"The person who now had the colonel in charge was an old friend of his, who had often tried to put in a kind word for him to the king, but hitherto without any good result.  And now, as he conducted him from the palace, he said, `You are to be taken to the fortress of Spandau, but, believe me, you have nothing to fear.'  Spandau was a fortress near Berlin, to which at that time all state prisoners were sent.