er from our most gracious king. It runs
thus: 'My faithful subject: I have received your petition, and I was
glad to learn by this occasion that you are well, and that you now lead
a steady, reasonable life. Formerly you gave good cause of complaint;
for it is well known to me that you led a dissolute life, and your
family suffered want and misfortune from your abominable chance-games.
You know that I have twice paid your debts; that at the second time I
gave you my royal word of assurance that I would never pay a
groschen for you again. If you gave yourself up to the vice, and made
gambling-debts, I would send you to the fortress at Spandau, and deprive
you of your pension. Nevertheless you played again, and commenced your
vicious life anew. Notwithstanding which, I did not send you to prison
as I threatened, and as you deserved, because I remembered that you
had been a brave soldier, and did me a good service at the battle of
Leuthen. For this reason I now also grant your request, that, as you
have no son, your name and coat-of-arms may descend to your son-in-law.
The name of Werrig-Leuthen is well worthy to be preserved, and be an
example to succeeding generations. I give my permission for Ludwig
Ebenstreit, banker, to marry your daughter and only child, and--'"

Marie uttered a cry of horror, and sprang from her seat. "Mother!--"

"Be still! I commanded you not to interrupt me, but listen, with
becoming respect, to the end, to the words' of his majesty." And, with
a louder voice, occasionally casting a severe, commanding glance at her
daughter, she read on: "'And call himself in future Ludwig Werrig von
Leuthen. I wish that he should honor the new name, and prove himself a
true nobleman. Ludwig Ebenstreit must give up, or sell, without delay,
his banking business, as I cannot permit a nobleman to continue the
business of citizen, and remain a merchant. A nobleman must either be a
soldier or a landed proprietor; and if your future son-in-law will not
be either, he can live upon his income, which must indeed be ample. But
I command him to spend it in the country, not go to foreign countries to
spend what he has gained in the country. If he should do it, it will
not be well with him, and he shall be brought back by force. You may
communicate this to him, and he can judge for himself. I will have the
letters of nobility made out for him, for which he shall pay the sum of
one hundred louis d'ors to the 'Invalids' at Berl