The latter merely sought, through the impression which she strove to produce upon the king's mind, to tear him out of the fetters of dependence, in which she imagined his Majesty was bound. The second of the parties strove, on the other hand, as may be easily conjectured, to remove Count Holck. But I must confess that under these circumstances my sense and inclination made me principally incline to the views of Frau von Gabel, as they fully agreed with mine, and I gave this lady credit for honourable sentiments. Still, I did not agree with her on two points:--(1) That she absolutely insisted on removing Count Holck, which I considered unnecessary if the king could be imbued with more correct and permanent sentiments, as in that case Count Holck's credit would fall away of itself, and, besides, an old favourite would be less injurious than a new one; and (2) I was always of opinion that the sole and right mode of rendering the king truly happy, was to do away with his _éloignement_ from the queen, and to establish a mutual affection between them. Frau von Gabel believed that she had been insulted by the queen, and seemed desirous not to seek her favour again, until she could be useful to her Majesty through the influence she had gained over the king's heart. I tried to convince the Moltke party, as far as they granted me their confidence, how little hope they could have of overthrowing Count Holck, or of deriving any advantage from it; and to how many unpleasantnesses the queen would be exposed if they employed their power in removing the count before the king's confidence was gained; and hence I considered it the best course to live in unity and peace. In any case, I did not consider myself at liberty to act against Count Holck, and though I was not satisfied with his conduct, I thought that this ought to be left to the king alone. 1770. Even in the following winter when, owing to the misunderstandings between Count Holck and the Russian minister, it would have been an easy task to overthrow the former, I did everything in my power to support him; and, in this affair, always spoke to the king in Count Holck's favour, although, in other respects, I told the king the truth of the affair, and Count Holck gave it a _tournure_ which I could not approve. In the year 1769, when, toward the end of the summer and afterwards, I had frequent opportunities of speaking with the queen, and her Majesty confided to me her thoughts about her situation, I found that she was excessively discontented with it; had no hopes of ever being happy with her consort; and could expect no peace or contentment from the existing state of affairs.