hought, should be a matter of course. And now a great question was
to be submitted to the country, and there were doubts as to what the
answer might be.

Schnabelsdorf exercised his great conversational gifts, and adroitly
endeavored to humor the heroic side of the king's character. But his
efforts were in vain.

The whole land was in great commotion, but of this they knew little or
nothing at court. The autumn maneuvers had begun, and in a few days the
court expected to move to the summer palace, after which, hunting in
the Highlands was to begin.

The king had seldom taken so lively an interest in the maneuvers. The
ease and precision with which, on such occasions, large bodies of men
were moved at will, afforded a suggestive contrast to the spirit of
disorganization and breaking away from authority which seemed abroad in
the land. Nothing, however, was further from his thoughts than the idea
of bringing the two opposing tendencies to bear upon each other.

At the court assemblages, the king always seemed to be in an
exceptionally pleasant mood. The greater his ill-humor, the more he
regarded it his duty to keep up the outward semblance of cheerfulness.
The habit, acquired in youth, of always keeping up his dignity; the
knowledge that the eyes of all were upon him; a due consideration for
the claims of those about him; the need of always speaking the right
word at the right time; above all, the art of ignoring--an art in which
others refrain from indulging themselves, and which, for that very
reason, requires practice--and, added to this, the consciousness of
possessing kingly power:--all this prevented him from betraying the
slightest trace of ill-humor. He manifested a lively interest in
whatever was going on, especially so, when Irma was present. She, above
all, should never find him wavering, for she would have misinterpreted
it. It was therefore necessary, in her presence, to keep up that
exalted mood which regards dissent or contradiction as impossible, and
thus esteems itself as above the law. And yet the king felt the danger
of encouraging a secret passion while all his strength was required by
a weighty problem, in the solution of which he would necessarily
encounter great opposition.

Irma returned from her visit to the seashore refreshed and invigorated.
She was more beautiful than ever, but was rarely seen at court, as she
spent much of her time with Arabella. On the day after Arabella had
given birt