essary to me and to Germany. I knew the arguments which
they contained and the effect which they would have upon the Prince. If
they had reached him all would have been lost.'

'Why should your Highness descend to such expedients when a score of
these brigands, who wished to hang me at your castle gate, would have
done the work as well?'

'They are not brigands, but the best blood of Germany,' she cried,
hotly. 'If you have been roughly used, you will remember the indignities
to which every German has been subjected, from the Queen of Prussia
downwards. As to why I did not have you waylaid upon the road, I may say
that I had parties out on all sides, and that I was waiting at
Lobenstein to hear of their success. When instead of their news you
yourself arrived I was in despair, for there was only the one weak woman
betwixt you and my husband. You see the straits to which I was driven
before I used the weapon of my sex.'

'I confess that you have conquered me, your Highness, and it only
remains for me to leave you in possession of the field.'

'But you will take your papers with you.' She held them out to me as she
spoke. 'The Prince has crossed the Rubicon now, and nothing can bring
him back. You can return these to the Emperor, and tell him that we
refused to receive them. No one can accuse you then of having lost your
despatches. Good-bye, Colonel Gerard, and the best I can wish you is
that when you reach France you may remain there. In a year's time there
will be no place for a Frenchman upon this side of the Rhine.'

And thus it was that I played the Princess of Saxe-Felstein with all
Germany for a stake, and lost my game to her. I had much to think of as
I walked my poor, tired Violette along the highway which leads westward
from Hof. But amid all the thoughts there came back to me always the
proud, beautiful face of the German woman, and the voice of the
soldier-poet as he sang from the chair. And I understood then that there
was something terrible in this strong, patient Germany--this mother root
of nations--and I saw that such a land, so old and so beloved, never
could be conquered. And as I rode I saw that the dawn was breaking, and
that the great star at which I had pointed through the palace window was
dim and pale in the western sky.

7. HOW THE BRIGADIER WON HIS MEDAL

The Duke of Tarentum, or Macdonald, as his old comrades prefer to call
him, was, as I could perceive, in the vilest of tempers