ce bowed and was about to withdraw.

"Well, prince, have you not a word of thanks for me?" asked Napoleon,
kindly.

The prince smiled mournfully. "Sire," he said, bowing deeply, "sire, I
thank you for treating me so leniently."

CHAPTER XV.

THE VICTORIA OF THE BRANDENBURG GATE.

Without waiting for further permission to withdraw, the prince hastily
opened the door and went out. For a moment he sat down in the anteroom,
for his feet were trembling so as to be scarcely able to support him,
and such a pallor overspread his cheeks that Colonel Gerard, who had
been waiting, hastened to him in dismay, and asked whether he would
permit him to call a physician. Prince Augustus smilingly shook his
head. "The physician of whom I stand in need is in my mother's kitchen,"
he said, "and your emperor has permitted me to seek him." Just then the
grand marshal entered the room, and, making a sign to Gerard, whispered
a few words into his ear.

"Your royal highness is delivered from the burden of my company," said
the colonel to the prince when Duroc had withdrawn. "Permit me, however,
to conduct you to the carriage that is to convey you to the palace of
Prince Ferdinand."

In the court-yard below, an imperial carriage was waiting, and Colonel
Gerard himself hastened to open the door to assist the prince in
entering. But the latter waved his hand deprecatingly, and stepped back.
"I am unworthy of entering the imperial carriage," he said. "See, even
the coachman, in his livery, looks elegant compared with me; and all
Berlin would laugh, if it should see me ride in the emperor's
magnificent coach. Let me, therefore, walk off quite humbly and modestly
and enter the first conveyance I meet. Farewell, colonel, and accept my
thanks for the great attention and kindness you have manifested toward
me."

The prince kindly shook hands with him and then hastily walked across
the court-yard of the palace toward the place in front of it--the
so-called _Lustgarten_. He crossed this place and the wide bridge, built
across an arm of the Spree, without meeting with any vehicle. But the
fresh air, and the sense that he was free, agreed with him so well that
he felt strong enough to proceed on foot to his father's palace.

"No one recognizes me in this miserable costume," he said, smiling--"no
notice will be taken of me, and I will be able to reach my home without
being detained." And he walked vigorously across the Opera Place toward