"In due time the guests assembled, and with them the poor, half-starved colonel.  But imagine the astonishment of all when, after the dinner was over, the governor of the fortress read out to the whole company the king's letter, which ran thus:--`Sir Commandant, I hereby nominate and appoint the present half-pay colonel, who was this day delivered over to you as a prisoner, to the command of my fortress of Spandau, and I look to receive from him in his new service proofs of the same fidelity, bravery, and attention to duty, and strict obedience, which he so often exhibited in the late war.  The late commandant of Spandau now goes, in reward of his faithful services, as commandant of Magdeburg.'