; that time has
not yet arrived.

"For the present, we will leave the pseudo-Prussian to the undisturbed
enjoyment of the national beggars' broth filled with imperial
dumplings, which is being served up in the famous spiked helmet.

"I thank you," he cried, when the yelling which followed this speech
had somewhat abated, "for the votes with which you honor me. I esteem
them highly, but we must wait. So let us bide our time."

Joseph prevented me from answering. He mounted the stand, and said that
Herr Funk deserved all possible praise for his shrewdness. He knew that
he could not be successful, and had therefore declined, in order to try
his chances at some future time. "Herr Funk waits; we, too, can wait."

I was elected by a large majority; and the walk homeward, surrounded by
my electors, was one of the happiest hours of my life. It was even more
joyful than when, twenty-three years earlier, I was elected a delegate
to Frankfort. I forgot my anxiety about Richard.

When I took leave of Rothfuss at the railway station, he held me by the
hand, a long while, and said: "Oh master, if it was only not so far to
Berlin, you should have taken me along, anyhow. Keep yourself well,
right well; and don't drink any water; Willem says there is good wine
to be had at Berlin, too."

A tear glistened in his eye, and the leave-taking from this faithful
companion moved me deeply. He had never before been so anxious and
concerned about me.

Many friends told me, "This new labor will wear you out."

Be it so, I am here to be of use.

CHAPTER IX.

THE old Burschenschafter[7]! Yes, treasured in secret and worn like an
amulet of magic power, for the sake of which we suffered, are the
colors of the new confederation. At first, the thought pained me; but
perhaps it is all for the best. The Empire which is now being
established, is not quite the one of which we sang and dreamed, or for
the love of which we were thrown into dungeons. But it is full of a new
and vigorous life, and instead of the golden glitter of poesy, we have
the simple white of prose.

I am not of a combative disposition, and have always longed for a
condition of affairs to which I could heartily assent. And now my
greatest happiness is to know that I am no longer condemned to what I
had feared would prove a life-long opposition to the powers that be.

The newly elected members had their rendezvous at the railroad
junction