noyed to find that he did not understand more than
half of it. How else could he have answered me: 'Yes, the Highlanders
have great affection for their rulers. Pray tell that to your father.'

"The king observed that he had made a mistake, but, adroit and amiable
as he is, quickly recovered his good nature and said: 'Dear Countess, I
will give you a secret title, which is to be known only by us two. I
appoint you as spy on the popular heart. Seek and listen, and whenever
you find anything, you can always count upon unquestioning compliance
on my part. Does it not seem to you that Egeria was nothing more than a
spy on the popular heart? At the altar in the temple, she could
overhear the secret thoughts of the people, and then repeated them to
king Numa, whom they deified and adored.'

"'But our people only use prescribed prayers,' said I.

"'The thought is quite suggestive,' replied the king, and when
Schnabelsdorf entered shortly afterward, he commissioned him to make
brief notes of what fixed prayers the Grecians and Romans used in their
temples.

"And thus the whole story ended. What I had imagined would create a
deep impression, merely served to furnish amusement for an evening.

"Ah, dear Emma, _amusement_ is the point about which all revolves. If
an apostle were to appear to-day, he could not help preaching, 'Ask
not, how shall we amuse ourselves to-day, but'--etc., etc.,--finish the
sentence for yourself.

"I am no better than the rest of them. I, too, am nothing but a puppet,
wound up to run seventy years, and to dance and laugh and ride and
amuse itself in the mean while. All of us are mere singing-birds; the
only difference being that some are contented with grain and
caterpillars and flies, while others require larger morsels, such as
rabbits, bucks, deer, pheasants, fish. And the higher education of that
variety of singing-birds known as man, lies in the fact that he cooks
his food. There is terrible vacuity in many men. _To make
conversation._ Therein lies the whole art. Try to get a clear notion of
the expression: _to make conversation_, and you will find how
nonsensical it is. The people find me entertaining, but I don't _make_
conversation. I merely speak when I have somewhat to say.

"My evil spirit is constantly shouting the word '_dilettante_' in my
ear.

"'Dilettante--One who junkets or feeds on tit-bits for pastime,'--says
my dictionary. Rather rough, but there is something in it."