nder certain conditions he will allow that he should escape secretly
from prison. They are formally written, and if Moritz consents and binds
himself by oath, he will not only be freed, but provided with means to
go to England, and receive immediately an appointment as translator to
the Prussian embassy at London."

"What are the conditions, sir?"

"They are, first, that Moritz shall by oath renounce every wish and
thought of uniting himself with Fraulein von Leuthen; secondly, that
before he leaves the prison, he shall write to the young lady, in which
he shall solemnly release her, and enjoin it upon her as a duty to
accept the hand of the man to whom her parents have betrothed her. These
were the conditions, and the king commanded me to go to Spandau, and
with sensible representations, to confer with Moritz, and persuade him
to accept them, and assure himself of freedom, and an honorable future,
free from care."

"You saw Moritz?"

"Yes."

"Did you communicate the conditions?"

"Yes."

"And he?"

"He refused, with rage and indignation!"

"He refused?" cried Marie, joyfully. "Oh, my dear Philip, I thank you.
You love me truly and faithfully. Your glorious example shall inspire me
to be as firm as you."

"Unhappy child, you know not what you are saying!" cried the director,
sadly. "If you really love him, you could not follow his example. Read
what the king has written."

She took, in breathless silence, the document, and broke the seal,
unfolding the paper, but her hand shook it so violently, that she could
not distinguish the words.

She returned it to the director. "Read it, I cannot," she said, and
sank kneeling, looking up to the old man with unspeakable anguish, and
listening to every word that fell from his lips. It ran thus:

"His majesty announces to Mademoiselle Marie von Leuthen that he is
exceedingly indignant at her improper and undutiful conduct, which does
not at all become a maiden loving of honor, and particularly a noble
one. His majesty ennobled her father for a brave deed, and he is angry
that the daughter should bring shame upon the title, in giving way,
not only to a passion which is beneath her, but is so little mindful of
morality as to flee from the paternal house, at night, in an improper
manner, with a man whose wife, according to the command of the king
and the will of her father, she could never be. If his majesty did not
respect the former service of her father, and the n