e Lady came on
our son's account?"

"I fear so, alas! I fear so! My son is sick and will probably die, and our
house will be left desolate, become extinct, and ingloriously decay. Oh,
my son! my son! I had built all my hopes upon him, and when I thought of
him the future looked bright and promising."

"And if he were no more, then would all look sad and gloomy to you,
although your husband would still be at your side, which rightfully ought
to console you. But you have ever been a cold wife to me and a tender
mother to your son, and it really vexes me to see how you love the son and
despise his father. What an ado you make merely because your son has taken
a little too much liquor, and suffers from the effects of intoxication, as
the doctor says!"

"But I tell you, George, the Electoral Prince is sick, and the White
Lady--"

"I will hear no more of that," broke in the Elector passionately; "it is a
silly, idle tale, not worthy of credit. Everybody is dinning it into my
ears to-day, and it is simply intolerable to have to listen. I just wish
that I could leave this place, to be rid of this tiresome ghost story, and
not to have to undergo such torment and vexation. In Koenigsberg, at least,
we live in peace and quiet, and are not forever plagued by the sight of
sullen faces and perpetual threats of war and pestilence. In Koenigsberg
Castle, too, the White Lady has never appeared, and there are no nightly
apparitions there."

"Let us return to Koenigsberg, George!" cried the Electress. "Do so for our
son's sake; I tell you if we stay here, he is lost! Death stands forever
at his side, threatening his precious young life! Ask me not what I mean,
for I can not explain myself; yet I feel that I am right, and that he is
lost if we do not speedily depart. Only listen this one time to my
entreaties and representations, my husband. Let us set out before it is
too late."

"Well then, Elizabeth, I will do as you wish," said George William, who
was glad that he could grant his wife what he so ardently wished himself.
"Yes, we shall promptly depart, since you urge it so pressingly."

The Electress gently encircled her husband's neck with her arm and
imprinted a kiss upon his brow. "Thank you, George," she whispered. "You
have probably saved our son from death. May the merciful God grant him
restoration to health, and so soon as this is the case let us set off."

"Make all your preparations then, Elizabeth, for I tell you yo