The King was offended by this ill-humored attitude, and
continued his raillery in friendly letters which he sent him. He said
that it was rumored that a werewolf had appeared in France. This was
undoubtedly the marquis, in the disguise of a Prussian and a sick man,
and he asked if he had begun to eat little children. He had not
formerly had that bad habit, but people change a good deal in
traveling. The marquis, instead of a few months, stayed two winters.
When he was about to return, he sent certificates from his physicians.
Probably the worthy man had really been ill, but the King was
deeply offended by this awkward attempt at justification on the
part of an old friend, and when the latter returned, the old intimacy
was gone forever. The King would not let him go, but he took pleasure
in punishing the renegade by stinging speeches and harsh jokes.
Finally the Frenchman, deeply hurt, asked for his dismissal. His
request was granted, and the sorrow and anger of the King is seen from
the wording of the order. When the marquis, in the last letter which
he wrote the King before his death, represented to him again, and not
without bitterness, how scornfully and badly he had treated an
unselfish admirer, Frederick read the letter without a word. But he
wrote with grief to the dead man's widow telling her of his friendship
for her husband, and had a costly monument erected for him in a
foreign land. The great prince fared similarly with most of his
intimates.
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