The prince looked at him for a moment firmly through his gold spectacles without his secretary's casting down his eyes, or at all changing the smiling, cheerful expression of his countenance. "Hamburger," he then said, still in a peevish voice, though the first appearance of returning good humour was seen in the corners of his eyes, "I shall make you my doctor! Alas! you don't know how to find the remedy, but as far as the diagnosis is concerned, you are a born physician. I shall no longer have the right of being in a bad temper before you." "Your Excellency will certainly never state," said von Hamburger, smiling and bowing, "that I took the liberty of remarking upon your temper; I only begged permission to defer my business until this temper--your Excellency yourself used the expression--had passed away." "Ought I not to be in a bad temper?" cried the prince, half laughing, half impatient, "when the whole world is departing from its old orderly course, when the balance of European power, already severely shaken, kicks the beam,--and when all this takes place without Russia having any part in it, without gaining anything for itself in the new arrangement of affairs! I am glad," he added thoughtfully, "that Austria is beaten, Austria, who with unheard-of ingratitude forsook us in the hour of need, and with false friendship injured us more than our open foes; but that victory should go so far as to enable Prussia to dethrone the legitimate princes in Germany, and that the German nation should be close to us, able to threaten our frontier, causes me heavy anxiety. Prussia," he said, after a short pause, "was our friend--it was, it must be so; but what now arises is not Prussia, it is Germany; and I remember with what hatred against Russia the German nation was saturated in 1848. In Paris they will do nothing, except ask for compensation, which I think they will not get. Yes, if Napoleon could have determined to act, then the moment would have come in which we could have interfered; but to act alone is to us impossible." "Your Excellency will hear what General Manteuffel brings; he will soon be here," said von Hamburger, drawing out his watch. "What will he bring?" cried the prince, impatiently; "forms of speech, declarations--nothing more; and what shall we reply? we shall put a good face on a bad game--_voilà tout_." Hamburger gave a meaning smile. "Your Excellency must permit me to say," said he, "that personally I am convinced it is not right to regard the new formation of Germany with enmity; to prevent it is impossible; the old European balance of power has long been out of joint, and Russia is weighty enough," he added proudly, "not to fear any fresh distribution of power. Russia, that great and mighty nation, must not hang on to old traditions; she must go forth to meet the future free and unprejudiced; if the possessions of other states are increased, so be it--the power of Russia is not curtailed by an unalterable frontier."