With Frederick the Great | Page 8

is of quite as much importance in
war--namely, money, and she can grant us a large subsidy. The king's
interest in the matter is almost as great as ours. He is a Hanoverian
more than an Englishman, and you may be sure that, if Prussia were to
be crushed, the allies would make but a single bite of Hanover. You see,
this will be a war of life and death to us, and the fighting will be hard
and long."
"But what grievance has France against the king?"
"His majesty is open spoken, and no respecter of persons; and a woman
may forgive an injury, but never a scornful gibe. It is this that has
brought both France and Russia on him. Madame Pompadour, who is

all powerful, hates Frederick for having made disrespectful remarks
concerning her. The Empress of Russia detests him, for the same reason.
She of Austria has a better cause, for she has never forgiven the loss of
Silesia; and it is the enmity of these women, as much as the desire to
partition Prussia, that is about to plunge Europe into a war to the full as
terrible as that of the thirty years."
Keith now rung a bell, and a soldier entered.
"Tell Lieutenant Lindsay that I wish to speak to him."
A minute later an officer entered the room, and saluted stiffly.
"Lindsay, this is a young cousin of mine, Fergus Drummond. The king
has appointed him to a cornetcy in the 3rd Royal Dragoon Guards, but
he is going to be one of my aides-de-camp. Now that things are
beginning to move, you and Gordon will need help.
"Take him first to Tautz. I have written a note to the man, telling him
that he must hurry everything on. There is still a spare room on your
corridor, is there not? Get your man to see his things bestowed there. I
shall get his appointment this evening, I expect, but it will be a day or
two before he will be able to get a soldier from his regiment. He has a
horse to sell, and various other matters to see to. At any rate, look after
him, till tomorrow. 'Tis my hour to go to the king."
Lindsay was a young man of two or three and twenty. He had a merry,
joyous face, a fine figure, and a good carriage; but until he and Fergus
were beyond the limits of the palace, he walked by the lad's side with
scarce a word. When once past the entrance, however, he gave a sigh of
relief.
"Now, Drummond," he said, "we will shake hands, and begin to make
each other's acquaintance. First, I am Nigel Lindsay, very much at your
service. On duty I am another person altogether, scarcely recognizable
even by myself--a sort of wooden machine, ready, when a button is
touched, to bring my heels smartly together, and my hand to the salute.
There is something in the air that stiffens one's backbone, and freezes

one from the tip of one's toes to the end of one's pigtail. When one is
with the marshal alone, one thaws; for there is no better fellow living,
and he chats to us as if we were on a mountain side in Scotland, instead
of in Frederick's palace. But one is always being interrupted; either a
general, or a colonel, or possibly the king himself, comes in.
"For the time, one becomes a military statue; and even when they go, it
is difficult to take up the talk as it was left. Oh, it is wearisome work,
and heartily glad I shall be, when the trumpets blow and we march out
of Berlin. However, we are beginning to be pretty busy. I have been on
horseback, twelve hours a day on an average, for the past week. Gordon
started yesterday for Magdeburg, and Macgregor has been two days
absent, but I don't know where. Everyone is busy, from the king
himself--who is always busy about something--to the youngest
drummer. Nobody outside a small circle knows what it is all about.
Apparently we are in a state of profound peace, without a cloud in the
sky, and yet the military preparations are going on actively,
everywhere.
"Convoys of provisions are being sent to the frontier fortresses. Troops
are in movement from the Northern Provinces. Drilling is going on--I
was going to say night and day, for it is pretty nearly that--and no one
can make out what it is all about.
"There is one thing--no one asks questions. His majesty thinks for his
subjects, and as he certainly is the cleverest man in his dominions,
everyone is well content that it should be so.
"And now, about yourself. I am running on and talking nonsense, when
I