made, she made up her mind
what to do.

She put on the dress of a poor singing-girl, and left her grand home.
She followed Frederick from place to place. They met face to face
one beautiful evening. Then it was that the princess told her lover
she had given up her rank and title for his sake.

How joyful she made him as he listened to her story! You may be sure
they were soon married, and the young couple went to live in
Heidelberg Castle, where they were as happy and as merry as the day
is long.

CHAPTER VI.

THE GREAT FREDERICK

"I declare, Hans, I should think you would get tired of playing war,"
said Bertha. She was sitting under the trees rocking her doll. She
was playing it was a baby.

Hans had just come home after an afternoon of sport with his boy
friends. But all they had done, Bertha declared, was to play war and
soldiers. She had watched them from her own yard.

"Tired of it! What a silly idea, Bertha. It won't be many years
before I shall be a real soldier. Just picture me then! I shall
have a uniform, and march to music. I don't know where I may go,
either. Who knows to what part of the world the emperor will send
his soldiers at that time?"

"I know where you would like to go in our own country," said Bertha.

"To Berlin, of course. What a grand city it must be! Father has
been there. Our schoolmaster was there while he served his time as a
soldier. At this very moment, it almost seems as though I could hear
the jingling of the officers' swords as they move along the streets.
The regiments are drilled every day, and I don't know how often the
soldiers have sham battles."

Hans jumped up from his seat under the tree and began to march up and
down as though he were a soldier already.

"Attention, battalion! Forward, march!" Bertha called after him.
But she was laughing as she spoke. She could not help it, Hans
looked so serious. At the same time she couldn't help envying her
brother a little, and wishing she were a boy, too. It must be so
grand to be a soldier and be ready to fight for the emperor who ruled
over her country.

"The schoolmaster told us boys yesterday about the grand palace at
Berlin. The emperor lives in it when he is in the city," said Hans,
wheeling around suddenly and stopping in front of Bertha.

"I think you must have caught my thoughts," said the little girl,
"for the emperor was in my mind when you began to speak."

"Well, never mind th