was
disagreeable and oppressive. It seemed to him to be a sign of the
hostile spirit of the Prussians; and as he was riding slowly, his head
slightly bent forward, along the avenue toward Sans-souci, he muttered:
"This is a malicious and infamous trick! The haughty nobility will still
oppose me, but I will crush them. They must not succeed, however, in
making me angry, but I shall chastise those who have induced the
citizens to remain at home, and not to greet me." And, thoughtfully, he
rode on toward the country-seat of Frederick the Great.

No one was at the palace to welcome him but the castellan, a venerable
man, who, with a few aged servants in faded liveries, received the
all-powerful conqueror at the open folding-doors of the hall leading to
the terrace. Napoleon looked at him with a rapid, piercing glance. "You
lived in the period of Frederick II.?" he asked hastily.

"Yes, sire, we were fortunate enough to serve the great king," said the
castellan, in faultless, fluent French. "Hence, the honorable task has
been intrusted to us to watch over his sacred resting-place, and to
protect it from injury."

"The name of the great king is a sufficient protection for this house,"
said Napoleon. "My soldiers have a profound respect for true greatness;
they will not dare to desecrate this sanctuary. Be my guide, my friend.
Let me see the sitting-room of your king!"

"Of the present king, sire?" asked the castellan.

Napoleon smiled. "I think there is but one king in Sans-souci," he
said, "and that is Frederick II. Conduct me to his sitting-room!" and
rapidly crossing the semicircular marble hall, he walked toward the
side-door which the castellan opened.

"Sire," he said, solemnly, "this is the king's sitting-room; it is still
furnished precisely as when he lived in it. It has undergone no change
whatever."

Napoleon entered; his marshals followed him. None of them uttered a
word; every one seemed involuntarily to tread lightly, as if he feared
to disturb the silence reigning in this room, sacred by its great
reminiscences. The emperor walked rapidly into the middle of the room;
there he paused with folded arms, and his large dark eyes glided slowly
from object to object. The marshals moved softly around, and, on
contemplating the old-fashioned furniture, their ragged silken covers,
the plain desk with the inkstand placed near the window, the large
easy-chair, shrouded in a ragged purple blanket, smiled disdainful