ttach
both nations to each other by indissoluble bonds of confidence and
friendship."

Russia, which had signed the treaty on the preceding day, gained a large
portion of Eastern Prussia, the frontier district of Bialystock, and
thus enriched herself with the spoils taken from her own ally.

Thus Frederick William concluded peace, losing his most important
territories, and having his ten millions of subjects reduced to five
millions. The genius of Prussia, Queen Louisa, veiled her head and wept!

BOOK IV.

CHAPTER XXXI.

BARON VON STEIN.

Profound sadness reigned for several weeks at the house of Baron Charles
von Stein. Tears were in the eyes of his children, and whenever their
mother came from her husband's room and joined them for a moment, they
seemed in her only to seek comfort and hope. But the anxious face of the
baroness became more sorrowful, and the family physician, who visited
the house several times a day, was more taciturn and grave. Baron von
Stein was ill, and his disease was one of those which baffle the skill
of the physician, because their seat is to be sought less in the body
than in the mind. Prussia's misfortunes had prostrated Stein. Sick at
heart, and utterly broken down, at the commencement of 1807, after the
violent scene with King Frederick William, he left Koenigsberg, and
travelled slowly toward Nassau. There he met his family, and ever since
lived in retirement. Never in his grief had he uttered a complaint, or
manifested any loss of temper, but his face had become paler, his gait
slower, and indicative of increasing weakness and exhaustion. He yielded
at last to the tears of his wife, and the repeated remonstrances of his
physician, to submit to medical treatment.

But medicine did not restore him; his strength decreased, and the fever
wrecking his body grew more violent. The disease had recently, however,
assumed a definite character; the news of the disaster of Friedland, and
of the humiliating treaty of Tilsit, had violently shaken his
constitution, and the physician was now able to discern the true
character of the malady and give it a name. It was the tertian fever
which alternately reddened and paled the baron's cheeks, at times
paralyzing his clear, powerful mind, or moving his lips to utter
unmeaning words, the signs of his delirium.

Baron von Stein had just undergone another attack of his dangerous
disease. All night long his devoted wife had watched at hi