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Updated: June 20, 2025
A glorious thrill of youthful triumph ran through me; she had paid her first tribute to my manhood in that blush; the offering was small, but, for its significance, frankincense and myrrh to me. "I thought you came to talk about Wetter's Bill," she suggested presently in a voice lower than her usual tones. "The deuce take Wetter's Bill," said I. "I am very interested in it." "Just now?"
"What are you thinking of, Elsa?" "Nothing," she answered with a little start. "Is he a young man?" "You mean Wetter?" "Yes." "Oh, a few years over thirty. But he's made the most of his time in the world. The most, not the best, I mean, you know." Her thoughts had been on Wetter and Wetter's words. Since she had smiled I concluded that my guess was not far off.
Timidity held me back from further advance. For that evening enough seemed to have passed; I had made a start to go further might be to risk all. I was about to take my leave when she looked up again, saying: "And about Wetter's Bill, Cæsar?" "You know I can do nothing." "Can Cæsar do nothing? If you were known to favour it fifty votes would be changed." Her face was eager and animated.
By Wetter's verdict and by the Prince's own, his death made me in very truth king. So they said; what did they think? Wetter's thought was, "Here is a king, a king to be shaped and used." I read Wetter's thought well enough. But the old man's? His was a plea, a hope, a prayer. "Be king." A sudden flash of feeling came upon me too late!
This was not because I was especially courageous or more indifferent to death than other men; it did not occur to me that I should be killed or even hit. Coralie had a strong presentiment of evil for some one; I had none for myself. If she were right, it seemed to me that Wetter's fate must prove her so. The other pair came punctually. They had encountered some slight obstacle in entering.
As I closed the door I heard her fling herself back into her chair with a curious little sound, half-cry, half-sigh. I left the house quickly and silently; no servant was summoned to escort me. I walked a few yards along the street to where Wetter lived. My carriage was ordered to come for me at Wetter's; it had not yet arrived.
Wetter's forensic sharpness, ready wit, and persuasive eloquence would dress my case in better colours than I could contrive for myself. It mattered little to me how well he knew that arguments were needed, not to convince myself, but to flourish in the faces of those who opposed and criticised me.
If it were true now, the ball would pass his ear and bury itself in the wainscoting behind. "One two three!" I fired on the last word; I saw the smoke of Wetter's pistol; he stood motionless. In an instant I felt myself hit. I was amazed. I was hit, shot through the body. I staggered, and should have fallen; Vohrenlorf ran to me, and I sank back in his arms.
All this had been dimly foreshadowed to me when I sat in the theatre, looking now at Coralie as she sang her song, now at Wetter's frowning brows and tight-set lips. I must add that my position was rendered peculiarly difficult by the fact that Wetter not only owed me deference, but was still in my debt for the money I had lent him.
I saw him and Elsa coming toward me; his voice sounded merry and careless as he shouted, "Here I am, sire"; a moment later they stood before me. No, there was no ground for Wetter's hint, and could be none. Both were merely happy and gay, both utterly unembarrassed. "Somebody wants you inside, Varvilliers," said I, with a nod. He laughed, bowed gracefully to Elsa, and ran off.
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