ainly."

"Then let me make my will while I am yet in health."

"Pray, father, don't do that. Spare me!"

"I don't mean as to my possessions, but as to myself. We have no
picture of your dear mother, and none of you children have any idea of
her appearance--so pure, so lovely, so full of sunshine; and, for that
reason, I mean to give you a picture of my life. Treasure it. Who knows
when I may again have a chance? If there's anything that you don't
understand or that seems to you in danger of being misinterpreted, ask
me about it. I don't find such objections an interruption. I pursue my
life in its even tenor; nothing disturbs me. I've accustomed myself to
improve my estate, to give orders to my servants and to answer their
questions, and, afterward, to take up the train of thought just where
it was broken off; and so you, too, may interrupt me whenever you care
to.

"My father, who was a free count, was always proud of his direct
relations to the empire. Unto his last day, he would never acknowledge
the unity of the kingdom and would always ask; 'How goes it over
there?' He regarded his domain as distinct from the rest, and his
family as on an equality with all princely houses."

"And why, dear father," asked Irma, "would you destroy these beautiful
memories that have been handed down from generation to generation?"

"Because history itself has destroyed them, and justly too. It is
necessary for the preservation of mankind that new races should
constantly ascend to the surface; but I didn't mean to tell you about
my father. I spent a happy youth in this house. My preceptor, although
an ecclesiastic, was a man of liberal opinions. I entered the military
service a year before my father's death and, though I say it myself,
presented no mean figure while there, for I possessed good looks and an
iron frame. I was stationed with my regiment, in a fortress belonging
to the confederation. While recklessly riding one day, I fell from my
horse and dislocated my hip. It laid me up for a long time and thus
afforded me an opportunity to become better acquainted with our
regimental surgeon, Doctor Gunther. Has he never told you of the times
we passed together?"

"He has merely mentioned them. It was only a few days ago that the king
told me I was right in saying that Doctor Gunther would only furnish
verbal prescriptions when they were demanded and were really
necessary."

"Ah! and so the king said that you were right? 'You