Poor little Bettina! Would the journey never end?
Her grandfather set out at once. Travel now had become very dangerous. The French were everywhere, and often they must answer questions. They heard how Napoleon had stolen and sent to Paris the splendid statue of "Victory," the pride of Berlin; how he had read all the Queen's letters to the King, which he had found in the palace, and of awful things he had written of Her Majesty.
"He seems to hate her, poor lady," said Hans; "but why, no one can say."
At Graudenz there were the French also. The King and the Queen and the court had been there, certainly, but one day in had rushed citizens, crying "The French! the French!" And pell-mell over the bridge had come Prussians, pursued by French cavalry.
Bang! Up went the bridge, blown to atoms by the citizens. But the French were not to be stopped; and on had fled the King, Queen, and the Court of Prussia.
So Bettina and her grandfather trudged on to Marienwerder.
Never had they seen a place so muddy and dirty. The King and Queen had stayed there ten days. The landlord showed them the room they had lived in, and Bettina, listening, heard how they had eaten, dressed, and slept in one room, and that not a fine one.
"And our poor King," a woman told Hans, "had to take long walks if the Queen wished to dress, or the servants lay the table."
The Maids of Honour had been forced to sleep in a tiny, dirty closet, and the five gentlemen of the flying court in one room, with beds for two and straw on the floor for the others.
"And they changed about," said the landlady. "There was an Englishman, Mr. Jackson, with them, who was pleasant about everything. But our Queen! She is an angel!"