how I have improved. You two will love each other very dearly,
won't you? And you will go far, far away from here, and leave 'Marie'
buried in her tomb. I don't mean myself; I mean the troublesome girl who
has made so much ill feeling in the world, because of whom so many
people have suffered; the girl whose ashes rest there in the steel
casket, and whose life was so sad that she had no desire to live longer.
But 'Sophie' is going with you out into the world. She will see how
happy you two can be. And now, help me to the window; I want to look at
the evening star,"

They rolled her arm-chair to the window, and Vavel opened the sash to
admit the fresh air from the garden.

Marie clasped Ludwig's and Katharina's hands in both her own, and
whispered in a faint voice:

"You will forget the past, will you not? or think of it only as a
dream--a disagreeable dream. And don't go back to the Nameless Castle.
The veiled woman, the locked doors, the silent man, the telescope, the
lonely promenades in the garden--all, all were dreams. Don't think of
them! Forget them all! The clanking swords, the thunder of cannons--all
these were not. We only dreamed it. We never lived under the shadow of a
throne. Who was Marie? A sovereign of cats, and crown princess in the
realm of little dogs and birds--a nursery tale to tell naughty little
children who will not go to sleep! But Sophie Botta will be here
to-morrow, and the next day, and always; she will be with you, the
silly, stupid little maid, who can do nothing but obey those whom she
loves with all her heart."

Vavel with difficulty refrained from giving voice to his overwhelming
grief.

"Just see," Marie continued in a gay tone, "how much better I am!
Heretofore, when the hour came for the evening star to appear, the fever
would come too, and to-day it has failed to come with the star. Joy has
cured me. Don't take your hands away from me, Ludwig--Katharina. They
will--hold me--hold me--fast."

But they did not "hold her fast."

And why should such a being remain on this earth--a being that could do
naught else but love and renounce, adoring her nation even when it
persecuted her?

* * * * *

A dark thunder-cloud rose above the horizon out over the Hansag. The sky
looked like a vaulted ceiling hung with mourning draperies. From time
to time a distant flash of lightning illumined the cloud-curtain, then
would be heard the rumbling of thunder, lik