ill be a policy of continued vacillation and
hesitancy, and what you would do one day those three men would annul the
next. Oh! the king is so generous, so faithful and modest! He believes
in the disinterestedness of Minister von Haugwitz, in his honesty and
sagacity; for this reason, he will not altogether give him up, and he
listens still to his advice, although Haugwitz is no longer at the head
of the foreign department. Because the king himself is taciturn, and
thinks and feels more in his head and heart than is uttered by his lips,
Beyme's eloquence and quick perception fill him with respect; and
because he is so very modest, and always believes others to be more
sagacious than himself, he esteems Lombard's abilities highly, and
wishes to preserve his services to the state. You know what I think of
Lombard, and that at Stettin I was carried away by my anger at his
conduct, more than was compatible with prudence. I caused the man to be
arrested, whom I knew to be ready at that moment to betray me and the
whole of Prussia, and whom I suspected of being in the pay of the French
emperor. But you know also that my act was repudiated, and that
immediate steps were taken to annul it. A special courier was sent to
Stettin to procure the release of Lombard, and to convey him under a
safe-escort to Kuestrin; the messenger even took an autograph letter from
the king to him, in which his majesty regretted the occurrence as
arising from mere mistake. I do not tell you this in order to complain
of it, but to show you how deep-rooted is the influence of those men,
and how time is required to destroy it. But the time will come--believe
me, it will--when Prussia will extend her hand toward you, and need your
strong arm and firm will. Promise me that you will wait, and not give up
to despair--that you will not enter the service of another monarch, so
that, when Prussia calls you, you may be at liberty to respond."

"I promise it to your majesty," said Stein, solemnly. "I will wait;
blessed be the hour when Prussia needs me, and when I shall be able to
serve her again!"

"Yes, blessed be that hour!" exclaimed the queen, and, raising her eyes
piously to heaven, she whispered, "God grant that it may come soon, for
then a change in our circumstances will have taken place, and we shall
have passed from present incertitude to firm determination. Oh, how much
distress--how many disappointments and mortifications--until that change
shall c