Count Piper was about to take his leave when his soldier servant ushered in the young Palatine of Posnania and Alexander Sobieski.
This latter had waited on Karl to urge him to revenge the capture of his two brothers by Augustus; it entirely suited both the temper and the policy of the King of Sweden to promise him satisfaction, but he was not now so cordial towards the young prince whose obstinate refusal to accept his father’s crown had rivaled and perhaps shadowed the generosity and strangeness of his own action.
But he greeted the two young Poles pleasantly, and offered each in turn the strong white hand from which he had drawn the long buffle glove worn with rein and sword pommel.
They were both brilliantly dressed, charming and graceful in manner and looks.
Karl’s eyes, blue and cold as frozen water, cast a strange glance on the elegant figure of Stanislaus Leczinski.
“Count,” he said, “here is the future King of Poland.”
The minister was startled into an imprudence; staring at the amazed face of the young noble, he cried impetuously:
“He is older than I am,” said Karl dryly.
Karl, having given a new King to Poland, and satisfied his somber pride by being an “incognito” spectator of the election of the man whose elevation he owed entirely to Sweden, marched on Lemberg, the capital of Galicia, and took this town by assault, enriching his army with the treasures of Augustus that were stored here, and that the inhabitants surrendered to troops that neither burnt nor pillaged; he had hardly established his garrison in the conquered town when he was joined by Stanislaus Leczinski, cast from his throne after a reign of six weeks, and forced to fly for his life before the Elector of Saxony, who had appeared before Varsovia with a new army of 20,000 men, and had triumphantly entered the capital, scattering the Polish guard of Stanislaus and the Swedish garrison under Count Horn. His reverse was received with calm by the King of Sweden; it did not touch him personally, as he had not been present at the disaster, and he was not displeased at the opportunity to twice give the throne of Poland to the man whom he called friend.
“Let Augustus amuse himself,” he told Stanislaus. “How long do you think he will hold Varsovia when I am before the gates?”