rather
than enduring disgrace. I intend to depart in the course of an hour."

"Farewell," said Frederick William, hastily; "and when I say farewell, I
mean that we shall meet again. I hope there will be better times. If I
call you, then, will you come, Hardenberg?"

"I shall never close my ear against the call of your majesty and of
Prussia," said Hardenberg, bowing to the king and the queen. He then
turned to the Emperor Alexander. "Sire," he said, "on taking leave of
you, and being, perhaps, for the last time, so fortunate as to see your
majesty, it is a comfort to me to remember the day when I beheld you
first in the spring of the present year. It was at Kydullen, where your
majesty showed to the King of Prussia your lifeguards that accompanied
you from St. Petersburg to participate in the war against France. When
the soldiers marched past you embraced King Frederick William, and
exclaimed with tearful eyes: 'Neither of us shall fall alone; either
both, or neither!' These words are still resounding in my ears, and in
these disastrous days, when Prussia's honor and existence are at stake,
they are my only consolation. Your majesty has not fallen, and hence,
you will not allow Prussia to fall. You will remember your oath, the
fidelity which Prussia has manifested toward you, and never so stain
your glory as to desert her now and suffer her to fall alone! This is my
hope, and, comforted by it, I leave you."

"Ah," said Alexander, sighing, "how unfortunate I am! You spoke at my
right ear, and you know that there I am deaf. Hence, I did not hear much
of what you said. But I believe you wished to take leave of me; I,
therefore, bid you a heart-felt farewell, and wish you a happy journey."
He offered his hand to Hardenberg, but the deep bow the minister made
just then, prevented him, perhaps, from seeing the extended hand of the
emperor; he did not grasp it, but withdrew in silence, walking backward
to the door.

When he was about to go out, the queen rose from the sofa. "Hardenberg,"
she exclaimed, vehemently, "and you forget to bid _me_ farewell?"

"Your majesty," said the minister, respectfully, "I await your
permission to do so."

The queen hastened to him. Tears glistened in her eyes, and she said in
a voice tremulous with emotion: "You know what I suffer in these times
of humiliation, for you know my sentiments, which can never
change--never prove faithless to the objects which we pursued together.
A time of a