ntle
tone, as if he desired to pacify him; "let the stranger come in."

Old Michael nodded pleasantly to his master. Opening the door and
stepping out, he said aloud: "Come in, sir! I have announced you, and M.
von Mueller awaits you."

"He is a very good, faithful old fellow!" murmured Johannes von Mueller,
meeting the visitor who was entering the room.

"Oh, M. von Nostitz," exclaimed Mueller, joyously, "you here in Berlin! I
thought you were on your estates."

"I was not on my estates, but at Memel with our king," said M. von
Nostitz, gravely. "Honored with some commissions by his majesty, I have
arrived here, and as one of them concerns you, Mr. Councillor, I have
hastened to call upon you."

"The king, then, has received my letter at last and grants my
resignation?" asked Mueller, quickly.

"The king has received your letter," replied M. von Nostitz.

"And my resignation? You come to notify me that it has been accepted?"
exclaimed Mueller, impatiently.

"Then you are really in earnest about your request?" asked M. von
Nostitz, almost sternly. "I must tell you that none of us would believe
it, and that I have come to entreat you in the name of the king and the
queen--in the name of all your friends, who, faithful to their duty,
followed the royal couple, to change your mind and remain with us. The
queen, especially, refuses to believe that Johannes von Mueller, the
great historian, who, but a few months ago, spoke and wrote for Prussia
with so ardent an enthusiasm, now intends to leave us voluntarily and to
escape in faithless egotism from the calamities that have overwhelmed us
all. I am to beg you in the name of the queen to remain with us. Her
majesty cannot and will not believe that you are in earnest about this
resolution to resign your office and leave the country. She has
commissioned me to beg you not to treat the state at this critical
juncture in so ignominious a manner as to despair of it, and assures you
that your salary will always be punctually paid. She admonishes you
through me to think of your numerous friends here, of the favorable
disposition of the Prussian government toward you, of the agreeable life
you are leading in Berlin, and, finally, of the work on Frederick the
Great, which you have just commenced, and to remain in the Prussian
service."

"The kindness and solicitude manifested by her majesty cannot but
profoundly touch my heart," exclaimed Mueller, in a tremulous voice, "and