Ludwig gave instructions that the work should be continued without interruption, and placed the completion of the new building in charge of the engineer. That very evening he accompanied me to the capital, Martella going with us.
The Englishman stood by the bank, angling.
It was not until after I had left home, that I began to realize what was in store for us.
BOOK FOURTH.
CHAPTER I.
The great crisis which we have dreaded and yet hoped for has at last arrived. We are again obliged to contend with our hectoring neighbor, whose lust of power goads him to trample on our rights. We must fight, if we wish to endure; and will all Germany be united? If in this juncture we are not as one, our ruin is assured, and will be richly deserved.
To know that the decisive moment is at hand, and that you cannot actively participate--that you are only a single wave in the current, is at once an oppressive and an exalting thought.
In my mind, I go over the list of my fellow-members in the Parliament. The decision seems to hang in doubt. Eccentricity is still rampant, and decks itself with all sorts of revolutionary ideas.