s wife bent over him, and wiped off the perspiration which covered his
brow in large drops. In the open door leading into the adjoining room,
appeared the kind face of the physician, who looked scrutinizingly at
the patient. He then nodded in a satisfied manner, and whispered to the
high-chamberlain: "Go on! go on! Tell him every thing. He can bear it."

Baron von Stein opened his eyes again and glanced at M. von Schladen.
"You did not yet tell me whence you came, my dear friend?" he said. "Was
your journey a mere pleasure-trip, or were graver purposes connected
with it?"

"It was no pleasure-trip, for what German cares nowadays for such
things?" said M. von Schladen. "My purpose, in undertaking this journey,
was not only a grave, but a sacred one. I undertook it for the welfare
of our country, and I come to solicit your advice. I know you loved
Prussia once; you will not, although you are no longer in her service,
withhold your sympathy from her, when you can be useful, you will
joyfully render her aid, will you not?"

"Yes, indeed I will," exclaimed Baron von Stein; "my thoughts were with
you all the time; my grief arises from your affliction and the
misfortunes of Prussia; every new blow inflicted upon her fell on me,
and her ruin prostrated me. Tell me, in what way can I aid you?"

"Your excellency, by assisting me in finding the man whom I am seeking;
on whom the eyes of all good Prussians are fixed, and who is alone able
to save the country, to reestablish its prosperity at home, and to
obtain for it respect and authority abroad. The man whom the queen calls
her friend, and of whom she expects help--to whom the king offers his
hand, and whom he begs (understand me well, begs) to sustain him with
his strong arm and his powerful mind, and, for the sake of Prussia, not
to remember the wrongs he suffered in by-gone days--your excellency, I
am seeking this high-minded man, who forgets insults, and yet does not
close his ears against the cry of his country; whom adversity does not
deter, and whom the burden to be laid on his shoulders does not cause to
tremble; who forgets his own interests in order to have the satisfaction
of saving a state to which, from his youth, he has devoted his
strength--the man in whom all patriots confide, whom Hardenberg, when
Napoleon's despotic will compelled him to resign his office, pointed out
to the king as the only one by whom Prussia might still be redeemed.
Your excellency, can yo