rms a sort of
second nature, so that they can be practiced without special stress or
difficulty; and that, in fact, they must be mastered just as one
masters the grammar of his native tongue.

In the silent moonlight night, Paula was heard singing, with full voice
and passionate expression, the concluding verses of the song of
Goethe's, the song that Bronnen admired above all others:

Crown of existence,
Joy without rest,
Love art thou.

On yonder heights, whither no voice from below reached, there sat a
solitary one, and through her mind there passed a song of the same
master's--the song of songs, in which the soul is freed from all its
burdens, and is again united with enduring nature:

O'er hill and dale,
Thy splendor falls;
No longer care
My heart enthralls.

The court ladies at the dairy-farm kept up their talk until a late
hour. Those who had not been permitted to accompany the queen envied
the others, who had enjoyed an early opportunity of meeting Bronnen's
affianced. What could there have been in the citizen's daughter to
tempt Bronnen, who might have had the hand of the highest in the land?
Some pronounced her awkward, others too confident, and doubts were
expressed as to her beauty. The younger ladies were jokingly informed
that, for many days to come, Doctor Gunther would have a parade of
sentiment and universal ideas, and this, too, _au grand serieux_.

The moon shone brightly on the mountains and the valleys. Everything
was hushed in slumber. The only sounds heard were the gurgling of the
springs, the murmuring of the stream and, now and then, a mountain cry
from the heights above.

A bright day dawned.

Gunther visited the queen at an early hour. For the next few weeks, he
had determined to sacrifice his quiet mornings. He was quite willing to
devote himself entirely to his friend, and looked forward to a
resumption of his wonted employments, after her departure.

He was again sitting on the terrace, as he had been one morning five
years ago; but this time, instead of looking at the distant mountains,
he was surrounded by them, and, as she had then done, the queen now
again appeared in a white morning robe and greeted him. But her whole
being had changed; her step was freer, her words more decided.

"We shall make no programme