he recognized and feared this fatal signal.

"Well, yes, it is blood; your majesty sees I am blood-thirsty!
Unhappily, I do not shed the blood of your enemies, but my own,
which I would gladly give, drop by drop, if I could thereby save my
king one hour's suffering or care."

"And yet you, Jordan, are now the cause of my bitterest grief. You
are ill, and you conceal it from me. You suffer, and force yourself
to seem gay, and hide your danger from me, in place of turning to my
physicians and demanding their counsel and aid."

"Frederick the Wise once said to me, 'Physicians are but quacks and
charlatans, and a man gives himself up to a tedious suicide who
swallows their prescriptions.'"

"No, it was not 'Frederick the Wise,' but 'Frederick the Fool,' who
uttered that folly. When the sun is shining, Frederick has no fear
of ghosts; but at the turn of midnight, he will breathe a silent
'Father in heaven,' to be protected from them. We have no use for
confidence in physicians when we are healthy; when we are ill we
need them, and then we begin to hold them in consideration. You are
ill, your breast suffers. I entreat you, Jordan, to call upon my
physician, and to follow his advice promptly and systematically. I
demand this as a proof of your friendship."

"I will obey your majesty, immediately," said Jordan, who now found
himself completely overcome by the weakness which follows loss of
blood; trembling, and almost sinking, he leaned upon the table.
Frederick perceived this, and rolling forward his own arm-chair,