A Husband's Revenge
XIV. The Separation
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.
THE KING.
The king laid his flute aside, and with his hands folded behind his
back, walked thoughtfully up and down his room in Sans-Souci. His
countenance was now tranquil, his brow cloudless; with the aid of
music he had harmonized his soul, and the anger and displeasure he
had so shortly before felt were soothed by the melodious notes of
his flute.
The king was no longer angry, but melancholy, and the smile that
played on his lip was so resigned and painful that the brave Marquis
d'Argens would have wept had he seen it, and the stinging jest of
Voltaire have been silenced.
But neither the marquis nor Voltaire, nor any of his friends were at
present in Potsdam. D'Argens was in France, with his young wife,
Barbe Cochois; Voltaire, after a succession of difficulties and
quarrels, had departed forever; General Rothenberg had also departed
to a land from which no one returns--he was dead! My lord marshal
had returned to Scotland, Algarotti to Italy, and Bastiani still
held his office in Breslau. Sans-Souci, that had been heretofore the
seat of joy and laughing wit--Sans-Souci was now still and lonely;
youth, beauty, and gladness had forsaken it forever; earnestness and
duty had taken their place, and reigned in majesty within those
walls that had so often echoed with the happy laugh and sparkling
jest of the king's friends and contemporaries.
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