that these words can have but one meaning. 'I shall go to
Konigsberg,' writes Baron Trenck, 'and there do in the presence of
the king what no one has done before me, and what no one will do
after me.' Does not this make his intention pretty clear?"

"Only for those who know his intentions or suspect them, for others
they could have any other signification, some romantic threat,
nothing more. Baron Trenck is a known adventurer, a species of Don
Quixote, always fighting against windmills, and believing that
warriors and kings honor him so far as to be his enemies. I punished
Trenck when he was in my service, for insubordination; now he is no
longer in my service, and I have forgotten him, but woe be unto him
if he forces me to remember him!"

"Your majesty will soon see if he is falsely accused. These reliable
and irreproachable men came especially to warn your majesty, through
me. You will discover if they have calumniated Trenck, by giving
this testimony. If he does not go to Dantzic, does not enter
Prussia, they have sworn falsely, and Trenck is innocent."

"He will not dare to cross the borders of my state, for he knows he
will be court-martialled as a deserter. But I am convinced that he
is a bold adventurer, he has boasted that he will defy me, that is
certainly what no one has done before him, and what no one will do
after him, but it will rest there, you may believe me."

Baron Weingarten bowed silently. The king continued, with an
engaging smile.

"However, monsieur, I owe you many thanks, and it would please me to