plan of the great Gustavus Adolphus; you
know he destined his daughter Christina for your wife."

"Yes," said the Elector, and a sudden pallor overspread his cheeks--"yes,
he meant his daughter to be my wife. Go, Leuchtmar, and woo her, but quite
secretly and quietly. As I have already told you, my heart is dead, young
Frederick William no longer desires anything for himself, but the young
Elector a great deal still, and it is the Elector who offers his hand to
Queen Christina for the good of his country. I believe the little, young
Queen interests herself somewhat in her cousin Frederick William, at least
so my aunt, the widowed Queen, assured me. I shall intrust to you a letter
for the young Queen, which you must try to slip into her own hand without
Oxenstiern knowing anything about it. Go now, dear Leuchtmar, and prepare
all things for your journey. Meanwhile I shall write the letter."

"In one hour, your highness, I shall be ready," said Leuchtmar,
withdrawing with a low bow.

The Elector thoughtfully followed him with his eyes. "In one hour he will
be ready," he said, "and he goes away to woo for me a woman's heart. Oh,
Love and Faith, must you, too, bow to the great laws which govern the
world? Must you, too, be laid as sacrifices upon the altar of country?
Hush, poor heart and murmur not! Sink down into the sea of forgetfulness,
ye days of the past! A new era dawns upon me. I stand before the gates of
a great future, and I write above these gates, 'I will be a mighty and
distinguished ruler!' That is my future."

IV.--CONFIRMED IN POWER.

With triumphant expression of countenance Count Adam von Schwarzenberg
walked to and fro in his cabinet. The Chamberlain Werner von Schulenburg
had just left him, and the glad tidings which he had brought from the
young Elector had banished all doubts, all cares from the Stadtholder's
heart.

"I did him injustice," he said cheerfully to himself. "Frederick William
was not my enemy, not my opponent! He was only the son of his father, and
he will now also walk in his father's ways. I therefore remain what I am,
remain Stadtholder, the lord of the Mark! And," he continued, more softly,
"I would have put this amiable Prince out of the way! Who knows whether it
would have been for my advantage if he had died and my son stepped into
his place! My son is of my blood--that is to say, he is ambitious and
thirsts after power and distinction. He would not have left the gover