Caroline Matilda had something active and decided in her character which could not always lie fallow. She was greatly humiliated by the insignificant part she played at court, and felt that there was no other way of re-acquiring the respect which belonged to her rank than by trying to gain the king's confidence again. She was convinced that she would never succeed in this so long as Holck remained in favour; and she could not make up her mind to place confidence in any one of the ministers, as she felt a dislike of them all, but especially of Bernstorff, whom she feared. She, therefore, determined to foil all the offensive designs she apprehended from the ministers, and overthrow the reigning favourite. To effect this, she began by displaying a marked deference towards the king, and striving to act in accordance with all his wishes. But she had not yet found the instrument whom she needed to support her, till chance threw Struensee in her way. Up to this time, the doctor had displayed no marked attachment to any party: Moltke's partisans were striving to gain him and Warnstedt over to their side; and as Struensee was a welcome guest at the house of the chief marshal of the court, for which honour he had frequently to pay, by losing heavy sums in the then fashionable game of hazard, this coterie gained their object, or at least fancied that they had succeeded. Whether Struensee at this period of his career had an inkling of the extraordinary part he would be called upon to play, it is now impossible to say: it is evident, however, that he acted with the utmost caution in feeling his way. He was gradually gaining ground in the king's favour; but there is not the slightest evidence in support of the commonly expressed opinion, that, with his first step in Denmark, he resolved to become the _de facto_ ruler of that country. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 87: "Authentische Aufklärungen," pp. 25, 26.] [Footnote 88: "Mémoires de mon Temps." pp. 8, 9.] [Footnote 89: It was on one of these occasions that Reverdil, on some courtiers bringing to the palace a morning star they had taken from a watchman, and boasting loudly of their exploit, uttered the sarcastic words, "Voilà un beau chemin à la gloire." This remark had something to do with his dismissal.] [Footnote 90: "Northern Courts," p. 82.] [Footnote 91: In a life of Carl August von Struensee, by Held, I find that the origin of the Struensee family was as follows:--One of his ancestors, of quite a different name, was, during the time of the Hanseatic League, a pilot of Lübeck. During a frightful storm, in which no other man dared to venture out to sea, he brought a richly laden fleet into port; acquired respect and credit in his native city for doing so; and, in memory of his courageous deed, received from the Lübeck magistracy the name of Strouvensee, which means a dark, stormy sea.]