"As I am your uncle! But the incarceration will not be long," Ludwig grumbled. "There are ten thousand troops on the other side of the passes, and they have been there ever since I learned that you had gone a-wooing."
"Ten thousand? Well, they shall stay there," said the king determinedly. "I shall not begin my reign with war. I am in the wrong; I had no business to be here. Technically I have broken the treaty, though not in spirit."
"What will you do?"
"Tell the duke the truth. He will not dare go far."
"He will be a good politician, too," said Ludwig, with a smile of approval at Carmichael. "No, boy, there will be no war. And yet I was prepared for it; nor was I wrong in doing so. Already, but for Herbeck, there would be plenty of fighting in the passes. Ach! Could you but see the princess!"
"I have seen her," replied the king. "Heaven would have been kinder had I seen her months ago."
"Say to his serene highness, then, that you are willing to marry her."
"I'm afraid you do not understand, uncle," the king replied sadly. "I have the supreme happiness to love and to be loved. Of that nothing can rob me. And for some time to come, uncle mine, I shall treasure that happiness."
"And the little Gretchen?"
"Yes, yes! I have been a scoundrel." And the king's eyes grew moist. "You are happy, Mr. Carmichael; you have no crown to weigh against your love."
"Has he not?" mocked Ludwig.
"That, uncle, is neither kind nor gallant."
And from that moment Carmichael's heart warmed toward the young man, whose sorrow was greater than his own. For the king was giving up the woman who loved him, while Carmichael was only giving up the woman he loved, which is a distinction.
"I ask Mr. Carmichael's pardon," said Prince Ludwig frankly. "But my temper has been sadly tried. Will you grant me a favor?"
"If it is in my power," said Carmichael.
"Go at once to our embassy and notify them what has taken place."
"I will do that at once. If only I could find some way for you to escape!"
"There is none," said the king. "Come, uncle; let us see what is going on down-stairs."
Carmichael followed them down.
"There they are, men!" cried the sub-chief. "You are under arrest!"
"I am the king of Jugendheit," calmly announced Frederick Leopold. "Will you subject me to public arrest?"
"And I," said the uncle, "am Ludwig, prince regent. Let us go to prison as quickly as possible, blockheads!"
The sub-chief laughed uproariously, and even the disciplined soldiers smiled. The king of Jugendheit and the prince regent! This was a good joke, indeed!