I was quite right. It is Sebastian and only Sebastian that we need
fear. Here they are clumsy conspirators compared to him. I have
been in the river half the night listening at the open stern-window
of a Reval pink to every word they said. His Majesty can safely
come to Konigsberg. Indeed, he is better out of Dantzig. For the
whole country is riddled with that which they call patriotism, and
we treason. But I can only repeat what his Majesty disbelieved the
day before yesterday--that the heart of the ill is Dantzig, and the
venom of it Sebastian. Who he really is and what he is about you
must find out how you can. I go forward to-day to Gumbinnen. The
enclosed letter to its address, I beg of you, if only in
acknowledgment of all that I have sacrificed."
The letter was unsigned, and bore the date, "Dawn, June 10." This
and the report, and that other letter (carefully sealed with a
wafer) which did not deal with war or its alarms, were all placed in
one large envelope. He did not seal it, however, but sat thinking
while the sun began to shine on the opposite houses. Then he
withdrew the open letter, and added a postscript to it:
"If an attempt were made on N.'s life--I should say Sebastian. If
Prussia were to play us false suddenly, and cut us off from France--
I should say nothing else than Sebastian. He is more dangerous than
a fanatic; for he is too clever to be one."
The writer shivered and laughed in sheer amusement at his own misery
as he drew on his wet clothes.
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