"My hand was on the rail, and his hand rested on mine.
"The king left the room, and just imagine what happened afterward.
"The nurse, a fresh and hardy-looking peasant woman, with shrewd blue eyes--a perfect rustic beauty, indeed, to whom I had been kind in order to cheer up, and prevent her from growing homesick--now turned upon me and told me harshly, and to my face: 'You're an adulteress; you've been exchanging love-glances with the king!'
"Emma, I now feel the force of what you have often said to me: 'You idolize the people; but they are just as sinful and corrupt as the great world, and without education to curb and restrain them.'
"But what is the peasant woman to me, after all? Certain persons exist, only in so far as they serve our purposes.
"No, she is a good and sensible woman, and has asked me to forgive her boldness. I shall remain her friend. I shall, indeed."
"June 25th.
"The king evinces the greatest kindness toward me. It is only yesterday that he remarked to me, while passing:
"'Should you ever have a secret, confide it to me.'
"He knows full well that I could hardly go to my brother, as a sister should, and that my father is so far away.