elf. The will of God be done! The
ceremony will take place with great solemnity in the cathedral church of
St. John. Several other baptisms were to have taken place upon the same
day, but they will be postponed through respect for the prince. The
first society of Warsaw will be present at the ceremony; every one will
speak of it, and certainly the _Polish Courier_ will chronicle this
important news. What will Madame Strumle and all the young ladies at the
school say? What will my parents, and all our court at Maleszow say?
What will our little Matthias say?

Oh! that Matthias! How often I think of him! He is responsible for all
my torments, and all my uneasiness; without him, my reason would never
have abandoned me, nor would such wild hopes have sprung up within my
heart.

Scarcely one moment have I been able to rejoice over the approaching
ceremony; the princess has just told me that marriage is forbidden
between persons who have stood together as godfather and godmother at a
baptism; I shuddered as I listened! Great God! what can all this mean? I
no longer know myself. All within my soul is confusion and disorder: my
own thoughts terrify me; I pass alternately from joy to sorrow;
delicious hopes smile upon me, and then I am overwhelmed by a strange
presentiment of coming sorrow. I am in a state of continual agitation: I
tremble, and long to quit the world, and then again feel drawn toward it
by bonds so sweet and so strong....

At least I shall soon once more see my sister. That meeting will afford
me a really happy moment; true consolation is to be found in sweet and
confiding affections. After the ceremony, we will go to my sister's; she
is doing remarkably well; she sits up, but cannot yet leave her room.

Wednesday, _January 15th_.

The baptism took place yesterday, and I saw my sister. How charming she
is! She has grown paler and somewhat thinner. She is, as she always was,
good like an angel; and she is so happy! The prince royal quite insisted
that my name should be given to the little one, but Barbara would not
agree to that; she said that we owed the preference to our mother's
name. He has, however, obtained a promise from her that her second
daughter shall be named Frances.

The little one is lovely, but red as a crab; she cried during the whole
time of the ceremony: they say that is a good sign, and that she will
probably live to grow up. God grant it, for I love her already. I was
so embarrasse