all be
a great and honorable peace. I will accept no other: I would rather
be buried under the ruins of my cannon, than accept a peace that would
bring no advantages to Prussia, no fame to us Honor is the highest, the
holiest possession of individuals, as it is of nations; and Prussia,
who has placed her honor in our hands, must receive it from us pure and
spotless. If you agree with me, gentlemen, join me in this cry, 'Long
live Prussia! Long live Prussia's honor!'"

The generals and officers joined enthusiastically in this cry, and like
a mighty torrent it spread from mouth to mouth, until it reached the
regiments, where it was repeated again and again. The color-bearers
unfurled their tattered banners, and the shout arose from thousands of
throats, "Long live Prussia's honor!"

The king's countenance was bright, but a tear seemed to glitter in his
eye. He raised his glance to heaven and murmured:

"I swear to live so long as there is hope, so long as I am free! I swear
only to think of death when my liberty is threatened!" Slowly his glance
returned to earth, and then in a powerful voice, he cried: "Onward!
onward! that has ever been Prussia's watch-word, and it shall remain
so--Onward! We have a great object be fore us--we must use every effort
to keep the Russians out of Berlin. The palladium of our happiness must
not fall into the hands of our enemies. The Oder and the Spree must
be ours--we must recover to-morrow what the enemy wrenched from us
yesterday!"

"Onward! onward!" cried the army, and the words of the king bore courage
and enthusiasm to all hearts.

Hope was awakened, and all were ready to follow the king; for however
dark and threatening the horizon appeared, all had faith in the star of
the king, and believed that it could never be extinguished.

BOOK V.

CHAPTER I. THE TERESIANI AND THE PRUSSIANI.

At the splendid hotel of the "White Lion," situated on the Canale
Grande, a gondola had just arrived. The porter sounded the great
house-bell, and the host hastened immediately to greet the stranger,
who, having left the gondola, was briskly mounting the small white
marble steps that led to the beautiful and sumptuous vestibule of the
hotel.

The stranger returned the host's profound and respectful salutation with
a stiff military bow, and asked in forced and rather foreign Italian if
he could obtain rooms.

Signer Montardo gazed at him with a doubtful and uncertain expression,
an