and were heard
by passers by in the streets. But human nature could not long endure
this intensity of agony. Total exhaustion ensued. Their tears dried upon
their cheeks; embraces, kisses, whispers of tenderness and love, and woe
ensued, which lasted for two hours.

The king then clasped them each in a long embrace, pressing his lips to
their cheeks, and prepared to retire. Clinging to each other in an
inseparable group, they approached the stair-case which the king was to
ascend, when their piercing, heart-rending cries were renewed. The king,
summoning all his fortitude to his aid, tore himself from them, and, in
most tender accents, cried "_Adieu! adieu!_" hastily ascended the stairs
and disappeared, having partially promised that he would see them again
in the morning. The princess royal fell fainting upon the floor, and was
borne insensible to her room. The king, reaching his apartment, threw
himself into a chair, and exclaimed, "What an interview I have had! Why
do I love so fondly? Alas! why am I so fondly loved? But we have now
done with time, let us occupy ourselves with eternity."

The hour of midnight had now arrived. The king threw himself upon his
bed, and slept as calmly, as peacefully, as though he had never known
a sorrow. At five o'clock he was awakened, and received the sacrament
of the Lord's Supper. Then, taking a small parcel from his bosom, and
removing his wedding ring from his finger, he said to an attendant,
"After my death, I wish you to give this seal to my son, this ring to
the queen. Say to the queen, my dear children, and my sister, that I had
promised to see them this morning, but that I desired to spare them the
agony of this bitter separation twice over. How much it has cost me to
part without receiving their last embraces!" Here his utterance was
impeded by sobs. He then called for some scissors, that he might cut off
locks of hair for his family. As he soon after stood by the stove,
warming himself, he exclaimed, "How happy am I that I maintained my
Christian faith while on the throne! What would have been my condition
now, were it not for this hope!" Soon faint gleams of the light of day
began to penetrate through the iron bars and planks which guarded his
windows. It was the signal for the beating of drums, the tramp of armed
men, the rolling of heavy carriages of artillery, and the clattering of
horses' hoofs. As the escort were arriving at their stations in the
court-yard of the