his royal friend,
and the beautiful music brought tears to his eyes. When the piece was
ended, the king said to Quantz:

"Do you find this text false?"

"Yes, your majesty, it is false!"

"And you two also believe it false?"

"Yes, your majesty, it is false!" said Graun and Fasch.

"But, if the composer will have it so?"

"It is still false!" said Quantz, sullenly.

"But if it pleases me, and I think it melodious?"

"Your majesty can never find it so," said Quantz, angrily. "The notes
are false, and what is false can never please your majesty."

"Well, well!" said the king, good-humoredly; "don't be quite so angry!
it is, after all, not a lost battle! [Footnote: The king's own words.]
If this passage is impossible, we will strike it out."

"If your majesty does that, it will be a beautiful composition, and I
would be proud myself to have composed it."

The king smiled, well pleased. It was evident that this praise of his
proud and stern master was most acceptable to the hero of Leuthen and
Rossbach.

CHAPTER XVI. THE BROKEN HEART.

A carriage stopped before the pleasure palace of Oranienburg. The lady
who sat in it, cast anxious, questioning glances at the windows, and
breathed a heavy sigh when she saw the closed shutters, and observed the
absence of life and movement in the palace. At this moment an officer
stepped hastily from the great portal to greet the lady, and assist her
to descend.

"Does he still live?" said she, breathlessly.

"He lives, countess, and awaits you eagerly!" said the officer.

She did not reply, but raised her large, melancholy eyes thankfully to
heaven, and her lips moved as if in prayer.

They stepped silently and rapidly through the dazzling saloons, now
drear and deserted. Their pomp and splendor was painful; it harmonized
but little with their sad presentiments.

"We have arrived, countess," said the officer, as they stood before
a closed and thickly-curtained door. "The prince is in this
garden-saloon."

The lady's heart beat loudly, and her lips were pale as death. She
leaned for a moment against the door, and tried to gather strength.

"I am ready I announce me to the prince!"

"That is unnecessary, countess. The prince's nerves are so sensitive,
that the slightest noise does not escape him. He heard the rolling of
your carriage-wheels, and knows that you are here. He is expecting you,
and has commanded that you come unannounced. Have the goodness to