ay in a large pewter dish. I laughed,
and, to the great delight of the peasants looking through the open
windows into the room, ate a large piece, while the girls outside sang
with the voices of larks."

"And the omelet constituted the whole entertainment?" asked the crown
prince, laughing.

"Oh, no, my little epicure; there was also a dessert: bread, and fresh
butter wrapped in green leaves, and more fragrant than we ever have it."

"That is a good dessert," exclaimed the prince. "It seems to me the
entertainment was not so bad, and--"

At this moment the door opened. High-Chamberlain von Schiaden entered
and approached the king. "Pardon me, sire, for venturing to disturb
you," he said. "A peasant and a peasant-woman have just arrived. They
ask urgently and imploringly to see your majesty; and, on being told
that you were at dinner, the woman insisted only the more to be at once
admitted to her majesty, for she had brought her something necessary to
a good dinner. I confess, the bearing of these persons is so simple and
kind-hearted that I ventured to disturb you, even at the risk of being
rebuked for it."

"Where do they come from?" asked the king, musingly.

"From the lowlands of the Vistula, near Culm, sire, and it seems to me
they belong to the sect of the Mennonites, for they never take off their
hats, and address everybody with 'thee.'--These patriotic persons have
performed their journey on foot, and say that their eyes have known no
slumber, and their feet no rest, since they left their village in order
to see the king and queen."

"Oh, my husband," exclaimed the queen, "pray do not make them wait any
longer. They come hither to manifest their love for us, and love must
never be kept waiting in the anteroom."

"That is not my intention," said the king, smiling. "We will admit them
at once. Come, Lousia, let us go to your sitting-room, and M. von
Schladen will be so kind as to conduct them thither." He offered his arm
to Louisa, she wrapped herself more closely in the Turkish shawl that
covered her shoulders, and, taking leave of the two princes with a
tender smile, repaired with the king to her own room.

A few minutes afterward the door opened, and M. von Schladen ushered in
Abraham Nickel and his wife. The queen sat on a sofa; and the king,
supporting his hand on the back of it, stood by her side. Both of them
saluted the peasants, who approached slowly, and who, in their simple,
neat costume, with