but fortune, and possessed no other faith than that of property and
personal safety. Berlin might be reduced to ashes, barbarism and
slavery might conquer, a foreign ruler might erect his throne in the
midst of the down-fallen city, what did they care, provided their own
lives and money were safe?

At this time they were hurrying along, pale with fright, death
and terror in their distracted countenances. Women of the highest
nobility, whose silken-shod feet had never before trod the rough
pavement, fled with hasty steps down the street; shoulders which had
never borne the least burden of life or sorrow, were now laden with
treasures, and gold was the parent whom these modern Aeneases
sought to save from the ruins of the threatened town. All ranks and
conditions were confounded; no longer servant and master, fear had
made brothers of them all. Countesses were seen smiling on their
valets, in order to obtain the assistance of their arm to a more rapid
flight; high-born gentlemen were seen laden down, like the meanest of
their servants, with gold and silver ware, which they were seeking to
save from the beleaguered city.

What did these people care whether Berlin fell, and was taken or not?
What did they care if the throne of the house of Hohenzollern was
overthrown? They had but one thought, one object--safety in flight.
So they hurried down the street, moaning and wailing, breathless and
trembling in every limb, toward the town gates. They reached the goal;
they stood before the gates beyond which were escape and safety. But
these gates were closed, and the soldiers who guarded them declared
that none should pass them, that the men must stay to defend the town,
the women to nurse the wounded and dying. All begging and pleading
were in vain; in vain did the Jew Ephraim, who had become a
millionnaire by the farming of the mint, offer the sentinel thousands
to open the gates; in vain did the gentlemen, once so proud, entreat;
in vain did the beautiful countesses wring their white hands before
the poor despised workman who now stood as sentinel at the gates.
In this moment this poor man was richer than the Hebrew mint-farmer
Ephriam, for he was rich in courage; mightier than the proudest
countess, for to his hands were intrusted the keys of a town; and
the town gates were not opened to these bands of cowards. They were
condemned to remain, condemned to the torture of trembling fear,
cowardly, inactive supplication.

How