he Paymaster's Office brings forward against your accounts
be nullified. Please to inform me whether your health will allow
of your taking active service again. I can ill spare a man of your
courage and sentiments. I am your gracious King," &c.

MAJ. T.
Now, what do you say to that, Minna?

MIN. (folding up and returning the letter).
I? Nothing.

MAJ. T.
Nothing?

MIN.
Stay--yes. That your king, who is a great man, can also be a good man.
--But what is that to me! He is not my king.

MAJ. T.
And do you say nothing more? Nothing about ourselves?

MIN.
You are going to serve again. From Major, you will become Lieutenant-
Colonel, perhaps Colonel. I congratulate you with all my heart.

MAJ. T.
And you do not know me better? No, since fortune restores me
sufficient to satisfy the wishes of a reasonable man, it shall depend
upon my Minna alone, whether for the future I shall belong to any one
else but her. To her service alone my whole life shall be devoted! The
service of the great is dangerous, and does not repay the trouble, the
restraint, the humiliation which it costs. Minna is not amongst those
vain people who love nothing in their husbands beyond their titles and
positions. She will love me for myself; and for her sake I will forget
the whole world. I became a soldier from party feeling--I do not
myself know on what political principles--and from the whim that it is
good for every honourable man to try the profession of arms for a
time, to make himself familiar with danger, and to learn coolness and
determination. Extreme necessity alone could have compelled me to make
this trial a fixed mode of life, this temporary occupation a
profession. But now that nothing compels me, my whole and sole
ambition is to be a peaceful and a contented man. This with you,
dearest Minna, I shall infallibly become; this in your society I shall
unchangeably remain. Let the holy bond unite us to-morrow; and then we
will look round us, and in the whole wide habitable world seek out the
most peaceful, the brightest, most smiling nook which wants but a
happy couple to be a Paradise. There we will dwell; there shall each
day.... What is the matter, Minna?
(Minna turns away uneasily, and endeavours to hide her emotion.)

MIN. (regaining her composure).
It is cruel of you, Tellheim, to paint such happiness to me, when I am
forced to renou