ard
for more than a year past only my sighs and prayers for your majesty's
success. It was not difficult for me to leave it and to obey the summons
of my king. If you think this conquest over myself worth more than a
victory over our enemies, how lightly the hero of Rosbach and Leuthen
regards victories!"

"Not so, marquis; but you know what the renowned King of the Hebrews
said--that wise king who rejoiced in a thousand wives: 'He who conquers
himself is greater than he who taketh a city.' You, marquis, are this
rare self-conqueror, and you shall be rewarded right royally. I have
had rooms prepared as warm and comfortable as the marquise herself could
have arranged for you. The windows are stuffed with cotton, furs are
lying before the stove, cap and foot-muff, so your faithful La Pierre
may wrap and bundle you up to your heart's content. Not a breath of air
shall annoy you, and all your necessities shall be provided for with as
much reverence as if you were the holy fire in the temple of Vesta, and
I the priestess that guards it."

The marquis laughed heartily. "Should the fire ever burn low and the
flame pale, I beg my exalted priestess to cast her burning glance upon
me, and thus renew my heat. Sire, allow me, before all other things, to
offer my congratulations. May Heaven bless this day which rose like a
star of hope upon all who love the great, the beautiful, the exalted,
and the--"

"Enough, enough," cried Frederick; "if you begin in this way, I shall
fly from you; I shall believe you are one of those stupid deputations
with which etiquette greets the king. In this room, friend, there is no
king, and when we are here alone we are two simple friends, taking each
other warmly by the hand and congratulating ourselves upon having lived
through another weary year, and having the courage bravely to meet
the years that remain. Should you still desire to add a wish to this,
marquis, pray that the war fever which has seized all Europe, may
disappear--that the triumvirate of France, Russia, and Austria, may be
vanquished--that the tyrants of this universe may not succeed in binding
the whole world in the chains they have prepared for it."

"Your majesty will know how to obtain this result--to break this
chain--and if they will not yield willingly, the hero of Rossbach and
Leuthen will know how to crush them in his just rage."

"God grant it!" sighed the king; "I long for peace, although my enemies
say I am the evil