, and our thoughts seemed as one. Side by side, we
beheld the works of art, we sang, we played together--and yet you could
both act thus, while at my side, and enter the inner sanctuary of that
which is highest in life. The sky, the earth, all that was pure and
noble in thought or word--you have destroyed them all. I would like to
know the day when, by word or glance, you both ventured to begin your
false game! With every kiss you gave her, you must have said; 'Ah,
my wife--how unhappy I am--she's so narrow-minded, so devoid of
grandeur--'Don't interrupt me! Of one thing I am sure: no husband or
wife can ever touch the hand of another in love, without feeling: 'I am
miserable.' It isn't hatred and revenge that now speak through me, it
is justice! As long as I still loved you, I could hate you; but now I
simply judge you. You must bear the consequences of your actions.
Justice requires that. I pity and deplore your lot. How will you ever
delight in the forest, when she whom you loaded with sin fled through
the forest unto death? How can you look at the lake into which her sin
plunged her? The whole world is annihilated to you, you poor creature!
How your pen must tremble when you again sign a death sentence--you've
murdered both the dead and the living! You may write 'pardon,' but who
will pardon you, 'king by the grace of God'?"

"Mathilde, I once believed you incapable of even alluding to that which
is unseemly."

"Did you believe it? and what would you call unseemly in your case?"

"Speak on, speak on!" said the king, as the queen now paused and heaved
a sigh. He saw the fire consuming all that was dearest to him on earth,
and, at the same time, recognized the beauty of the flame. There are
strange chords in the human soul, and the king, although filled with
shame and indignation, could not but admire the power revealed by his
wife. He had never dreamed of its existence. She was greater and
stronger than he had ever imagined, and his appeal to her seemed to
acknowledge her supremacy. This made her the more indignant and, with
forced composure, she continued:

"No one has a right to demand of another, of a prince, or even of
yourself, that he should be a genius; but every one has a right to ask
that you should be an upright man, a true husband and father. You could
be that, just as easily as any peasant or day-laborer can."

Pain and resentment were depicted in the king's countenance.

"Mathilde," said he, at las