ive me time to write to the duke, and--"

"Princess, I hear Mademoiselle Marwitz returning!"

Amelia left the writing-table hastily, and advanced to the door through
which Mademoiselle Marwitz must enter.

"Ah, you are come at last," said she, as the door opened. "I was about
to seek you. I feared you could not find the paper."

"It was very difficult to find amongst such a mass of letters and
papers," said Mademoiselle Marwitz, whose suspicious glance was now
wandering round the room. "I succeeded, however, at last; here is the
manuscript, your highness."

The princess took it and examined it carefully. "Ah, I thought so," she
said. "A monologue which Voltaire wrote for me, is missing. I gave it
to the king, and I sec he has not returned it. I think my memory is the
only faculty which retains its power. It is my misfortune that I cannot
forget! I will test it to-day and try to write this monologue from
memory. I must be alone, however. I pray you, mademoiselle, to go
into the saloon with Pollnitz; he can entertain you with the Chronique
Scandaleuse of our most virtuous court, while I am writing.--And now,"
said she, when she found herself alone, "may God give me power to reach
the heart of the duke, and win him to my purpose!"

With a firm hand she wrote:

"Because you are happy, duke, you will have pity for the wretched. For a
few days past, you have had your young and lovely wife at your side,
and experienced the pure bliss of a happy union; you will therefore
comprehend the despair of those who love as fondly, and can never be
united. And now, I would remind you of a day on which it was in my power
to obtain for you a great favor from my brother the king. At that time
you promised me to return this service tenfold, should it ever be in
your power, and you made me promise, if I should ever need assistance,
to turn to you alone! My hour has come! I need your help; not for
myself! God and death alone can help me. I demand your aid for a man who
is chained with me to the galleys. You know him--have mercy upon him!
Perhaps he will arrive at your court in the same hour with my letter.
Duke, will you be the jailer of the wretched and the powerless, who is
imprisoned only because I am the daughter of a king? Are your officers
constables? will you allow them to cast into an eternal prison him for
whom I have wept night and day for many long years?"

"Oh, my God! My God! you have given wings to the birds of the air; y