te he looked as he
lay there! And how thin the face appeared against the white sheet!
Klitzing had indeed refined, distinguished-looking features, and one
could easily take him for a real gentleman lying in that magnificent
bed, if the shabby dust-covered uniform were not hanging over the back
of the chair close by. Vogt remembered how he had sometimes teased his
friend about his sickly pallor; he racked his brains to think whether
he had not wounded his feelings in other ways, and reproached himself
for every harsh word he could remember using towards Klitzing. How much
more friendly and affectionate he might often have been!

The doctors left the castle at last, having given the hospital-orderly
the necessary instructions to carry out during their absence. As
Rademacher was the medical officer on duty, he went the rounds once
more before leaving; and Vogt, whose head had been re-bandaged and who
had scarcely thought of meat and drink, now took some milk-soup at his
desire.

Nerve-exhaustion and loss of blood soon made themselves felt.
Ensconcing himself on a hard sofa that stood at the head of Klitzing's
bed, he fell into a heavy sleep.

The sound of voices roused him. He opened his eyes, and it was a
considerable time before he realised where he was. Again the voices
spoke. A conversation was evidently going on in the garden outside
between two people, a man and a woman. Vogt went to the window and
looked out. Close to the wall of the house vegetables had been planted.
A bearded man was digging the beds with a spade; the old woman was
assisting him by breaking up the clods of earth with a hoe.

"But I can't understand, mother," said the man, "why you gave him the
Princes' Room."

The old woman stopped her work for a moment and leant upon the handle
of her hoe. Then in her quiet monotonous voice she replied: "They told
me he would soon die, and the dead are the greatest kings on earth.
They are free. They have no more desires, no more cares. No one can
help or harm them any more."

The son said nothing, and both worked on busily.

Without thinking what he was doing Vogt watched them for a time at
their digging and hoeing, and when he turned back into the room the
heavy atmosphere of the long unventilated apartment gave him a
momentary sense of oppression.

But in the meantime something had happened, something that made him
suddenly stand still, speechless. Klitzing had awakened.

The sick man had moved his