On March 10, 1816, on the anniversary of the birthday of the Queen, Marianne was summoned to Court, and conducted to a great room where were gathered all the Royal family and many grand people, but the old Countess, however, was there no more. She had been a mother to her dear Queen's children until she, too, had gone her way to a less troubled country than Prussia. After a long list of names, "Marianne Hedwig Erna Wilhelmina Ernestine von Stork" was called.
In her trembling hand the King placed a golden cross with the letter "L" in black enamel on a ground of blue encircled with stars. On the back were the dates, 1813-14. A white ribbon held it, and there was a pin to fasten it above her heart. It was the medal of the "Order of Louisa," instituted by the King in memory of the Queen, and given to those women of Prussia who had so nobly soothed the wounded and the sick in the war against Napoleon. Marianne was the happiest person in Germany.
As for her mother, she was never weary of showing the medal and telling her friends, "My Marianne received it."
Marianne's friend, Bettina Brentano, wrote a book called "Correspondence of a Child," into which she put all her wild fancies about Goethe, and to-day German girls are fond of reading it. She married a German author, and her granddaughter is a living writer.
But the story is not quite ended.
In the year 1872 crowds were again gathered on the streets of Berlin.
Standing on Unter den Linden was an old man with his grandchildren. His hair was snow white and his face wrinkled.
"Ja, Gretchen," he said to a little girl, whose hand was in his, "in a little time we shall see our new Emperor. This is a great day, Liebchen, for Germany at last is free and united."
"I know, dear grandfather," said one of the others, a clever looking boy they called Richard, "I have learned all about it in the Gymnasium, of Napoleon and Jena, and Queen Louisa and Napoleon, and of the Crown Prince who was Frederick William IV, and all Bismarck's and von Moltke's dreams of uniting our Germany."
The old man smiled.