cause he is so much swifter than I."

"And is the Emperor Charles satisfied with such a teacher for his son?"
asked Barbara indignantly.

"Massi had described the sacristan to Don Luis as a learned man," replied
Wolf. "But I have now told his Majesty of a better one."

"Then you have talked to the Emperor?" asked Barbara, blushing.

Her friend nodded assent, and said mournfully: "My heart still aches when
I recall the meeting. O Wawerl! what a man he was when, like a fool, I
persuaded him in Ratisbon to hear you sing, and how he looked yesterday!"

"Tell me," she here interrupted earnestly, raising her hands
beseechingly.

"It can scarcely be described," Wolf answered, as if under the spell of a
painful memory. "He could hardly hold himself up, even in the arm-chair
in which he sat. The lower part of his face seems withered, and the
upper-even the beautiful lofty brow--is furrowed by deep wrinkles. At
every third word his breath fails. One of his diseases, Dr. Mathys says,
would be enough to kill any other man, and he has more than there are
fingers on the hand. Besides, even now he will not take advice, but eats
and drinks whatever suits his taste."

Barbara shook her head angrily; but Wolf, noticing it, said: "He is the
sovereign, and who would venture to withhold anything on which his will
is set? But his desires are shrivelling like his face and his body."

"Is the man of the 'More, farther,' also learning to be content?" asked
Barbara anxiously. Wolf rose, answering firmly: "No, certainly not! His
eyes still sparkle as brightly in his haggard face as if he had by no
means given up the old motto. True, Don Luis declares that rest is the
one thing for which he longs, and you will see that he knows how to
obtain it; but what he means by it only contains fresh conflicts and
struggles. His 'Plus ultra' had rendered him the greatest of living men;
now he desires to become the least of the least, because the Lord
promises to make the last the first. I was received by the regent like a
friend. She confided to me that he often repeats the Saviour's words,
'Go, sell all that thou halt, and follow me.' He is determined to cast
aside throne, sceptre, and purple, power and splendour, and Don Luis
believes that he will know how to gratify this desire, like every other.
What a resolution! But there are special motives concealed beneath it.
Nothing but death can bring repose to this restless spirit, and if he
finds the qui