e beside his Majesty, bent the knee with
noble grace, raised his little plumed hat, and, pressing his left hand
upon his heart, presented the little gift to his sovereign and master.
As the weather was mild, the latter sat in an open sedan chair, and when
he saw Geronimo he scanned him with the keen glance of the ruler, and
then looked inquiringly at my husband. Don Luis nodded the answer which
he desired to receive, and a bright smile flitted over his emaciated,
corpselike features. Then he accepted the oranges, stroked his son's
curls, addressed a few questions to him, which he answered modestly but
aptly, and then called to my husband, 'This boy must remain near me.'

"Oh, what pleasure all this gave me! Now Geronimo goes in and out of his
Majesty's apartments freely, and my reason for writing this letter is an
incident I happened to witness, and which will please you, Adrian, and
your good wife, as it filled my heart with fervent gratitude. So listen:
When the Emperor meets Geronimo in the presence of strangers, he seems
to take neither more nor less notice of him than of the other pages who
come to San Yuste. Only he often calls him, asks a question, or gives
him some trivial commission. Others would scarcely notice it, but I see
the brightening of his eyes as he does so.

"Recently I looked through the open door which leads from his Majesty's
work-room into the garden, and what did the Virgin permit me to
behold?--Geronimo, who was alone with the Emperor, picked up a sheet of
paper that had fluttered to the ground and handed it to him. Then
the Emperor Charles suddenly raised his poor hands oh, how they are
disfigured by the gout!--laid them on the boy's temples, drew his head
nearer, and kissed his brow and eyes! Charles V, the fugitive from the
world, the man crushed by sorrow and disappointment, did that! This
kiss--Don Luis believes it also--sealed the son's acceptance into his
father's heart."

Here Frau Traut let the sheet fall. Her voice had failed during the last
sentences; now she exclaimed amid her tears, "The Emperor's kiss!" and
her husband, no less deeply stirred by emotion, cried, "The Emperor
Charles--no one knows as well as I what that means--the Emperor Charles,
whose heart compels him to kiss some one."

Here Barbara rose with flushed cheeks, panting for breath.

She felt as if she must cry aloud to these good people: "What do you
know about my lover's kiss? I, I alone, not you, you poor, goo