said Madame von Berg, leaning out of the window.

"Tell them to make haste," she said to the approaching footman. "Her
majesty wishes to continue her journey immediately."

"The horses are not yet here," exclaimed he anxiously; "the
superintendent promised he would fetch and harness them himself, and he
does not return."

Some one set up a loud, scornful laugh, which reached the queen's ears.
She bent forward and looked uneasily at the laborer who was standing at
the door with folded arms. The footman turned, and asked him,
indignantly, why he laughed. The man looked at him with twinkling eyes.
"Well," he said, "I laugh because you are looking for horses, and have
been waiting here for an hour already. But they will not come, for the
superintendent has driven two of them through the back gate into the
field, and then mounted the third, and rode off!"

The queen uttered a low cry, and placed her hand convulsively on her
heart; she felt there a piercing pain, depriving her of breath, and
turning her cheeks pale.

"Then the stable is empty?" said Madame von Berg.

"Yes, and there is not a hack even in the whole village; the peasants
have taken them all to Kuestrin, lest the French should take them."

"Are the French, then, so near?"

"The superintendent said this morning he had seen them at Baerwalde, two
miles from our village."

"Let us start--let us set out without a minute's delay," said Louisa,
anxiously grasping her friend's arm. "The superintendent is a traitor,
and has left the village in order to inform our enemies that I am here.
Oh, Caroline, we must escape, and if I cannot do otherwise, I shall
pursue my journey on foot!"

"No, your majesty, there must and will be some expedient," replied
Caroline, resolutely. "Permit me to alight for a moment, and speak to
the postilion who drove us hither."

"I shall alight with you," exclaimed the queen, rising and trying to
open the coach door.

Madame von Berg wished to keep her back. "What," she exclaimed in
dismay. "I am sure your majesty will not--"

"Speak personally to the postilion? Yes, I will. He is a human being,
like all of us, and at this hour happier and more enviable than we are.
Perhaps he will have mercy on his sovereign!"

She hastily left the carriage, and ordered the footman to conduct her to
the postilion, who, during the last hour, had fed and watered his
horses, and was just about to ride back with them to his station. He
hastened to