ateful words of the
unsuspicious prince--words that were well calculated to increase the
king's displeasure. The prince still declared that he would not marry,
and the king insisted that he must submit to his will and commands.

Thus the eight days had passed, and Pollnitz came to-day with the joyful
news that his arrest was at an end, and he was now free.

"That means," said the prince, bitterly, "that I am free to wander
through the stupid streets of Potsdam; appear at his table; that my
clothes may be soiled by his unbearable four-legged friends, and my ears
deafened by the dull, pedantic conversation of his no less unbearable
two-legged friends."

"Your highness can save yourself from all these small annoyances," said
Pollnitz; "you have only to marry."

"Marry, bah! That means to give my poor sister-in-law, Elizabeth
Christine, a companion, that they may sing their sorrows to each other.
No, I have not the bravery of my kingly brother, to make a feeling,
human being unhappy in order to satisfy state politics. No, I possess
not the egotism to purchase my freedom with the life-long misery of
another."

"But, mon Dieu! my prince," said Pollnitz, in his cynical way, "you look
at it in too virtuous a manner. All women are not as good and pure as
poor Elizabeth Christine, and know how to compensate themselves in other
quarters for the indifference of their husbands. We are not speaking
here of a common marriage, but of the betrothal of a prince. You do not
marry your heart, but your hand. Truly such a marriage-ceremony is
a protecting talisman, that may be held up to other women as an iron
shield upon which, all their egotistical wishes, all their extravagant
demands must rebound. Moreover, a married man is entirely sans
consequence for all unmarried women, and if they should love such a one,
the happy mortal may be convinced that his love is really a caprice of
the heart, and not a selfish calculation or desire to marry."

The prince regarded the smiling courtier earnestly, almost angrily. "Do
you know," he said, "that what you say appears to me very immoral?"

"Immoral?" asked Pollnitz, astonished; "what is that? Your princely
highness knows that I received my education at the French court,
under the protection of the Regent of Orleans and the Princess of the
Palatinate, and there I never heard this word immoral. Perhaps your
highness will have the kindness to explain it to me."

"That would be preaching to de