vances hid until now from all, he portrayed in touching, beautiful
words to his absent friend. He pictured to him his sufferings, his
hopes, his struggles, and finally, his determination to die. When all
this had been painted in the most glowing colors, when his wounds were
laid bare, he wrote a last and touching farewell to his friend:

"Adieu, D'Argens! dans ce tableau,
De mon trepas tu vois la cause;
Au moins ne pense pas du neant du caveau,
Que j'aspire a l'apotheose.
Tout ce que l'amitie par ces vers propose,
C'est que tant qu'ici-bas le celeste flambeau;
Eclairera tes jours tandis que je repose,
Et lorsque le printemps paraissant de nouveau.
De son sein abondant t'offre les fleurs ecloses,
Chaque fois d'un bouquet de myrthes et de roses,
Tu daignes parer mon tombeau."

[Footnote:
"Adieu, D'Argens! In this picture
Thou wilt see the cause of my death;
At least, do not think, a nothing in the vault,
That I aspire to apotheosis.
All that friendship by these lines proposes
Is only this much, that here the celestial torch
May clear thy days while I repose,
And each time when the Spring appears anew
And from her abundant breast offers thee the flowers there enclosed
That thou with a bouquet of myrtle and rose
Wilt deign to decorate my tomb."]

"Ah!" murmured the king, as he folded and addressed his poetical letter,
"how lovely it must now be at Sans-Souci! Well, well! my grave shall
be there, and D'Argens will cover it with flowers. And have I no other
friends at Sans-Souci? My good old hounds, my crippled soldiers! They
cannot come to me, but I will go to them."

The king then arose, opened the door, and asked if a messenger was in
readiness; receiving an answer in the affirmative, he gave the three
letters to the adjutant. "And now my work is finished," said he, "now I
can die." He took from his breast-pocket a small casket of gold which he
always carried with him, and which, in the late battle, had served him
as a shield against the enemy's balls. The lid had been hollowed in by a
ball; strange to say, this casket, which had saved his life, was now to
cause his death. For within it there was a small vial containing three
pills of the most deadly poison, which the king had kept with him since
the beginning of the war. The king looked at the casket thoughtfully.
"Death here fought against death; a