"But our King does all he can," said Ludwig to Madame von Bergman one evening when he and Pauline came to supper.
"Yes," put in Franz, who was then in Berlin, "he has ordered the Royal table to be laid with four dishes only at dinner, and at supper with two."
"And I heard," said Pauline, looking up from her embroidery, "that when a servant asked how much champagne to order, the King said none should be purchased until all his subjects could drink beer again."
Madame von Bergman shook her head sadly.
"No hope of that. Look at this coffee," and she poured out a cupful from the pot on the tray the maid had brought in for the visitors.
"Oak bark, carrots, and beans burned together, that is our coffee, thanks to Napoleon."
While they were talking, in came a visitor.
"Napoleon has shot Andreas Hofer," he announced, "at Mantua!"
The two men started from their seats.
"Impossible!" they cried out, but alas, next day they learned the truth of it. This brave innkeeper of Innsbruck, who had fought so bravely to free his people, had been betrayed by a friend to Napoleon and shot in Mantua, over the mountains.