e of the king and queen at the grave of Frederick the Great, and
swore eternal friendship to them as well as eternal enmity to France?
That is what this engraving represents, I suppose?"

"Yes, sire, it is," said the castellan, timidly.

Napoleon, with a flashing glance, called his marshals to his side.
"Behold there, gentlemen, one of those theatrical scenes with which
people here in Prussia were declaiming against me, while I was silent,
but arming against them," said he with a sneer. "If the King of Prussia
does not fulfil the other oaths he has taken more faithfully than this
one, I pity his people; but he has incurred the retribution of the gods,
who insist on it that men shall fulfil their promises or they will be
crushed. We have seen enough of the place where Frederick the Great
passed his life; let us pay a last visit to him in his tomb. Where is
it?"

"In Potsdam, sire, in the church close to the palace."

"Very well. Come, gentlemen. And you, castellan, do not forget that the
dream has not been altogether fulfilled. The 'fallen star' is only a
devouring fire to the kings who bid him defiance, but not to the people
who obediently submit." He nodded, stepped from the hall into the
anteroom, and then into the vestibule, where the horses were ready for
him and his suite.

The old man gazed mournfully after the brilliant cavalcade. "He looks
like a marble statue," he muttered, "and I believe that he has no heart
in his breast. Every thing in him is made of stone. If he had a heart,
he would not dare to come hither and appropriate with a rapacious hand
the sacred relics of our great king. I must really go and see whether
his commands to that effect will be carried out or not." And he left the
hall with youthful alacrity, hastening through the apartments back to
the reception-room.

Yes, the commands had been obeyed! The hat and sword, the order of the
Black Eagle, and the bell, had disappeared. The old castellan uttered a
groan, and proceeded to the sitting-room. His anxious eyes glanced at
the spot where the clock had stood. That was also gone. But he heard men
talking and laughing in the anteroom, and when he hastened hither, he
saw some of the emperor's servants, who, in compliance with the orders
of the grand marshal, were engaged in packing up the relics in a basket,
and jesting at what they called the strange and insignificant spoils
which the emperor had obtained here. The white-haired servants of
Fre