"'Yes, baron,' said I, 'and I remember that you offered and promised me your good offices at Berlin, should I need them.' I then told him with vivacity what had taken place on the frontier, and asked if he could not forward to the king, his illustrious master, a demand for reparation for the outrage and the constraint to which I had been subjected.
"'Reparation?' said the king, smiling maliciously, 'that all! Would Signor Porpora call the King of Prussia out? Signorina Porporina, perhaps, would require him to kneel to her.'
"This jeer increased my ill-humor. 'Your majesty may add irony to what I have already suffered, but I had rather thank than fear you.'
"The king shook his arm rudely. 'Ah!' said he, 'you play a sharp game.' As he spoke he fixed his penetrating eyes on mine: 'I thought you simple and full of honesty; yet you know me at Roswald.'"
"'No, sire, I did not know you then. Would that I did not know you now.'
"'I cannot say so much,' said he, mildly, 'for had it not been for you, I would have remained in some ditch at Roswald. Victories furnish no ægis against assassination, and I will never forget that if the fate of Prussia yet be in my hands, I owe it to a kind heart, opposed to all plots. Your ill temper, then, dear Porporina, will not make me ungrateful. Be calm, I beg you, and tell me what you complain of, for, as yet, I know nothing about it.'
"Whether the king really knew nothing, or the police had discovered something informal in the passport of Porpora, I know not. He listened with great attention to my story, and told me afterwards, with the calmness of a judge, who is unwilling to speak unadvisedly, 'I will examine all this, and tell you about it. I shall be much surprised, if, without good cause, my officers have annoyed a traveller. There must be some mistake; I will find out, and if any one has exceeded his orders he shall be punished.'
"'Sire, that is not what I ask; I wish Porpora recalled.'
"'I promise you he shall be. Now be less sombre, and tell me frankly how you discovered my incognito.'
"I then spoke freely with the king, and found him so kind and amiable, so agreeable, that I forgot all the prejudices I entertained against him. I admired his brilliant and judicious mind, his easy and benevolent manners, which I had not remarked in Maria Theresa, and finally the delicacy of his sentiments about all things on which his conversation touched. 'Hear me,' said he, taking up his hat to go, 'I have a piece of friendly advice to give you on this, the very day of your arrival here. It is, not to speak of the service you have rendered me, nor of this visit. Though it be very honorable and natural that I should hasten to thank you, the fact would give rise to a very false idea of the friendly relations I wish to maintain with you. All would think you anxious of that position, known in court language as the king's favorite. Some would distrust, and others be jealous of you. The least inconvenience would be to attract to you all who had petitions, the channel of which they would expect you to be. As you would certainly have the good sense not to play this part, you would be the complete object of their enmity.'