nd a single hour in pleasure
while you are in affliction. All feelings are shared by us." (Irma
covered her face with her hands. Recovering herself, she went on
reading.) "Let me know soon what I can do for you. Come to me, or
remain in solitude, just as your feelings dictate. If I could only
enable you to enjoy the company of yourself as we enjoy it. You don't
know how much good you've done me. You have extended the domain of our
perceptions and have thus enriched our lives. What nobler achievement
can there be! Remain firm and remember that you may always depend upon
the friendship of

"Your ever loving

"MATHILDE."

Irma laid the letter on the table and involuntarily pushed it far
away from that of the king, which was still unopened. Years should
elapse--aye, oceans should lie between the reading of the two letters;
and yet how often had she listened to them both in the same breath, and
looked at them with the same glance.

With a violent movement, as if in anger, she opened the king's letter
and read:

"I am deeply pained to know that you, too, my charming friend, must
learn that we are mortal. It grieves me to think that your lovely eyes
must weep. If that which is noblest be capable of still further
purification--and what mortal being is not?--this affliction must needs
add to your noble-mindedness. I entreat you, do not soar too high, lest
you leave us too far below you. Carry us with you, to the lofty regions
in which you dwell."

Irma's features assumed a hard and bitter expression. She went on
reading:

"If you mean to torment your beautiful eyes with tears, and your noble
heart with sighs, for more than seven days, and desire to remain alone,
pray send me word. Should you, however, wish to protract your mourning,
and to recover yourself and another self, by travel, decide upon what
direction you mean to take. Let it not be too far--not too far into the
land of sorrow, a land to which you are a stranger. Be happy again and
subdue your grief, cheerfully and speedily.

"Affectionately yours, K."

In the letter, there lay a small piece of paper with the inscription:
"Burn this as soon as read."

"I cannot live without you. If I lose you, I lose myself. Your presence
is my life. I cannot live, except in the light of your eyes. I want no
clouds; I long for the sunlight. Remember the world of thought th