CHAPTER V.
For days, the queen remained alone. Walpurga and the child were the only ones permitted near her. She did not wish to speak to any one else, be it her husband, Gunther, or the priest.
One afternoon, when Walpurga was with her, she felt impelled to ask:
"Walpurga, do you know that I don't belong to your faith?"
"Yes, indeed, I do; and I'm glad of it."
"Glad of it?"
"Of course I am; you're the first and only Lutheran I've ever known, and if they're all like you, it must be a beautiful religion."
"It is beautiful, and so are all religions that make good beings of us."
"Why, do you know, queen, that's the very thing my father used to say, and in the very same words? Oh, if he'd only lived long enough to have had a talk with you."
The queen was silent for a long while.