king climbed
the Schneekoppe on foot, but loyal shouts died into awed silence
when, at the summit, Friedrich Wilhelm bared his head, and the two
standing side by side gazed at the glorious view. "That was one of
the most blessed moments of my life," Louise said afterward; "we
seemed lifted above this earth and nearer our God."

They entered the mines at Woldenberg by a swift-flowing stream, and
twenty years afterward the steersman of their boat was fond of
telling how, in the dark cavern--"The Foxes' Hole"--he saw her well
by the torchlight. "In all my life I never saw such a face. She
looked grand, as a queen should look, but gentle as a child. She
gave me with her own hands two Holland ducats. My wife wears them
when she goes to church, for what she touched is holy."

Louise had never meddled in foreign politics. She had been, she
designed to be, only the "Landesmutter," and even when the murder of
the Duc d'Enghien, seized on Prussian soil, aroused in Berlin a
storm of indignation, in which she fully shared, she yet sympathized
in the mental distress which found vent in her husband's
often-repeated words, "I cannot decide for war."

At last he did decide. In October, 1805, Napoleon ordered Bernadotte
to march his army corps through Anspach. This contemptuous comment
on Prussia's ten-years' forbearance was too much for the king's
pride. Armies were raised in Franconia, Saxony, Westphalia, and
while the excitement was at fever point the czar came to Berlin. All
his rare charm of manner was brought to bear, and at midnight, in
the presence of Louise, the two monarchs, standing with clasped
hands beside the tomb of the great Friedrich, solemnly pledged
themselves to a close alliance.

Alexander departed to lead his Russians to Moravia, and Friedrich
Wilhelm despatched a protest to the French camp; but the envoy,
Haugwitz, arriving on the eve of Austerlitz, waited the issue of the
battle, and then, withholding his packet, proposed to the victor a
fresh treaty with Prussia. There was wrath in Berlin when his doings
became known. The king at first disowned the disgraceful compact,
but Austerlitz had just taught him what Napoleon's enemies might
expect. French troops were already massing on his frontier, and in
an evil hour he broke faith with the czar! To Louise, who neither
feared foe nor deserted friend, that was a bitter time--doubly sad,
indeed, since most of the long winter was spent by the dying bed of
her young