floor, and Count Eberhard was dead. Who knows
what may have happened there! But whatever it may have been, I feel
sure it was the cause that drove her to this terrible resolve."

"And what purpose does this ingenious combination serve?" asked the
king.

Bronnen looked at him with astonishment.

"Its only purpose is to aid in clearing up the mystery."

The long pause which followed Bronnen's remark added to its
impressiveness.

"Yes," said the king, resuming the conversation, "how much better it is
to clear up all things! That was just her own way of doing; so natural,
and yet so clear, so conscious, and yet so strong. Well be it so.
Bronnen, why should I conceal it? I may tell you everything. I loved
the countess. And now--I must say it, for the thought tortures me--I am
almost angry at her. Her suicide has imposed a heavy life-burden upon
me. I shall never, to the end of my days, be able to lay it aside. She
must have known how it would weigh me down. Tell me, frankly--I beg of
you, tell me--is this feeling not a justifiable one?"

"I am not addressing the king, now. I am speaking to the clear-headed,
warm-hearted man."

Bronnen paused. It shocked the king to find himself thus divested of
his inborn dignity. What would this stern man, whom he had ordered to
forget his rank, say?

"Speak on!" said the king, encouragingly.

"Then I shall speak frankly," began Bronnen, "as between man and man.
When you reproach yourself for feeling that your friend has aggrieved
you in imposing this life-burden upon you, it is simply a proof that
your true self has been deeply affected. What really torments you,
however, is the ghost of your own act. Although our friend, who
deserved so well of fate may, in a fine frenzy, have willingly
sacrificed herself, the stern truth still confronts you: you invaded,
nay destroyed, her sphere of right, and now you reap the inevitable
consequence of what was then begun. The ghost of your own actions
disturbs you and will continue to do so, until you perceive the truth.
Every human being has its own rights, presenting a barrier which no
one, however exalted his position, dare invade. When you fully realize
this in yourself, and by your knowledge of sin have overcome sin, then,
and not until then, will you be free--no matter what may have gone
before. Superstition uses the formula: 'All good spirits praise the
Lord,' with which to exorcise phantoms. Our good spirit is that inner
perception o