Part 44 (1/2)

”In the palace, in boudoirs, in the nurseries, he plays the prince--extortioner--executioner. To the public he is the benign lord, whining for paltry huzzas.”

Frederick Augustus was so dumfounded, he could only grind his teeth.

I continued: ”You prate of respect due the Majesty. There's nothing to induce feelings of that sort. Round me there is naught but weakness, hypocrisy, pettiness. I see shame and thievery stalking side by side in these gilded halls--gilded for show, but pregnant with woe.

”Fie on you, Prince Royal, who allows his wife to be dogged by spies.

Thieves, paid by your father, steal my souvenirs; a burglar's kit hidden in their clothes, they besiege my writing table. Jailers stand between me and my children.

”My children!

”Like a she-dog,[7] whose young were drowned, I cry for my babies--I, the Crown Princess of Saxony, who saved your family from dying out, a degenerate, depraved, demoralized, decadent race.”

When I had said this and more I fell down and was seized by crying convulsions.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 7: Queens seem to like this unseemly comparison:

”Am I a kennel-dog in the estimation of the b.a.s.t.a.r.d of England?” cried Mary of Scots, when Queen Elizabeth refused her safe-conduct through England upon her departure from France (Summer 1561).]

CHAPTER LVI

I AM DETERMINED TO DO AS I PLEASE

I reject mother's tearful reproaches--I beard Prince George in his lair despite whining chamberlains--I tell him what I think of him, and he becomes frightened--Threatens madhouse--”I dare you to steal my children”--I win my point--and the children--”Her Imperial Highness regrets”--Lots of forbidden literature--Precautions against intriguing Grand Mistress--The affair with Henry--was it a flower-covered pit to entrap me?--Castle Stolpen and some of its awful history.

DRESDEN, _November 5, 1901_.

Patience ceased to be a virtue. Tolerance would be a crime against myself. I am determined to do as I please in future. If it upsets the King's, Prince George's and the rest's delicate digestion, so much the better.

The newspapers are hinting about my troubles with Prince George and the King. When I go driving or appear at the theatre, the public shows its sympathy in many ways. Sometimes I am acclaimed to the echo.

Mamma wrote me a tearful letter. She spent six hours in prayers for ”sinful Louise” and sends me the fruits of her meditations: six pages of close script, advising me how to regain the King's and Prince George's favor.

Never before have I failed in outward respect to my mother, but this time I wrote to her: ”Pray attend to your own affairs. Don't meddle in mine which you are entirely unable to understand.”

DRESDEN, _November 6, 1901_.

Bernhardt was sent to Sonnenstein. Whether he became insane at Nossen, or whether it is the family's intention to drive him mad among the madmen of Sonnenstein, I don't know, but it behooves me to be careful.

Sonnenstein has accommodation for both s.e.xes.

LOSCHWITZ, _November 15, 1901_.

I sent a letter to the King, asking him to have Loschwitz Castle prepared for my reception. His Majesty didn't deign to answer, but Prince George commanded me in writing to stay at Dresden ”under his watchful eye.”