Courts and courtiers -- Fiction; German fiction -- Translations into English; Germany -- Fiction
"Good ... not bad; very remarkable, anyhow," said the Grand Duke
judicially. He found Dr. Sammet's words suggestive, though somewhat off
the point. He dismissed the young man with the words: "Well, doctor, my
time is limited. I thank you. This interview--apart from its painful
occasion--has much reassured me. I have the pleasure of bestowing on you
the Albrecht Cross of the Third Class with Crown. I shall remember you.
Thank you."
This was what passed between the Grimmburg doctor and the Grand Duke.
Shortly after Johann Albrecht left the castle and returned by special
train to the capital, chiefly to show himself to the rejoicing populace,
but also in order to give several audiences in the palace. It was
arranged that he should return in the evening to the castle, and take up
his residence there for the next few weeks.
All those present at the confinement at Grimmburg who did not belong to
the Grand Duchess's suite were also accommodated in the special train of
the bankrupt local railway, some of them travelling in the Sovereign's
own saloon. But the Grand Duke drove from the castle to the station
alone with von Knobelsdorff, the Minister of State, in an open landau,
one of the brown Court carriages with the little golden crown on the
door. The white feathers in the hats of the chasseurs in front fluttered
in the summer breeze. Johann Albrecht was grave and silent on the
journey; he seemed to be worried and morose. And although Herr von
Knobelsdorff knew that the Grand Duke, even in private, disliked anybody
addressing him unasked and uninvited, yet at last he made up his mind to
break the silence.
"Your Royal Highness," he said deprecatingly, "seems to take so much to
heart the little anomaly which has been discovered in the Prince's body,
... and yet one would think that on a day like this the reasons for joy
and proud thankfulness so far outweigh ..."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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