o her, invites me to
thee, quiet Tuebingen!"

Johannes von Mueller did not perceive that, while he was speaking to
himself, the door behind him had softly opened, and a gentleman, wrapped
in a cloak, his face shaded by a broad-brimmed hat, had entered the room
and overheard the last words. The savant, staring at the muscular form
of this stranger, drew back in surprise. "What does this mean?" he
muttered. "Where is Michael Fuchs?"

"Michael Fuchs is outside, and considers it very natural that an old
friend should desire to surprise his master rather than be solemnly
announced," said the stranger, approaching and taking off his hat.

"Frederick von Gentz!" exclaimed Mueller, in a joyful voice, yet not
altogether free from fear. "My friend, you dare to come hither, and yet
you must know that the emperor of the French is highly exasperated at
you; that he believes you to be the author of all sorts of seditious
pamphlets, and that it would be very agreeable to him to have you
arrested and confined."

"Yes, it is true," said Gentz, in his careless, merry way, "Napoleon
Bonaparte does me the honor of being afraid of me and my pen, and would
like to render me harmless, as he did poor Palm. Once I was in imminent
danger of falling into the hands of his police, and I escaped in
disguise, but only after a great deal of trouble."

"And yet you dare to come to the seat of the French administration in
Germany?" exclaimed Mueller. "Oh, my friend, your danger nearly deprives
me of the delight I feel in seeing you again, and I have to mingle my
loving salutations with warnings and presentiments!"

"You are right; I was rather bold in entering the cobweb of the French
spiders," said Gentz. "Still, it is not so dangerous as you believe, and
you may be perfectly at ease so far as I am concerned. I am here with a
charming lady friend, the Princess Bagration. I figured on her passport
as her private secretary, and have a regular Russian one of my own,
purporting to be issued to M. de Gentzowitch. Besides, no one suspects
me here; we have just arrived, and will leave Berlin to-morrow before
daybreak to return to Dresden. We are now at peace with France, and the
authorities here will hardly dare to lay hands on a subject of the
Emperor of Russia, the friend and admirer of the Emperor of the French.
You see, therefore, you need not be afraid about me, and I may safely
chat with you for an hour here in your study."

"Then, my dear frien