He asked to be allowed to speak with his old acquaintance, Staff-Comptroller Zanders, who was in the castle. Gudden at first would not hear of this; at length he gave way to the King's supplication, and Zanders was allowed to be with him for half-an-hour, but was required to promise on his word of honour not to arouse any hope in the King's mind that he might regain his freedom. Ludwig advanced to meet him with the vigour and energy he displayed at his prime--quite a different man from what he had been two days previously. He showed him the bars before the windows, the peepholes in the door, and told him how he had been treated. "How many gendarmes are there in the park to guard me?" he asked. "Six or eight, your Majesty." "Would they in case of emergency shoot at me?" "How can your Majesty think such a thing!" was the answer. While this conversation was taking place the chief physician was telegraphing to Munich: "Everything is going wonderfully well here." A quarter of an hour afterwards the King started on his last walk with Gudden. The sky was overclouded, and a drizzling rain was falling. Two keepers accompanied them. The doctor observed that their presence was unnecessary, and soon afterwards they returned to the castle. The King and his physician struck into the path they had followed in the morning. Ludwig had known the banks of the lake of Starnberg from childhood, and it is more than probable that he had that forenoon chosen the spot where he would free himself from his life. The physician had said he would return with the King at eight o'clock. Half-past eight and nine passed, but they did not appear; and anxiety was felt at the castle in case some accident might have happened to them in the darkness of the park. The assistant doctor had the immediate vicinity carefully searched. This led at first to no result, for no one thought of the lake of Starnberg. Not far from the seat on which Ludwig and Gudden had rested in the forenoon were found later the umbrellas of both men. A fisherman was summoned; and upon rowing a short distance from the shore in his boat the body of Dr Gudden, in a half-sitting posture, with the back bent below the surface of the water, was discovered. A few feet farther out was found the King's lifeless body, the head downwards, and the arms bent forward. The lake was not so deep at this spot but he could have saved himself had he been so minded.