y it; do not try to deceive me. I
know it to be true."

"And suppose it were true?" asked the queen, gently, drawing her head
from his hands. "Will you be sad because I do in these times what all
our subjects are obliged to do--because I try to be a little
economical?"

"The Queen of Prussia, my consort," exclaimed the king, "is compelled to
mend her own dresses! Is the cup of disgrace and humiliation not yet
full!"

"And why do you speak of disgrace?" asked the queen, laying her hands on
the shoulders of her husband, and looking tenderly in his face. "Why do
you say I humble myself by mending my dress? I only followed the example
of your noble ancestor, Frederick II. Did not the great king also mend
and patch his clothes? Did he not repair with sealing-wax his scabbard,
because he did not want to buy a new one? Well, I believe little Louisa
will be allowed to do as the great Frederick did, and need not be
ashamed of it. On the contrary, my husband, when I sat there sewing, my
heart was glad, for the memories of my early years revived in my mind: I
saw myself at the side of my venerable grandmother, the Landgravine of
Hesse-Darmstadt, and I lived again in those sunny days that I spent with
her in Hanover. My grandmother taught me how to mend, and I frequently
profited by the skill I had acquired with her. For you married the
daughter of a poor prince, who was not a sovereign at that time, but
only a younger brother, and the Queen of Prussia does not blush to
confess that when she was yet a princess of Mecklenburg, she not only
mended her dresses but even trimmed her shoes with her own hands. It is
no jest, my king and husband, I really often did so, and I never felt
humiliated. Never did I consider it a disgrace to do sometimes what
thousands of the most virtuous and amiable women are always doing. When
I used to sew my shoes, I was poor, for I did not yet know you; but now,
although I have repaired my dress, I am rich, for I have you--I have my
children--I am the wife of a man who suffers because he values his honor
higher than worldly greatness--who would perish rather than break an
alliance he has sworn to, and refuses to give his neck to the tyrant's
yoke. Oh, my husband, when I look at you, my soul is transported with
gladness, and I thank God that I am allowed to love you. Since you are
mine I feel happy, rich, and powerful."

She placed her beautiful arms around the king, who pressed her against
his breast.