p had done his dead brother the honour which he withheld from him
during life and, though only as a corpse, received him among the members
of his illustrious race. His coffin had been entombed in the cold family
vault of the Escurial, where no sunbeam enters.

But Barbara needed no place associated with his person in order to
remember him; she always felt near him, and memories were the vital
air which nourished her soul. Music remained the best ornament of her
solitary existence, and never did the forms of the son and the father
come nearer to her than when she sang the songs--or in after years
played them on the harp and lute--to which her imperial lover had liked
to listen.

The memory of her John's father now taught her to change the "More,
farther," of his motto into the maxim, "Learn to be content," the memory
of the son, that every sacrifice which we make for the happiness of
another is futile if, besides splendour and glory, fame and honour, it
does not also gain the spiritual blessings whose possession first lends
those gifts genuine value. These much-envied favours of Fortune had
little to do with the indestructible monument which she erected in
her heart to her son and her lover. What built it and lent it eternal
endurance were the modest gifts of the heart.

She now knew the names of the blessings which might have guided her boy
to a loftier happiness and, full of the love which even death could not
assail and lessen, mourned by many, Barbara Blomberg, at an advanced
age, closed her eyes upon the world.

ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

A live dog is better than a dead king
Always more good things in a poor family which was once rich
Attain a lofty height from which to look down upon others
Before learning to obey, he was permitted to command
Catholic, but his stomach desired to be Protestant (Erasmus)
Dread which the ancients had of the envy of the gods
Grief is grief, and this new sorrow does not change the old one
Harder it is to win a thing the higher its value becomes
No happiness will thrive on bread and water
Shuns the downward glance of compassion
That tears were the best portion of all human life
The blessing of those who are more than they seem
The greatness he had gained he overlooked
To the child death is only slumber
Who does not struggle hard, falls back
Whoever will not hear, must feel

End of Pr