s bedside, and
listened despondingly to his groans, his fantastic expressions, his
laughter and lamentations. In the morning the sufferer had grown calmer;
consciousness had returned, and his eyes sparkled again with
intelligence. The fever had left him, but he was utterly prostrated. The
physician had just paid him a visit, and examined his condition in
silence. "Dear doctor," whispered the baroness, as he was departing,
"you find my husband very ill, I suppose? Oh, I read it in your face; I
perceive from your emotion that you have not much hope of his recovery!"
And the tears she knew how to conceal in the sick-room fell without
restraint.

"He is very ill," said the physician, thoughtfully, "but I do not
believe his case to be entirely hopeless; for an unforeseen circumstance
may come to our assistance and give his mind some energy, when it will
favorably influence the body. If the body alone were suffering, science
would suggest ways and means to cure a disease which, in itself, is
easily overcome. The tertain fever belongs neither to the dangerous
acute diseases nor to any graver class. But, in this case, it is only
the external eruption of a disease seated in the patient's mind."

"Whence, then, is recovery to come in these calamitous and depressing
times?" said the baroness, mournfully. "His grief at the misfortunes of
Prussia is gnawing at his heart, and all the mortifications and
misrepresentations he has suffered at the hands of the very men whom he
served with so much fidelity have pierced his soul like poisoned
daggers. Oh, I shall never pardon the king that he could so bitterly
mortify and humble my noble husband, who is enthusiastically devoted to
Prussia--that he could mistake his character so grievously, and prefer
such cruel charges against him. He called him--the best, the most
intelligent and reliable of all his servants--a seditious man; he
charged him with being self-willed, stubborn, and proud, and said he was
mischievous and disobedient to the state. Oh, believe me, that
accusation is what troubles Stein! The King of Prussia has humbled his
pride so deeply and unjustly, that a reconciliation between them is out
of the question. Stein lives, thinks, and grieves only for his country,
and yet the insulting vehemence and unfeeling words of the king have
rendered it impossible for him ever to reenter the Prussian service. He
sees that his country is sinking every day, and that she is ruined not
only