“You saw Moritz?”
“Yes.”
“Did you communicate the conditions?”
“Yes.”
“And he?”
“He refused, with rage and indignation!”
“He refused?” cried Marie, joyfully. “Oh, my dear Philip, I thank you. You love me truly and faithfully. Your glorious example shall inspire me to be as firm as you.”
“Unhappy child, you know not what you are saying!” cried the director, sadly. “If you really love him, you could not follow his example. Read what the king has written.”
She took, in breathless silence, the document, and broke the seal, unfolding the paper, but her hand shook it so violently, that she could not distinguish the words.
She returned it to the director. “Read it, I cannot,” she said, and sank kneeling, looking up to the old man with unspeakable anguish, and listening to every word that fell from his lips. It ran thus: