f town and toward the church-yard. An unnamed child is
not placed in the vault, but is buried in the public cemetery. The
grave-digger was waiting for them. The little corpse was lowered into
the open grave, without a name or sign to mark its place of burial.
About the same time that Baum and Madame Leoni were out at the
churchyard, Walpurga was thus writing home:

".... Thank God! all's over. Now I can look forward to happier days.
We've had a terrible time here. If all goes well, there are only seven
Sundays more till I come home again. I can hardly believe it possible
that I've got to go away from here again, and yet I'll thank God a
thousand times, when I'm with you once more. If I stay here, I shall
grow quite stupid from thinking so much. There's misery everywhere and
people take pleasure in each other's wickedness, and, even if it isn't
true, they imagine it is and find pleasure in it, besides.

"There was some talk about our getting a place here, where we could all
be comfortable for life; but the queen said that it would be better for
me to go home, and whatever she says, is right. She's a true queen,
just as a queen ought to be. God has made her so, on purpose.

"I'd only like to know why she has to suffer so much.

"Oh, what a time we've had. Every minute, we thought the
queen-- There's not another soul like her in the world, and she had so
much to bear, and we're all human after all. But now, thank God, all's
over. The king's doctor says the danger's over. But, of course, what we
hoped for, is gone. I can't tell you how it made me feel, to think that
I was so well, and I felt as if I must go to the queen and give up
every drop of my blood to save her.

"Whenever I had a chance, I went down to the church--they have their
church in the house here--and prayed for the queen. My countess has
never once come to me. They say she looks like a shadow. All the
passages here are heated and the whole house is just like one warm
room, and the people in the palace would pass each other, without
taking notice of any one.

"On the evening that the queen thought she was going to die, she sent
for me and the child. She didn't say much, but her eyes told it all.

"And now, Hansei, keep yourself ready; you must come for me. Next time
I write, I'll tell you the very day when you're to come.

"I feel as if I couldn't wait; and yet it makes my heart ache to think
that I must leave my prince, for he loves me so. But I can't