sincerely hope it will," I said.
And before I entered that petty _souriciere_ of a royal coach, I danced the baby above my head time and again, giving everybody a chance to see him. And as I stood there in the midst of this tumult of applause, this waving sea of good-will, this thunder of jubilation, I felt proud and happy as I never did before. And when the thought struck me how mad George would feel about it all, I had to laugh outright.
I was still grinning to myself when I heard Frederick Augustus"s troubled voice: "Get in, what are you standing around here for?"--These manifestations of popularity spelt "all-highest" displeasure to him, poor noodle. He antic.i.p.ated the scene at the palace, George fuming and charging "play to the gallery," the Queen in tears, the King threatening to banish us from Dresden.
"Be it so," I said to myself, "we might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb." And I refused to enter the carriage until I had waved and smiled profound thanks to everybody in the square and in the windows and on the balconies of the surrounding houses.
I saw the Master of Horse address the coachman and immediately divined his purpose. So I pulled at the rope and commanded the coachman to drive slowly. I said it in my most imperious manner, and the Master of Horse dared not give the counter order with which Prince George had charged him. Poor man, his failure to subordinate my will to his, or George"s, cost him his job.
And so we made our royal entry into Dresden amid popular rejoicings. I glued my face to the carriage window and smiled and smiled and showed the baby to everyone who asked for the boon.