him appoint Baron von Stein; he seems to be a man of understanding."

An expression of joyful surprise overspread the queen's face. The king
entered. Napoleon met him and offered him his hand. "I wished to give
your majesty a proof of my kind disposition in the presence of your
noble and beautiful consort, and, if you have no objection, to assure
you of my friendship," he said. "I have complied as far as possible with
all your wishes. The Emperor Alexander, in whom you have an ardent and
eloquent friend, will confirm it to you. I also communicated to him my
last propositions, and trust that your majesty will acquiesce in them."

"Sire," said the king, coldly, "the Emperor Alexander laid this
ultimatum before me, but it would be very painful to me if I should be
obliged to accept it. It would deprive me of the old hereditary
provinces which form the largest portion of my states."

"I will point out a way to get compensation for these losses," exclaimed
Napoleon. "Apply to the Emperor Alexander; let him sacrifice to you his
relatives, the Princes of Mecklenburg and Oldenburg. He can also give up
to you the King of Sweden, from whom you may take Stralsund and that
portion of Pomerania of which he makes such bad use. Let him consent
that you should have these acquisitions, not indeed equal to the
territories taken from you, but better situated, and, for my part, I
shall make no objection."

"Your majesty proposes to me a system of spoliation, to which I can
never agree," said the king, proudly. "I complain of the menaced loss of
my provinces, not only because it would lessen the extent of my
territories, but because they are the hereditary states of my house, and
are associated with my ancestors by indissoluble ties of love and
fealty."

"You see that these ties are not indissoluble after all," exclaimed
Napoleon, "for we shall break them, and you will be consoled for the
loss by obtaining compensation."

"Possibly others may be more readily consoled for such losses," said the
king: "those who are only anxious for the possession of states, and who
do not know what it is to part with hereditary provinces in which the
most precious reminiscences of our youth have their root, and which we
can no more forget than our cradle."

"Cradle!" exclaimed Napoleon, laughing scornfully. "When the child has
become a man, he has no time to think of his cradle."

"Yes, he has," said the king, with an angry expression. "We cannot
r