Alsatians
had displayed. Business friends of his, among whom there was a deputy
who seemed to be well posted, insisted upon it as a fact that the
Prussian statesman had offered the French Emperor a considerable
portion, if not all, of the left bank of the Rhine, on condition that
the Emperor would not prevent him from using his own pleasure towards
Germany, if conquered.

The left bank of the Rhine! How often I, too, while in Alsace had heard
it said that France must take possession of this left bank, as a matter
of course; for the Frenchmen thought themselves the lords of creation,
with whom it was only necessary to express a wish in order to have it
gratified.

Would I yet live to see the ruin of my Fatherland? At that very moment,
Germans were battling against Germans, in order that the aims of France
might be served.

I asked Joseph and Richard whether they could conceive of such a thing
as a German selling and betraying his Fatherland.

We had no assurance of this, and thought it best to encourage each
other's faith in humanity.

The failure of Joseph's mission had only served to arouse my own deep
sorrow anew.

My son lost! When night came, I could not make up my mind to retire.
For a long while, I sat gazing at the starry heavens, and the dark
forest-covered mountains. Where is he now? Can it be possible that he
is not thinking of us? He is in danger, and may work his own ruin. How
gladly would I fly to his help, if I only knew how!

At last one goes to his couch, thinking: "To-morrow something definite
must be done." But the morning comes, and the deed is left undone. Thou
hast waited this long, and shalt wait still longer. And thus the days
pass by, while naught is accomplished. When I lay awake at nights,
thinking of my son, I felt as if with him; and when, by chance, other
thoughts arose in my mind, the one great grief would thrust them aside.
It seemed as if my soul had for a time left the body and had now
returned to it again.

The fear of sleeplessness is almost worse than the reality; but one
falls asleep at last without knowing how, and so it shall some day be
with our final sleep.

And, often, when the tired body had fallen asleep, the troubled soul
would awaken it again.

At these moments I would say to myself, "Life is a solemn charge." It
went hard with me to renounce perfect happiness.

One morning, when I was just about to go out into the fields, Martella
came running towards me. S